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Aquatic Macroinvertebrates as Bioindicators for stream and
wetland health monitoring
Outline
Who are aquatic macro-invertebrates?
What is Biological Integrity?
What are Bioindicators?
What can Invertebrates bioindicate?
How can invertebrates be used as Bioindicators?
Ecological significance and suitability of macro-invertebrates as Bioindicators (Why use
Invertebrates as Bioindicators?)
What are Multimetric Indices?
What is Macroinvertebrate-based Index of Biotic Integrity M-IBI and its application?
Previous work done
Conclusion / Recommendations
References
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Who are aquatic macro-invertebrates?
Macroinvertebrates are organisms that are large (macro) enough to be seen with the naked
eye and without a backbone (invertebrate). They inhabit all types of running waters, from
fast-flowing mountain streams to slow-moving muddy rivers. Examples of aquatic
macroinvertebrates include insects (in their adult, larval or nymph form), mollusks,
crustaceans and worms (Viklund, 2011). Most of them live part or most of their life cycle
attached to submerged rocks, logs, and vegetation or else in soft sediment.
Some benthos for instance stoneflies are found more often and in larger amounts in water
bodies that are generally clean, or unpolluted by organic wastes. Without too much organic
matter, the water usually have lots of oxygen for these species often considered to be clean
water benthos. But when thinking about worms and midges, water quality professionals
often view these as indicators of dirty water, especially in rivers and streams (Invertebrates as
indicators, 2008).
What is Biological Integrity?
The biological integrity of a stream or an aquatic ecosystem means how well the habitat can
support biological communities, including algae, invertebrates, fish, aquatic mammals and
birds. For a given habitat, to have high biological integrity, it should be unimpaired/
minimum disturbed by human or other activities and must contain a diverse assemblage of
naturally occurring plants and animals (Jensen, 2007).
When human induced activities like land clearing, poor agricultural practices, urbanization,
etc. come into action, those influence the habitat and change the physico-chemical conditions
of the water body which ultimately reduce the biological integrity of the habitat. Therefore by
measuring the biological communities present in a stream or a canal system, it is possible to
determine the condition or health of the habitat which can be either stream or wetland.
What are Bioindicators?
Bioindicators are species used to monitor the health of a given ecosystem or environment.
They are any biological species or group of species whose function, population, or status can
be used to determine ecosystem or environmental integrity. Such organisms are monitored
for changes of their physiological, population, status, or behavioural pattern to determine the
ecosystem or environmental integrity.
Further McGeoch M. A. (1998) cited by Hodkinson and Jackson (2005) has defined a
Bioindicator as „„a species or group of species that readily reflects the abiotic or biotic state
of an environment, represents the impact of environmental change on a habitat, community,
or ecosystem, or is indicative of the diversity of a subset of taxa, or of the wholesale
diversity, within an area‟‟.
In general, freshwater invertebrates range from tiny animals that can hardly be seen with the
naked eye (such as planktonic rotifers) to quite large crayfish (kōura) and mussels. Both these
categories are more frequently used and identified as Bioindicators for water quality. This
study was focused on the group of macroinvertebrates live in the littoral zone of Colombo Sri
Jayawardhanapura canal system.
What can Invertebrates bioindicate?
In general, invertebrates can be used as Bioindicators to reveal;
1. A changing physical environment (temperature, substrate type, depth, light intensity, etc.)
2. A changing chemical environment (pH, heavy metal concentration, Nutrient factors, etc.)
3. The comparative quality or conservation value of the habitat (no of rare, local, or
endangered species)
4. Changes in the ecological status of the habitat (naturally occurred/ human impacts)
(Hodkinson and Jackson, 2005).
How can invertebrates be used as Bioindicators?
Invertebrates can indicate changes in the environment through their responses at different
levels of organization, ranging from the individual animal to the total invertebrate community
(Hodkinson and Jackson, 2005). The appropriateness of the level of organization (individual/
species population/ community) chosen to indicate the variation of the environment depends
on the particular factor that are thought to be acing there.
