Environmental assessment of stream habitats bordering Palenque National Park, Chiapas, Mexico

Quality of riparian and in-stream habitat, concentrations of ambient stream nitrate and soluble reactive phosphorus, and the diversity and abundance of aquatic macroinvertebrates were measured to characterize riparian and aquatic habitats within and bordering Palenque National Park, Chiapas, Mexico. Though riparian habitat at the majority of the sites was relatively intact, sites were frequently characterized by high concentrations of soluble reactive phosphorus, suggesting that many of the stream ecosystems around the park were influenced by sewage, agricultural runoff, or both. Abundance of macroinvertebrates decreased with increasing concentrations of nitrate at all sites and diversity of macroinvertebrates increased with increasing riparian and aquatic habitat at most of the sites.