Content uploaded by Gartzia De Bikuña Begoña
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Gartzia De Bikuña Begoña on Apr 26, 2016
Content may be subject to copyright.
A preview of the PDF is not available
Development of a multimetric benthic macroinvertebrate index for assessing the ecological condition of Basque streams (north of Spain)
Abstract and Figures
Multimetric indices based on biological communities for the assessment of the ecological status of streams and rivers have recently been developed for many regions. However, local differences in reference conditions, human impacts and biological communities make developing suitable indices for different regions of the world necessary. Thus, our goal was to develop and validate a multimetric index based on macroinvertebrates to evaluate the ecological status of streams from the Basque Country (north Spain). For this, 22 lowland calcareous streams (7 reference and 15 disturbed) were monitored from 1993 to 2005. At each study site, a stress level was calculated based on human impacts. Fifty-three macroinvertebrate metrics were tested for their capability to discern stress level. Our multimetric index was calculated as the mean of six metrics – genus richness, IBMWP, abundance of Sel_EPTD, abundance of Sel_ETD’, family richness of Sel_ETD and family richness of EPT. The index was split into five ecological status classes, ranging from 0 (bad ecological status) to 1 (high ecological status). This index was validated in 231 study sites in 108 streams of six different typologies, demonstrating suitability for application in biomonitoring and assessment studies in Basque streams.
Figures - uploaded by Gartzia De Bikuña Begoña
Author content
All figure content in this area was uploaded by Gartzia De Bikuña Begoña
Content may be subject to copyright.
... Furthermore, the CFi was validated with four other biological indices to assess the ecological status of streams, as calculated for 98 streams during the period 2010 -2014 (totaling 364 study cases). These indices were: 1) EFI+ (EFI+ Consortium 2009), based on fish assemblages and developed with the goal to be applied across Europe, 2) ECP (Uragentzia 2012), based on fish assemblages and applied in the Basque Country (a region of the Northern Iberian Peninsula), 3) MBi (Gartzia de Bikuña et al. 2015), based on macroinvertebrate assemblages and applied in the Basque Country, and 4) IPS (Coste 1982;Uragentzia 2014), based on diatom assemblages. ...
... Nevertheless, this metric was considered to shape the index. This exception is not unique when constructing multimetric indices (see Baptista et al. 2011;Gartzia de Bikuña et al. 2015), giving more attention to the biological information than to the statistical tests. Salmo trutta is the most widely distributed freshwater fish native to the Palearctic region and across most of Europe, including the Iberian Peninsula, western Asia, and parts of North Africa (Bernatchez 2001). ...
Multimetric indices based on fish assemblages assessing the ecological status of rivers have been widely developed. Nevertheless, the heterogeneity of environmental conditions, biological assemblages, and human pressures require the development of suitable indices for different regions. In the Iberian Peninsula, where there is a lack of an accurate tool for monitoring systems under temperate oceanic conditions, indices are developed under a Mediterranean climate. Therefore, our goal was to develop and validate a multimetric index based on fish assemblages to evaluate the ecological status of streams and rivers from the Northern Iberian Peninsula under a temperate oceanic climate. For this, 147 streams (41 reference and 96 disturbed streams) were monitored from 2010 to 2014. At each site, we calculated the stress level based on human alterations. For the index development, the rivers were grouped into two large classes: salmonids and cyprinids. Ninety-one metrics were tested for their capability to discern stress level. The index was calculated as the mean of five metrics for salmonid rivers: the percentage of density of benthic species, the percentage of richness of species intolerant to contamination, the percentage of richness of species intolerant to low oxygen concentrations, the percentage of insectivore density, and the percentage of Salmo trutta density. As the mean of two metrics for cyprinid rivers, we considered the percentage of density of water column species and the percentage of density of species intolerant to low oxygen levels. In salmonid rivers, the longitudinal connectivity was evaluated by measuring the presence of Anguila anguila. The index was split into five ecological status classes, ranging from 0 (bad ecological status) to 1 (high ecological status). This index was compared with four other biological indices and its performance was validated for 793 study cases, thus demonstrating its suitability for employment in biomonitoring works to assess the ecological status of stream and river ecosystems from the Northern Iberian Peninsula under temperate oceanic conditions.
... The excellent condition threshold was set using the 25th percentile value of reference wetlands. The range of values under the excellent condition threshold was split into three equal-sized groups to determine the thresholds among good, fair, and poor categories (Gartzia de Bikuna et al., 2015). ...
The construction of levees breaks the connection of floodplains with river channels. Few assessments have examined the impacts on aquatic ecosystems. We developed a multi-metric index (MMI) based on aquatic invertebrates to assess floodplain wetland condition in the Wusuli River, northeastern China. We sampled the aquatic invertebrate communities in 18 floodplain wetlands along the Wusuli River including wetlands from headwater, middle river, and downstream reaches. Each site included paired wetlands with a wetland connected to the river floodplain and a wetland isolated from the floodplain by levees. Metrics related to the aquatic invertebrate community were selected as candidate metrics for the MMI. Then, a range test, discrimination analysis, and correlation analytics were used to select the candidate metrics based on their ability to distinguish reference and isolated wetlands. Four core indicators were selected to build the MMI: total number of taxa, %Gastropoda, Pielou’s index, and %Collector-Gatherers. Four ordinal rating categories were defined: poor, fair, good, and excellent condition. The results showed 88.9% of the levee-isolated wetlands, which were identified as being in poor or fair condition. Levee construction has a consistent negative impact on floodplain wetland condition. Our MMI provides a biomonitoring way to determine the success of restoration strategies.