Individual animals may serve as short-term Bioindicator of particular environmental
conditions and their response to the stress can be revealed from their physiology or
behaviour. When considering the organization of species population level, changes in the
population characteristics of the indicator species are considered. Though the monitoring
process of community level responses is too complicated, it provides a valuable perception on
the biological scale of variation of the environmental condition. It also acquires several
attributes useful for bioindication for instance; species richness, relative abundances of
different species and the presence of important / key species (Hodkinson and Jackson, 2005).
Ecological significance and suitability of macro-invertebrates as Bioindicators /
(Why use Invertebrates as Bioindicators?)
Invertebrates are abundant medium-sized organisms that, as a generality, have growth rates
and population turnover times lying midway between those of microorganisms and higher
plants and animals. Invertebrates also have effective active and passive dispersal mechanisms
that often allow wide dissemination and rapid re-colonization of disturbed habitats
(Hodkinson et al. 2002 cited by Hodkinson and Jackson, 2005).
In general aquatic invertebrates can be used as Bioindicators for assessing and monitoring the
state of health of aquatic environments because they;
live in the water for all or most of their life cycle.
stay in areas suitable for their survival.
are exposed directly to the stress of pollution and the prevailing conditions of the aquatic
environment.
are easy to collect.
differ in their tolerance to amount and types of pollution.
are easy to identify in a laboratory.
often live for more than one year thus well suited to long-term observation of
environmental stress.
have limited mobility due to their sedentary habit and thus constantly exposed to the
effects of pollution.
Their high species diversity means many potentially different reactions to many different
environmental effects (Invertebrates as indicators, 2008).
What are Multimetric Indices?
Multimetric indices are commonly used for evaluating the biological condition of water
bodies. Most multimetric indices consist of a number of measures or metrics (attributes),
describing a specific assemblage (e.g.; fish, macroinvertebrates or periphyton), which are
combined into a single “multimetric” value representing the condition of a water body
(Blocksom, 2003). These metrics can represent a wide range of ecological characteristics,
including taxa richness, taxonomic composition, pollution tolerance, functional feeding
groups, and behavioural habits. Hence the metrics included in an index may have a variety of
units. Furthermore, some indices have incorporated diversity or pollution tolerance indices
such as Shannon Diversity Index, Hilsenhoff Biotic Index, etc. Therefore these metric values
must be converted into unitless numbers in order to combine them into a single value during
the process of index development.
Comparison of the characteristics of a particular water system (impaired/ degraded sites) to
those of a high quality system (one with minimal human disturbance/ reference sites) can
determine the negative aspects impacting that system. Several variations of multimetric
indices have been created since the early 1980s.
What is Macroinvertebrate Index of Biotic Integrity M-IBI and its application?
Indices of Biotic Integrity (IBI) are one form of Multimetric index that focuses on Fish,
Periphyton, or Benthic communities (Wittman and Mundahl, 2002). As described by
Stribling et al (1998), “Karr et al. (1986) developed the multimetric approach (the Index of
Biological Integrity or IBI) that combined a series of metrics (biological descriptors) to
characterize biological condition with fish assemblage data from streams of the Midwestern
US. There have been numerous adaptations of the approach using different groups of
organisms and calibrated for different geographic areas and water body types (Southerland
and Stribling 1995, Davis et al. 1996, U.S. EPA 1997)”.
It should be noted that these IBIs are region-specific due to the variations in communities
across a wide range of ecological habitats. Therefore it is only applicable to the same habitat
or similar areas.
Previous work done
Globally, particularly in USA, Macroinvertebrates have been widely used as indicators of
water quality by state and federal monitoring agencies for many years. Many studies have
shown them to be very useful indicators of water quality (Chirhart, J., 2003). Also
Macroinvertebrates are widely used by citizen monitoring groups throughout the United
States (U.S. EPA 1997).
