A diatom-based index for the biological assessment of eastern Canadian rivers: an application of correspondence analysis (CA)

Lavoie, Isabelle; Campeau, Stéphane; Grenier, Martine; Dillon, Peter J.

doi:10.1139/f06-084

Cited by 79 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…When using the relative abundance of acidophilic diatoms to classify sites, the two sampling protocols classified 83% of sites in the same category. This higher percentage may be due to less variability associated with AMD impacts than with agricultural stressors that can vary greatly as a result of rainfall and land use management practices (Allan, 2004;Lavoie et al, 2006). The results of this study support the collection of MHS because metrics had stronger relationships with land use than metrics calculated from EHS, which gives support to more reliable classifications designated by MHS than by EHS.…”

Section: Similarity Between Mhs and Ehssupporting

confidence: 53%

Using diatoms to assess human impacts on streams benefits from multiple-habitat sampling

Smucker

Vis

2010

Hydrobiologia

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Benthic diatoms are important indicators of human impacts on streams. Epilithic diatoms are collected most often for bioassessments, but potentially important ecological information from other habitats could be missed. Within our study region, substrata ranged from 100% rock to 100% sandy silt at 61 sites, leading us to question the appropriateness of sampling solely epilithic surfaces in riffles. We compared two protocols for collecting diatoms:(1) epilithic habitat samples (EHS) within riffles and (2) multi-habitat samples (MHS), which proportionately included different habitats (e.g., riffles and pools) and substrata (e.g., sand, silt, and rock). Three streams were not compared because rocks were absent. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling indicated that diatom communities from EHS and MHS responded similarly to alkalinity and agricultural gradients, and Procrustes analysis showed that ordinations were similar (P \ 0.01). Percent motile diatoms and metrics indicating high or low P and N from MHS showed stronger relationships with land use variables than those metrics from EHS. Bray-Curtis (BC) similarity between the protocols increased as diversity and richness decreased in MHS, as agricultural impacts increased, and as motile diatoms became more abundant in EHS, which likely indicated greater habitat homogeneity or an overriding effect of water chemistry. The two protocols classified 78% of sites concordantly as minimally impacted or impacted. Multi-habitat sampling is preferred where stream habitats vary greatly because it assessed land use impacts more effectively than EHS, while indicating water chemistry impacts as effectively. Multiple habitats also contained greater species diversity, which is important to documenting species distributions, and were always available for sampling, whereas epilithic habitats could be sparse or absent.

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Section: Similarity Between Mhs and Ehssupporting

confidence: 53%

Using diatoms to assess human impacts on streams benefits from multiple-habitat sampling

Smucker

Vis

2010

Hydrobiologia

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“…The Eastern Canadian Diatom Index (IDEC; Indice Diatomées de l'Est du Canada [12,36]) was used to evaluate general biological integrity of the sampling sites. The IDEC was specifically developed to estimate water quality in Quebec and Ontario streams in agricultural and urban areas, and mainly informs on trophic status (nutrients), salinity, pH and organic matter loads [12,36].…”

Section: Water Chemistry and Diatom Assemblage Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The IDEC was specifically developed to estimate water quality in Quebec and Ontario streams in agricultural and urban areas, and mainly informs on trophic status (nutrients), salinity, pH and organic matter loads [12,36]. An IDEC value was calculated for each diatom assemblage using the IDEC-neutral, which is the recommended sub-index to use based on the characteristics of the studied watersheds (geology, surficial deposits [12,36,37]). IDEC scores range between 0 and 100, with low values indicating poor biological integrity.…”

Section: Water Chemistry and Diatom Assemblage Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The other taxa characterizing group 3, such as small species identified here as belonging to the Eolimna minima complex and Nitzschia palea aff. debilis form 2 are indicators of nutrient-rich environments as well [36,57,59]. Gomphonema clavatum (sensu Krammer and Lange-Bertalot [63]) was also abundant at site JC9 (8%), but this species is usually not typical of high nutrients concentrations [63].…”

Section: Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Freshwater Diatoms as Indicators of Combined Long-Term Mining and Urban Stressors in Junction Creek (Ontario, Canada)

et al. 2018

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Sudbury (Ontario, Canada) has a long mining history that has left the region with a distinctive legacy of environmental impacts. Several actions have been undertaken since the 1970s to rehabilitate this deteriorated environment, in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Despite a marked increase in environmental health, we show that the Junction Creek system remains under multiple stressors from present and past mining operations, and from urban-related pressures such as municipal wastewater treatment plants, golf courses and stormwater runoff. Water samples have elevated metal concentrations, with values reaching up to 1 mg·L −1 Ni, 40 µg·L −1 Zn, and 0.5 µg·L −1 Cd. The responses of diatoms to stressors were observed at the assemblage level (metal tolerant species, nutrient-loving species), and at the individual level through the presence of teratologies (abnormal diatom frustules). The cumulative criterion unit (CCU) approach was used as a proxy for metal toxicity to aquatic life and suggested elevated potential for toxicity at certain sites. Diatom teratologies were significantly less frequent at sites with CCU values <1, suggesting "background" metal concentrations as compared to sites with higher CCU values. The highest percentages of teratologies were observed at sites presenting multiple types of environmental pressures.

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“…The approach to exclude the rare taxa from our analyses resulted in slightly different lists of taxa depending on the metric used. We deliberately selected this approach because cut-off criteria are often used in algal community analysis (del Giorgio et al 1991;Lavoie et al 2006aLavoie et al , 2009Reavie et al 2010) and the excluded rare taxa may vary based on the metric used. For instance, a small-sized but abundant taxon may be excluded from an analysis based on biomass, but be included as a common taxon in an analysis based on cell abundance.…”

Section: Statistical Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phytoplankton community metrics based on absolute and relative abundance and biomass: implications for multivariate analyses

2010

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Phytoplankton and water samples were collected at 12 locations along the temperate lowland Rideau River, Ontario, Canada. The stations were visited twice a month from May to September 1998September , 1999September , and 2000. Phytoplankton communities were quantified based on cell abundance, entity abundance (colonies, filaments or free-living cells) and biomass (converted from biovolume estimates based on cell shape and biometry), and were expressed as absolute and relative values. The resulting phytoplankton dataset was composed of six different metrics. The general objective was to assess which metric best explained the spatial and temporal variability in the phytoplankton communities of the Rideau River in response to fluctuating environmental variables. Relationships between phytoplankton metrics and water quality variables were assessed using canonical correspondence analyses. The absolute cell abundance metric showed the best relationship with water quality, followed by the cell entity metric. The biomass metric showed the poorest relationship with water quality variables, indicating that accounting for cell size does not provide additional information. The data expressed as absolute values were consistently better predictors of water quality compared to relative values.

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A diatom-based index for the biological assessment of eastern Canadian rivers: an application of correspondence analysis (CA)

Cited by 79 publications

References 25 publications

Using diatoms to assess human impacts on streams benefits from multiple-habitat sampling

Using diatoms to assess human impacts on streams benefits from multiple-habitat sampling

Freshwater Diatoms as Indicators of Combined Long-Term Mining and Urban Stressors in Junction Creek (Ontario, Canada)

Phytoplankton community metrics based on absolute and relative abundance and biomass: implications for multivariate analyses

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