AQUATIC MACROINVERTEBRATES INTEGRATED INTO THE BIOTIC WATER QUALITY INDEX BMWP/COL: A FORMAL KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION BASED ON ONTOLOGIES

Abstract

The diversity of aquatic macroinvertebrates at the family level; has been validated as indicators of water quality and adjusted to biotic indices. The Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP), established in England in the 1970s, was adapted in Colombia in specific basins in 1997, and has been useful for the evaluation of freshwater ecosystems. The present research was based on the creation of an ontological system of aquatic macroinvertebrates integrated to the BMWP/Col. index, with the purpose of organising, storing and modelling water quality knowledge from the aquatic macroinvertebrate domain useful for Colombia. The conceptualisation and creation of the ontological model was developed with the Methontology methodology, which allowed identifying the activities and tasks that formalised the system, being codified in an ontological language OWL, through the use of the Protegé editing tool. The results achieved with the ontological model enable the valuation and environmental management of water resources to be channelled, guaranteeing rapid and timely information, and projecting an improvement in future water quality characterisation studies.