Evaluación del Desempeño de Modelos Hidrodinámicos y de Idoneidad de Hábitat en Lechos de Cauces de Montaña en un trayecto del Río Sarapiquí, Costa Rica

The simulation of aquatic habitats is a tool used in the conservation and management of river ecosystems, allowing the analysis of the relationship between species preferences and hydrodynamic characteristics such as flow, depth and velocity. These models make it possible to determine water needs and establish the minimum flows required to maintain the ecological health of the river. In this context, bathymetry, or the topography of the riverbed, plays a critical role in hydrodynamic modeling and habitat assessment by providing a detailed description of bed characteristics such as depth, slope, and changes in cross-sectional profile.
The challenge in mountain rivers lies in the difficulty of capturing bed complexity due to the presence of boulders, large rocks, whitewater (high oxygen content), and supercritical flows that limit the use of techniques such as sonar or photogrammetry. Although conventional interpolation methods are often used, they are inefficient in these complex environments and tend to simplify the bed. Given that in Costa Rica most of our rivers cross mountainous areas with irregular paths, the application of interpolation techniques can generate inaccurate results, affecting the calibration and validation of hydrodynamic models.

Evaluar el desempeño y la precisión de modelos hidrodinámicos y de idoneidad de hábitat en lechos de cauces de montaña, comparando modelos de elevación digital generados mediante técnicas tradicionales de interpolación y métodos emergentes, para definir requisitos mínimos necesarios, aplicado en un tramo del río Sarapiquí en Costa Rica

Manejo y Conservación de los Recursos Agua y Suelo