Chirhart (2003) has said, “In an effort to understand and communicate biological information
in a meaningful way, Dr Jim Karr developed the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) in the early
80‟s (Karr 1981). The Indices of Biotic Integrity (IBI) was first developed using attributes of
fish communities in moderate size wadeable streams in Illinois. It has subsequently been
modified for use throughout the country for aquatic macroinvertebrates (Ohio EPA 1988,
Kerans and Karr 1994, Barbour et. al. 1996), terrestrial macroinvertebrates (Kimberling and
Karr 2002) and algae (McCormick and Stevenson 1998). Each metric in an IBI denotes a
quantifiable attribute of a biological assemblage that changes in a predictable way with
different levels of human influence.”. Further, he has mentioned that “Many states have
begun to develop multimetric indices for rivers and streams with the ultimate goal of
developing biological criteria for use within their own water-quality programs (U.S. EPA,
1996). And currently it is widely used in United States.”.
The Maryland Biological Stream Survey (MBSS) carried out by the Department of Natural
Resources in 1994 to monitor and assess small to medium-sized streams across the state using
a probability-based network design, Benthic invertebrate-based Index of Biotic Integrity that
developed to detect the effects of human influence on streams in Southeastern Minnesota,
and the project for the Development of a Macroinvertebrate Index of Biological Integrity
(MIBI) for Rivers and Streams of the St. Croix River Basin in Minnesota (2003) are some of
the largest stream surveys done in US.
The IBI developed from the Maryland Biological Stream Survey (MBSS), was found to be
most efficient when calibrated separately for 1) low-gradient Coastal Plain streams and for 2)
higher gradient non-Coastal Plain streams, with classification efficiencies of 87% and 88%,
respectively. Seven metrics were used in the Coastal Plain IBI, total number of taxa, number
of EPT taxa, % Ephemeroptera, % Tanytarsini of Chironomidae, Beck‟s Biotic Index,
number of scraper taxa, and % clingers. Nine metrics were used in the non-Coastal Plain;
total number of taxa, number of EPT taxa, number of Ephemeroptera taxa, number of Diptera
taxa, % Ephemeroptera, % Tanytarsini, number of intolerant taxa, % tolerant individuals, and
% collectors (Stribling, et al, 1998).
Invertebrate data obtained from 43 stream sites in Southeastern Minnesota were used to
determine the ability of 22 characteristics (metrics) of invertebrate assemblages to assess the
healthiness of streams in the region. The final B-IBI was included with 10 metrics and 4
alternates.
As a part of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency‟s long-term monitoring strategy,
macroinvertebrates were collected from 88 streams in the St. Croix River Watershed
Minnesota, between 1996 and 2000. The samples were collected primarily from small
wadeable streams, and wadeable reaches of larger streams. The macroinvertebrate
community data collected was used to develop a series of biologically meaningful measures
or metrics. The resulting metrics were assigned scoring criteria, scored, and combined into a
multimetric index, the Macroinvertebrate Index of Biological Integrity (MIBI). The MIBI, in
conjunction with a similar index measuring the biological integrity of the fish community,
was used to evaluate the biological integrity of selected stream reaches. The ability of the
MIBI to discern differences between varying degrees of human influence on biological
integrity was tested by evaluating streams with a wide range of upstream landuse patterns.
Based on metric selection criteria the 13metrics were maintained for use in the M-IBI for
each respective stream class (Glide Pool, Small Riffle-run and Large Riffle-run).
Apart from the work carried out in USA, several research methodologies and protocols were
developed and studies were being carried out in all over the world in order seeking possibility
of using macroinvertebrates as bioindicators and development of Macroinvertebrates /
Benthic Index of Biotic Integrity (M-IBI or B-IBI). For instances;
In Canada a team of research scientists from Environment Canada studied the composition
and spatial distribution of benthic communities in Lake Saint-Pierre using the methods of the
Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network (CABIN), which was designed by the National
Water Research Institute (NWRI). In adopting a common approach to conduct biological
assessments and using sampling protocols that are standard Canada-wide, a comprehensive
overview of the status of Canada‟s fresh water can be produced. The job of Environment
Canada was thus to determine if these aquatic organisms can be used as bioindicators for
assessing and monitoring the state of health of aquatic environments like Lake Saint-Pierre.
