Ecology versus taxonomy: is there a middle ground?

Nielsen, Daryl L.; Shiel, R. J.; Smith, F.

doi:10.1007/978-94-011-4782-8_58

Cited by 13 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…As previous studies have indicted that identification of microfauna to a taxonomic level of family is sufficient to detect changes in communities in response to a disturbance (Nielsen et al, 1998;Clarke & Warwick, 2001), rotifers and microcrustaceans were identified to either the taxonomic level of family or genus following keys in Shiel (1995), with the exception of ostracods that were identified to class only.…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Riverine habitat heterogeneity: the role of slackwaters in providing hydrologic buffers for benthic microfauna

2009

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Slackwater habitats within lowland rivers support abundant biotic communities and provide these communities with a refuge from increases in discharge. These refuges allow biota to persist as discharges, vary and provide a source of colonists for slackwaters further downstream. In order to investigate the response of slackwater benthic microfaunal communities to changes in discharge, artificial slackwaters were created within the main channel of a lowland river and benthic microfaunal communities were sampled over a 60-day period. Benthic microfauna within the artificial and reference slackwaters were recorded in higher richness and abundance than in the main river channel. Within days the communities in the artificial slackwaters were similar to those in the reference slackwaters. The rapid speed of colonisation suggests that initial colonisation of slackwaters is likely to occur via active or passive dispersal of biota and that these systems and communities are resilient to changes in discharge.

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Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Riverine habitat heterogeneity: the role of slackwaters in providing hydrologic buffers for benthic microfauna

2009

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“…However, Bonada et al (2006) stated that, in field-based methods, macro-invertebrates are typically identified at the family level (Chutter, 1998;Prat et al, 2000). Taxonomic resolution at the genus or species level may yield greater precision and information (Furse et al, 1984;Resh, 1995;Stubauer & Moog, 2000;Bailey et al, 2001;Lenat & Resh, 2001), although some authors point out that family-level data may show patterns of community distribution that are similar to patterns based on genus or species-level data (Furse et al, 1984;Rutt et al, 1993;Marchant et al, 1995;Bowman & Bailey, 1997;Nielsen et al, 1998). Consequently, numerous biotic indices employ a family-level taxonomic resolution due to its simplicity and cost effectiveness (Armitage et al, 1983;Hilsenhoff, 1988;Chutter, 1998).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“HKH screening”: a field bio-assessment to evaluate the ecological status of streams in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region

2010

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“…It is important to point out that for E.B.I. evaluations it was necessary to identify all organisms at the genus and family level while for the characterization of the sampled communities it was sufficient to use a taxon key up to the family level (Bowman and Bailey 1997;Nielsen et al 1998). For each macrobenthos sample it was possible to calculate the following: Extended Biotic Index (E.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological and chemical monitoring of some major Calabrian (Italy) Rivers

Lucadamo

Filippis

Mezzotero

et al. 2007

Environ Monit Assess

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To address the problem of whether hydrographic basins of southern Italian regions such as Calabria are exposed to "ecological stability pressures," we here provide the first results of four chemical and biological (macroinvertebrates) monitoring activities. The data accumulated within four hydrographic basins between May and November of 2002, November of 2005 and May of 2006 showed that about 1/3 of the macrobenthos sampled among a total of 14 rivers in the northern-central part of Calabria region provided optimal environmental quality values of Extended Biotic Index (E.B.I.), 1/3 denoted a slight impairment and the remaining samples exhibited very strong environmental alterations. It is interesting to note that E.B.I. is directly correlated with the taxonomic richness plus abundance, and inversely with the dominating taxon. This suggests that high environmental quality values are rather positively correlated with spatial heterogeneity and taxa eveness. In addition, the more compromised stations were located on plain segments where anthropization is reported to be at its highest level and there the macrobenthic communities seem to be made up of mostly potamon type of taxa with a high abundance of collector euriecious organisms while better quality stations, mostly located at high altitude, are characterized by a considerable presence of E.P.T. taxa. Chemical parameters did not result to be substantially altered underling that the hydrologic and geomorphological alterations may play a primary role in the control of macrobenthic communities and environmental quality. Overall the above results suggest that E.B.I. variations seem to be highly coherent with changes of main biodiversity parameters and their joined application is an efficient tool for detecting ecological state alterations of lotic environments.

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Ecology versus taxonomy: is there a middle ground?

Cited by 13 publications

References 11 publications

Riverine habitat heterogeneity: the role of slackwaters in providing hydrologic buffers for benthic microfauna

Riverine habitat heterogeneity: the role of slackwaters in providing hydrologic buffers for benthic microfauna

“HKH screening”: a field bio-assessment to evaluate the ecological status of streams in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region

Biological and chemical monitoring of some major Calabrian (Italy) Rivers

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