Design and implementation of rapid assessment approaches for water resource monitoring using benthic macroinvertebrates

Abstract

Benthic macroinvertebrates are the group of organisms most widely used for assessment of water resources. Rapid assessment approaches are intended to be efficient and cost effective; savings are found in reduced sampling and more efficient data analysis. Rapid bioassessment programmes have been quickly accepted and now cover most of the United States (US) and equivalent programmes cover all of the United Kingdom (UK). Rapid bioassessment programmes are designed to screen large regions, pinpointing trouble spots worthy of more detailed attention.Fundamental to all rapid bioassessment methods is the classification of streams so that comparisons can be made between reference areas and areas of concem, or test sites with similar characteristics. Both the UK and US approaches assess habitat characteristics. These characteristics are used to predict the fauna expected at a test site in the UK approach; in the US they are used as an aid to classification and interpretation of aquatic faunal data. Habitat assessments in the US are also used to determine whether poor water quality or degraded habitat are stressing the invertebrate communities. This is a major development in approaches to water resource assessment.In the UK, a model developed using multivariate statistics uses a few environmental variables thought to be unaffected by human activities to predict the fauna expected at a test site. The US approaches analyse data using several indices (or metrics) presumed to represent ecological features of interest. These indices have a range of sensitivities to different kinds of stress and must be calibrated for the area of interest. The two approaches have been developed in isolation but may have much to offer each other. Developing programmes are advised to consider both.Future needs include: development of procedures that can be applied to large rivers and to lakes; further refinement of ecological principles underlying metric choice; the inclusion of chemical criteria and toxicity tests to establish thresholds that indicate impairment; and development of criteria indicating the necessity for implementation of quantitative assessment studies.

Reliable sample sizes for estimating similarity among macroinvertebrate assemblages in tropical streams

“…Some studies have already outlined that high sampling effort may be needed in species-rich systems (Resh and Jackson, 1993;Li et al, 2001) or those with a high proportion of rare species (singletons or doubletons; Cao et al, 2001;Kanno et al, 2009), such as tropical streams Froehlich, 2001a, 2001b;Melo, 2004). Using the criterion of inclusion in the 95% CI of the largest sample size, our data indicate that a minimum of 9-15 sampling units or 150-850 individuals should be obtained for the estimation of resemblance using assemblage composition in tropical streams.…”

Ecological informatics approach to screening of integrity metrics based on benthic macroinvertebrates in streams

“…The family-level metrics could overcome the problem of species level identification of benthic macroinvertebrates, which results in technical difficulties, increased time, and cost (Resh et al, 1995;Waite et al, 2004). Taxonomic resolution was compared using macroinvertebrates for bioassessment, and led to the possibility of using the family or genus levels for monitoring (Pond et al, 2008;Trigal-Domı´nguez et al, 2010).…”

Spatial and temporal variation of benthic macroinvertebrates in the Nam Gnom Basin receiving discharged waters from the Nam Theun 2 Reservoir (Lao PDR)

“…Macroinvertebrates are widely used for that purpose (Armitage, 1984;Boon, 1988;Moog, 1993;Cortes et al, 1998;Ogbeibu & Oribhabor, 2002). Their ubiquitous occurrence, high species richness, and limited migration patterns provide a large spectrum of responses to environmental changes including short to long-term cumulative effects (Resh et al, 1995).…”