British-Columbia (west – Canada) ; Assessment of Biological Integrity of Okanagan
Streams: Using Benthic Invertebrates to Monitor Stream Health by Environmental Protection
Program, Ministry of Environment, Penticton BC., The Okanagan B-IBI was developed
specifically to assess Okanagan streams at low elevations in the valley bottom. During the
study; benthic invertebrates were collected from 23 low elevation Okanagan stream sites
between 1999 and 2004. And then it was used to rank the health of 31 stream sites. Five
metrics that describe the community characteristics such as Total number of taxa, Number of
stonefly taxa, Number of mayfly taxa, Number of intolerant taxa and Number of clinger taxa
were selected for the index development. The second purpose of this work was to examine
other tools available for collection and analysis of benthic invertebrates as estimates of
aquatic ecosystem health. The Report says the main multivariate bioassessment programs
currently in use worldwide are the UK‟s River Invertebrate Prediction and Classification
System (RIVPACS), and the Australian River Assessment Scheme (AUSRIVAS),
Environment Canada‟s Reference Condition Approach (RCA) and the Canadian Aquatic
Biomonitoring Network (CABIN) (Jensen, 2006).
A Benthic Invertebrate Index of Biological Integrity (B-IBI) for Streams in the Bulkley TSA,
BC was developed by Shauna Bennett and Kieran Rysavy (Bennett and Rysavy, 2003) as to
create a tool to monitor the effectiveness of the forest management program specific to
aquatic resources. In 2001, 26 stations in 21 streams were sampled, and in 2002, 14 stations
were sampled in 8 streams. Using the method described, six metrics were chosen for
inclusion in the BTSA B-IBI such as Plecoptera taxa richness, Trichoptera taxa richness,
Intolerant taxa richness, Hilsenhoff biotic index (HBI), Clinger taxa richness and %
dominance (3 taxa).
In Mexico; a group of scientists has developed Macroinvertebrate-based index of biotic
integrity for protection of streams in West-Central Mexico restoration of streams in the Sierra
de Manantla´n Biosphere Reserve based on data collected February through May 1999, and
February 2000. Thirty-three sites on 21 streams within 6 major basins represented natural
environmental conditions and human-influence types and intensities in the area. Eight metrics
chosen a priori comprised the IBI: catch per unit effort, generic richness, % Ephemeroptera–
Plecoptera–Trichoptera genera, % Chironomidae individuals, Hilsenhoff Biotic Index, %
depositional individuals, % predator individuals, and % gatherer genera (Weigel, Henne and
Martinez-Rivera, 2002). IBI was developed with data acquire from 27 sites and validated
with 6 others. It was found that values obtained from the developed correlated well with the
measures of human influence based on qualitative assessment of habitat and water quality
(Pearson‟s r = 0.86). IBI values for 7 sites on Rı´o Ayuquila corresponded with a documented
longitudinal pattern of human influence and the existing fish-based IBI (Pearson‟s r = 0.87)
(Weigel, 2002). The study has confirmed the capability of developing biological standards
need to measure the environmental degradation happening in Sierra de Manantla´n Biosphere
Reserve due to various human influences.
In Australia; A National Technical Manual on monitoring Macro-invertebrates was
developed by the Waterwatch Australia Steering Committee to provide guidance and
technical support to the Waterwatch community monitoring network throughout Australia.
Other than monitoring the health of a natural freshwater ecosystem, M-IBI can be used for
monitoring the progress of restored or constructed ecosystems particularly for a renovated
wetland like Diyawannawa Oya. The study carried out by Galbrand et al (2007) in a
constructed wetland (The Burnside Drive landfill, which was located near the northern
boundary of the Burnside Industrial Park) has revealed that aquatic macroinvertebrates
monitoring is an excellent indicator of water quality for the wetland and studies showed that
the water quality improvement was low in the treatment wetland in the initial stage. And yet,
the constructed wetland is expected to improve with its maturation, superior micro-habitat
and water quality improvement in future.
In Sri Lanka; basically, published research on diversity indices of benthic/ macroinvertebrate
communities and use of macrobenthos as indicator organisms of environmental conditions
are sparse in Sri Lanka (Dahanayaka, 2004).
