Methodological design for the macro-location of a micropollutants monitoring network in tropical rivers: a case study in Cauca River.

Establishing scientifically the macro-location of a micropollutants monitoring network in tropical Andean rivers is a complex process, because information gathering is restricted by high-cost of analysis and limited availability of analytical techniques, which lead to inadequate sampling strategies that hinder the representativeness of samples. Thus, this work proposes a methodology for determining the number of representative sampling sections in a micropollutant monitoring network to characterise the ecological risk in tropical Andean torrential rivers. The proposed methodology consists of four stages: identification of the potential sampling units by Spline interpolation; calculation of the number of representative sections for a stratified sampling with an acceptable level of confidence and error; spatial allocation of the potential sampling units into sections by hierarchical cluster analysis; and representation of the spatial distribution of the sampling sections through a geographic information system (GIS).

The multigenerational effects of water contamination and endocrine disrupting chemicals on the fitness of .

Water pollution due to human activities produces sedimentation, excessive nutrients, and toxic chemicals, and this, in turn, has an effect on the normal endocrine functioning of living beings. Overall, water pollution may affect some components of the fitness of organisms (e.g.