Adjacent intensive agriculture disturbs the natural condition of wetlands. However, to assess the effect of this agriculture on wetlands, few studies have used indices based on aquatic invertebrates. Multi-metric indices (MMIs) have been successfully used to assess freshwater ecosystems worldwide and are an important management tool, but little is known about their applicability in the San-jiang Plain, Northeast China. In this study, we developed a MMIs for aquatic invertebrates to assess freshwater wetlands in this region. The aquatic invertebrate assemblages were sampled in 27 wetlands in the Sanjiang Plain that included those in natural reserves and those affected by adjacent, intensive agriculture. Twenty-four candidate metrics were initially reviewed and screened before four core metrics were selected: total number of taxa, number of Hemiptera taxa, proportion of Gastropoda, and proportion of predators. Mann-Whitney U tests, Box and Whisker plots, correlation analyses, and redundant metric tests were used to assess the ability of met-rics to distinguish among reference and impaired wetlands. Four ordinal rating categories for wetland were defined: poor, fair, good, and excellent. Of the impaired freshwater wetlands, 76.2% were in poor or fair categories. The MMIs was robust in discriminating reference wetlands from impaired wetlands and therefore have potential as a biomonitoring tool to assess the condition and to guide the restoration efforts of freshwater wetlands in Northeast China.
Biological Assessment and Criteria presents a state-of-the-art overview of the applications of biological assessments and biocriteria for water quality management in fresh waters. The book presents case studies which illustrate how bioassessment has been used to identify and diagnose water quality problems. It also provides examples of the use of qualitative and quantitative biocriteria as regulatory tools to complement water quality criteria and standards. The first book to present the technical foundation, rationale, program and policy relevance, and legal basis for the most accurate tools used to assess freshwater natural resource and regulatory efforts, this book provides useful and timely information for water quality managers.
The objective of this study was to develop a rapid multimetric index using benthic macrofauna as bioindicators of ecological conditions for the upper reaches of the Piabanha-Paquequer-Preto Basin located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A total of 33698 macroinvertebrates were collected in 27 sites. Benthic macroinvertebrates were sampled using the multi-habitat method that consists in sampling 20 m2 of substrate collected in approximate proportion to the representation of all major habitat types in the reach. A subsampling procedure was used. The main steps followed to develop and test the index were: exclusion of unsuitable metrics using box-whisker plots, considering the degree of overlapping among interquartile limits (1º-3º) and confirmed by Mann-Whitney U test (p < 0.05) using six reference rivers and six impaired rivers. From all the candidate potential metrics, 36 were considered suitable. After identifying redundant metrics, through Spearman correlation analysis, and considering practical application criteria, six core metrics were selected to compose the Piabanha-Paquequer-Preto Multimetric Index (PPPMI) using the continuous method: Family richness, Shannon-Wiener family diversity, EPT family richness, %Diptera, %MOLD (Mollusca + Diptera) and %Collectors. The sensitivity of the index was tested in 15 rivers using a Principal Components Analysis (PCA) of the six environmental variables. The first axis of the PCA was highly correlated to the PPPMI scores (r = 0.703, p < 0.001). The PPPMI responded to a set of environmental variables associated to a gradient of human disturbance affecting the ecological condition of the waterbodies. This indicates that the PPPMI is an effective tool for biological monitoring and decision making in the hydrographic region of the Piabanha-Paquequer-Preto rivers.
The Water Framework Directive (WFD) establishes the need to define specific reference conditions for the assessment of river ecosystems. This paper presents a multimetric index for assessment of biological quality in a river ecosystem using benthic macroinvertebrates. The study area corresponds to the headwater of the Cabe River, Northwest Spain, upstream of the irrigation dam at Ribasaltas, a water catchment for irrigation in the Lemos Valley area. Because Lemos Valley is an important irrigation district located in an area with key environmental features, defining the quality objectives that must be used to assess the impact of agriculture becomes essential. In our research, reference stations were chosen on the basis of a number of strict conservation criteria, and the macroinvertebrate community present in those stations was analysed. Following the verification of the homogeneity of environmental features in the study area, we selected the biological indices and metrics that provided the strongest correlations between the condition of the macroinvertebrate community and the overall environmental quality. After the most suitable metrics were selected, the weight of each metric in the final multimetric index was determined on the basis of the greater or lesser ability of each metric to define biological quality. The correlation between biological metrics and quality, and the ability of the selected metrics to define quality were determined on the basis of their performance at a number of control stations with different levels of disturbance. Finally, the quality thresholds for the proposed multimetric index were established such that the quality thresholds of the index matched the quality levels defined in the WFD. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Brazil faces a challenge to develop biomonitoring tools to be used in water quality assessment programs, but few multimetric indices were developed so far. This study is part of an effort to test and implement programs using benthic macroinvertebrates as bioindicators in Rio de Janeiro State. Our aim was first to test the Multimetric Index for Serra dos Órgãos (SOMI) for a different area - Serra da Bocaina (SB) - in the same ecoregion. We sampled 27 streams of different sizes and altitudes in the SB region. Despite the environmental similarities, results indicated biological differences between reference sites of the two regions. Considering these differences, we decided to develop an index specific for the SB region, the Serra da Bocaina Multimetric Index (MISB). We tested twenty-two metrics for sensitivity to impairment and redundancy, and six metrics were considered valid to integrate the MISB: Family Richness, Trichoptera Richness, % Coleoptera, % Diptera, IBE-IOC index, EPT / Chironomidae ratio. A test of the MISB in eleven sites indicated it was more related to land-use and water physico-chemical parameters than with altitude or stream width, being a useful tool for the monitoring and assessment of streams in the bioregion.
Available within - www.eu-star.at/frameset.htm