An investigation has been carried out by Dahanayaka, D.D.G.L. in March 2003 to determine
the spatial variation in the diversity of macrobenthos and also to determine how the
distribution of macrobenthos in the Negambo Estuary is affected the environmental factors
such as salinity, depth, organic matter content, soil texture, presence of sea grasses and
presence of mangroves. It was also to find out whether the distribution of macrobenthos of
the study area is affected by anthropogenic activities. The study has concluded that these
macrobenthos can be used as bioindicators for lagoon ecosystems.
Another study was carried out by Weerasundara, Pathiratne and Costa (1999) on Species
Composition and abundance of aquatic Oligochaetes in Ihalagama Reservoir, which is a
shallow Perennial minor reservoir in Sri Lanka. The study has attempted to find the
possibility of using Oligochaetes as bioindicators for organic pollutants.
A recent study carried out in Colombo – Sri Jayawardhanapura Canal System has attempted
to find the possibility of using aquatic macroinvertebrates as bioindicators for stream health
monitoring. It was revealed that there is a potential of using Tubifex spp, Freshwater shrimps
and Damsel flies larvae as individual bioindicators for monitoring stream (wetland) health
particularly for some parameters like DO, BOD and TDS (Perera, Wattavidanage and
Nilakarawasam, 2011a).
During the study seven macroinvertebrate species/taxa such as 1.Tubifex spp., 2.Lymnaea
stagnalis, 3.Dragonfly nymphs, 4.Chironomidae larva, 5.Horsefly larva, 6.Freshwater
shrimps and 7.Damsel fly larvae were selected as candidate bioindicators. Among them
Lymnaea stagnalis was recorded in 55 samples out of 68 total samples.
Figure 03 shows their distribution pattern and abundance within ten sampling stations.
Kirimandala Mawatha station showed the highest overall density while Wellawatta and St.
Sebastian stations showed lower values. According to the graph plotted below (Fig 01) it has
realized that the most abundant bioindicator taxa out of the seven taxa was fresh water
shrimps in Kotte, Nawala and Buthgamuwa, which also reported high Dissolved Oxygen
(DO) levels but it has replaced by Chironomidae larva in Kirimandala Mw and Beira Lake.
Also there was a remarkable increase of Conductivity and Cl- concentration values but least
density from Wellawatta station which was located closer to the sea.
Figure 1: Distribution pattern and abundance of seven candidate bioindicator species/taxa and variation of some
significant water quality parameters along ten sampling stations.
Pearson‟s correlation coefficient values (r) obtained for candidate bioindicator species/ taxa and some
water quality parameters such as Dissolved Oxygen –DO (mg/L), Biochemical Oxygen Demand-
BOD (mg/L), Cl- concentration (ppm), Total Dissolved Solids - TDS (ppm) and Conductivity (µS)
have given in table 01. They are most significant when considering the health of a stream or a
wetland.
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
KOTTE
NAWALA
OUSL
KIRIMW
WELLAW
ORUGOD
ST.SEBS
BEIRA
BUTHGA
ROYALP
Tubifex spp.
Lymnaea stagnalis
Dragonflies (nymph)
Chironomidae larva
Horsefly larva
Fresh water shrimps
Damsel flies (larvae)
DO (x10-2 mg/L)
BOD (x10-2 mg/L)
Cl- Concentration (ppm)
TDS (ppm)
Conductivity (μS)
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
1000
Water quality parameter values
Average density of macroinvertebrates (Ind./630L)
Table 1: Candidate bioindicator species/taxa, their number of occurrence, Hilsenhoff‟s tolerance values and
Pearson‟s correlation coefficient values (r) between density values and some water quality parameters
As the next stage of the above mentioned study carried out in Colombo – Sri
Jayawardhanapura a Macroinvertebrate – based multimetric Index of Biotic Integrity (M-IBI)
has been developed by the same research team for the purpose of stream health monitoring.
As the final outcome, ten (10) out of forty one (41) candidate metrics were designated for the
M-IBI development. The unitless scores obtained by each and every metric value ranges are
given below in table 02.
Table 02: Scoring Criteria for the ten metrics used in Macroinvertebrates based Index of Biological Integrity
(M-IBI)
Candidate
Indicator
Species/ taxa
No. of
Occurrence
(out of 68
samples)
Tolerance
value
(Hilsenhoff)
r values obtained for parameters
DO
BOD
Cl-
concentration
Total
Dissolved
Solids (TDS )
Conductivity
1
Tubifex spp.
