Información sobre el grupo

The group of "Animal Biology and Ecology of Lotic Aquatic Systems" in the Department of Animal Biology and Ecology, at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Granada (Spain), was officially created in 1990 and since then is led by Prof. Javier Alba-Tercedor. The main research topics can be summarized as: 1. Taxonomy, faunistic and biology of the aquatic macroinvertebrate; 2. Study of degradation, the biological quality g, and modeling ecological status of watercourses; and 3. Lotic ecosystem functioning and effect of their degradations .

At its heart was founded the “spin-off” company HYDRAENA S.L. (www.Hydraena.com), offering services of environmental analysis, advice and general environmental studies, specially focused in aquatic ecosystems.

Lately, as a result of various research projects and collaborations with the Spanish Ministry of Rural and Marine Environment, The group has developed the MEDPACS (http://medpacs.ugr.es) as a tool to implement the guidelines of the Water Framework Directive, in the calculation of various metrics of macroinvertebrates and implementing the Spanish regulation to apply in the territory of the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands, to assess and map the ecological status of rivers.