29
9
0.14
-0.72
0.52
0.64
0.34
2
Lymnaea stagnalis
55
6
0.10
-0.54
0.10
0.09
0.02
3
Dragonflies (nymph)
27
2
0.65
-0.21
-0.45
-0.37
-0.41
4
Chironomidae larva
34
8
-0.06
-0.23
0.01
-0.03
-0.04
5
Horsefly larva
15
10
-0.17
-0.44
0.22
0.20
0.05
6
Fresh water shrimps
38
6
0.72
-0.12
-0.52
-0.44
-0.45
7
Damsel flies (larvae)
33
6
0.73
-0.20
-0.44
-0.36
-0.38
Metrics
Predicted
response to
increasing
stressors
M-IBI Score
5
3
1
Overall Species Richness
Decrease
>14.67
14.67 - 6.67
<6.67
No of Hemiptera Taxa
Decrease
>1.75
1.75 - 0.00
<0.00
No of Coleoptera Taxa
Decrease
>2.67
2.67 - 0.00
<0.00
No of Crustacea Taxa
Decrease
>2.25
2.25 - 0.25
<0.25
% of Diptera
Increase
<2.33%
2.33 - 51.79%
>51.79%
% of Odonata
Decrease
>2.04%
2.04 - 0.52%
<0.52%
No of Intolerant Taxa
Decrease
>1.25
1.25 - 0.50
<0.50
No of Collector - Gatherer Taxa
Decrease
>5.50
5.50 - 2.67
<2.67
Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H)
Decrease
>1.95
1.95 - 1.59
<1.59
Heterogeneity
Increase
<67.44%
67.44 - 87.77%
> 87.77%
M-IBI Score
Stream condition
(Narrative rating)
50 – 46
Excellent
38 – 45
Good
28 – 37
Fair
18 – 27
Poor
10 – 17
Very Poor
Table 03 : M-IBI score ranges and corresponding narrative ratings
Then to interpret the score of a given site into standard status or the narrative rating, M-IBI
scores were classed into five ranges (rating categories) as excellent, good, fair, poor and very
poor as given in table 03.
To examine the validity of the index developed for the canal system, it has tested with a new
independent data set obtained from ten sampling stations within the same study area in 2011.
M-IMI scores and stream conditions obtained for the validation test done are shown in table
04. M-IBI scores were ranged from 17 to 40. Out of these 10 sites no any site was ranked as
„Excellent‟. Site named as Royal Park was ranked as „Good‟ while others were as „Fair‟ for 6
sites (Nawala, OUSL Bridge, Kirimandala Mw., Torrington, Kotte Lake & Buthgamuwa),
„Poor‟ for the sites called Senanayake Ground (Kotte) and Kotte bridge, and “Very Poor” for
Wellawatta. (Perera, Wattavidanage and Nilakarawasam, 2011c). Further these M-IBI scores
were positively correlated (r = 0.578) with habitat parameter (DO values) recorded from the
site and is known as a general environmental parameter to explain stream health or water
quality.
Table 04 : M-IBI scores and narrative rating (stream condition) received for ten tested sites.
Metrics used in the index developed for Colombo – Sri Jayawardhanapura Canal System such
as (1) overall species richness, (2) No of Hemipetera taxa, (3) No of Coleoptera taxa, (4) No
of Crustacea taxa, (5) % of Diptera, (6) % Odonata, (7) No of intolerant taxa, (8) No of
collector-gatherer taxa, (9) Shannon-wiener diversity index (H) and (10) Heterogeneity
showed exceptionally strong discrimination between reference and degraded sites. Most of
these metrics are universally accepted and widely in use for index development.
Table 05 shows a comparison of various merics used in 6 different locations for Benthic-
invertebrates based Index of Biotic Integrity (B-IBI) / Macroinvertebrates based Index of
Biotic Integrity (M-IBI) development in several other countries particularly in USA, Canada
and Mexico. As per details given there, metrics that were used for Colombo - Sri
Jayawardhanapura canal system such as; (1) Overall species richness, (7) No of intolerant
taxa, (8) No of collector-gatherer taxa and (10) Heterogeneity have been used frequently.
Remarkably, the metric called “No of intolerant taxa” has used five out of six IBI given there
and for “overall species richness” it was four times.
Tag
No.
Site location
Canal name
M-IBI
score
Stream condition
(Narrative rating)
1
Senanayake Lane
Kotte canal
20
Poor
2
Nawala Road
Kotte canal
30
Fair
3
Narahenpita Rd - OUSL bridge
Kotte canal
36
Fair
4
Kirimandala Mawatha
Heen ela (canal)
32
Fair
5
Near St Peter's College
Wellawatta canal
17
Very Poor
6
Heen Marsh
Torington canal
28
Fair
7
Wetland restoration site
Kotte lake
28
Fair
8
Kotte bridge - near Lion's club
Kotte canal
18
Poor
9
Buthgamuwa - Kolonnawa Marsh
Kolonnawa canal
36
Fair
10
Heen Marsh - near Royal Park
Heen ela (canal)
40
Good
Metrics
M-IBI Colombo
– Jaya.pura
Canal system
B-IBI -
Southeastern
Minnesota
West-central
Mexico
Okanagan
Streams (5
metrics)
Maryland
streams
Bulkley TSA B-
IBI
M-IBI St. Croix
River,
Minnesota
1
Overall Species Richness
- -
- -
2
No of Hemiptera Taxa
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
3
No of Coleoptera Taxa
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
4
No of Crustacea Taxa
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
5
% of Diptera
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
6
% of Odonata
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
7
No of Intolerant Taxa
- -
8
No Collector-Gatherer Taxa
- -
- -
- -
- -
9
Shannon-Wiener index (H)
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
10
Heterogeneity
- -
- -
- -
11
No Plecoptera Taxa
- -
- -
- -
12
No Ephemeroptera Taxa
- -
- -
- -
13
Avg No Clinger Taxa
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
14
No Trichoptera Taxa
- -
- -
- -
- -
15
No Chironomidae Taxa
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
16
No POET Taxa
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
17
% Tolerant Taxa
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
18
No Clinger Taxa
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
19
No Tanytarsini Taxa
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
20
No Filterer Taxa
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
21
% Amphipoda Taxa
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
22
No of EPT taxa
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
23
% Ephemeroptera
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
24
% Tanytarsini of Chiron.
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
25
Beck's Biotic Index
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
26
No of scraper taxa
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
27
% clingers
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
28
No of Diptera taxa
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
29
% collectors
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
30
% EPT
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
31
Hilsenhoff Biotic Index
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
32
% Predator individuals
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
33
% Gatherer taxa
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
34
% Chironomidae inds
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
35
% Plecoptera
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
36
% Long-lived
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
37
No Long-lived taxa
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
38
No predator taxa
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
Table 05 : Comparison of various metrics utilized for B-IBI / M-IBI developed in other regions of the
world (USA, Canada and Mexico)
However, as per Perera (2011) it was noted that some of the taxonomic groups that are
common in those regions are not regular in a tropical country like Sri Lanka. Hence it clearly
indicated that these indices are site specific; thus an accurate outcome can be obtained only
using records belong to a canal system or stream with similar habitat characteristics.
Conclusions / Recommendations
This literature review has proven the ability of using Macroinvertebrates as bioindicators for
stream or wetland health monitoring. Also it is understandable that it is already widely in
used particularly in most of the states in America as well as Canada those are mainly
connected with Great Lakes.
The study carried out by Perera, Wattavidanage and Nilakarawasam, (2011a) revealed the
potential of using Tubifex spp, Freshwater shrimps and Damsel flies larvae as bioindicators
for monitoring stream (wetland) health particularly for some parameters like DO, BOD and
TDS. However, they have suggested that it would be more effective to use them
collaboratively rather independently to give an overall view.
Meanwhile, the M-IBI developed by the same team for the same canal system has proven the
potential of using it for biomonitoring and improving biotic integrity of streams/ wetlands.
Excluding monitoring the health of a natural freshwater ecosystem, M-IBI can be used for
monitoring the progress of restored or constructed ecosystems particularly for a renovated
wetland like Diyawannawa Oya and also for many other purposes like biodiversity
conservation, habitat restoration and watershed management programmes.
The index developed for Colombo – Sri Jayawardhanapura Canal System may provide a
valuable tool for government authorities and institutes engaged in water quality monitoring
and maintenance as well as research groups and school-based educational programs. With
appropriate training, citizens and students could use the index to obtain qualitative
information on their local streams.
References:
1. Bennett, S. , and Kieran Rysavy. 2003. A benthic Invertebrate Index of biological Integrity for Stream in
the Bulkley TSA (Filed Session 2002). Biologic Consulting Terrace, BC.
2. Blocksom, K.A. 2003. A Performance comparison of metric scoring methods for a multimetric index for
Mix-Atlantic Highlands streams. Environmental Management vol. 31, no. 5.pp. 670-682.
3. Chirhart, J. 2003. Development of a Macroinvertebrate Index of Biological Integrity (MIBI) for Rivers
and Streams of the St. Croix River Basin in Minnesota. Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Biological
Monitoring Program.
4. Dahanayaka, D. D. G. L., 2003. Some notes on macrobenthos in estuaries with an emphasis on
macrobenthic community structure of Negambo estuary. Sri Lanka Naturalist, VI(03-04) :pp. 26-31.
5. Galbrand, C., Lemieux, A.E.G., Cote, R. and Verma, M., 2007. Assessment of Constructed Wetland
Biological Integrity using Aquatic Macroinvertebrates. Biological Sciences [online], 7(2): 52-65.
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Environmental Monitoring, with Particular Reference to Mountain Ecosystems, Environmental
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http://www.epa.gov/bioindicators/html/invertebrate.html [accessed on 5th Feb,2008].
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Stream Health in the Okanagan. Environmental Protection Program, Ministry of Environment,
Penticton, BC.
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Macroinvertebrate Based Index of Biotic Integrity (M-IBI) to Monitor Stream Health of Colombo – Sri
Jayawardhanapura Canal System. MSc dissertation. Environmental Studies Unit, The Open University
of Sri Lanka, Nawala, Nugegoda.
11. Perera, L.G.R.Y., Wattavidanage, J. and Nilakarawasam, N. 2011a. Diversity, Abundance and
distribution of macroinvertebrates in Colombo canal system and the potential of using them as
bioindicators for stream health monitoring. Annual Academic Sessions 2011-Open University of Sri
Lanka. P. 262-265.
12. Perera, L. G. R. Y. , Wattavidanage, J. and Nilakarawasam, N., 2011c. Development of a
Macroinvertebrate – based Index of Biotic Integrity (M-IBI) for Colombo-Sri Jayawardhanapura Canal
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13. Stribling, J.B., Benjamin K. Jessup and Jeffrey S. White. 1998. Development of a Benthic Index of Biotic
Integrity for Maryland Streams. Report no. CBWP-EA-98-3. Tetra Tech, Inc. Owings Mills, MD 21117
and Daniel Boward & Marty Hurd, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Monitoring and Non-
Tidal Assessment Division, Annapolis, MD.
14. Weerasundara, G.A., A. Pathiratne, and H. H. Costa, 1999. Species Composition and abundance of
aquatic oligochaetes in Ihalagama Reservoir, a shallow perennial minor reservoir of Sri Lanka. Sri
Lanka Journal of Aquatic Sciences 4: 61-67.
15. Viklund, A., 2011. Aquatic Macroinvertebrates [online]. Krisweb. Available from:
http://www.krisweb.com/aqualife/insect.htm [ last accessed 28 June 2011]
16. Weigel, B.M. , L.J. Henne and Luis M. Martinez-Rivera, 2002. Macroinvertebrate-based index of biotic
integrity for protection of streams in West-Central Mexico. Journal of North American Benthological
Society, 21(4) : 686-700.
17. Wittman, E. and Mundahl. N., 2002. Development and validation of a benthic index of biotic integrity
(B-IBI) for streams in Southern Minnesota. Winona State University, Winona, MN 55987.