Environmental Quality Assessment Using Stream Fishes

Simon, Thomas P.; Evans, Nathan T.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-813047-6.00017-6

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Freshwater fishes provide vital ecosystem services to humans including protein, recreation (McIntyre et al 2016) and food web regulation (Holmlund and Hammer 1999). Due to the sensitivity of fishes to environmental stressors, such as chemical pollutants, pH and temperature, fish diversity is often used as a metric of river ecosystem health (Bae et al 2014;Marzin et al 2012;Simon and Evans 2017;Vörösmarty et al 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating fish alpha- and beta-diversity along a small stream with environmental DNA metabarcoding

Li¹,

Evans²,

Renshaw³

et al. 2018

MBMG

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Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding has been increasingly applied to biodiversity surveys in stream ecosystems. In stream networks, the accuracy of eDNA-based biodiversity assessment depends on whether the upstream eDNA influx affects downstream detection. Biodiversity assessment in low-discharge streams should be less influenced by eDNA transport than in high-discharge streams. We estimated α- and β-diversity of the fish community from eDNA samples collected in a small Michigan (USA) stream from its headwaters to its confluence with a larger river. We found that α-diversity increased from upstream to downstream and, as predicted, we found a significant positive correlation between β-diversity and physical distance (stream length) between locations indicating species turnover along the longitudinal stream gradient. Sample replicates and different genetic markers showed similar species composition, supporting the consistency of the eDNA metabarcoding approach to estimate α- and β-diversity of fishes in low-discharge streams.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating fish alpha- and beta-diversity along a small stream with environmental DNA metabarcoding

Li¹,

Evans²,

Renshaw³

et al. 2018

MBMG

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“…The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and other government agencies began conducting biological assessments of aquatic ecosystems in the late 1980s (Plafkin et al 1989 ; Karr 1991 ), and their use continues to increase as new biotic indicators are developed (Ruaro and Gubiani 2013 ). The Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) approach, in particular, has emerged as an effective tool for monitoring aquatic ecosystem health (Karr 1981 ; Belpaire et al 2000 ; Ruaro and Gubiani 2013 ; Simon and Evans 2017 ). In the three decades since the IBI and its applications (e.g., Rapid Bioassessment Protocol; Plafkin et al 1989 ; Barbour et al 1999 ) were first introduced, biotic indicators have been developed for numerous taxonomic groups inhabiting a wide variety of aquatic ecosystems, including coastal wetlands of the Laurentian Great Lakes (e.g., Burton et al 1999 ; Seilheimer and Chow-Fraser 2006 ; Grabas et al 2012 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An expanded fish-based index of biotic integrity for Great Lakes coastal wetlands

Cooper

Lamberti

Moerke

et al. 2018

Environ Monit Assess

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Biotic indicators are useful for assessing ecosystem health because the structure of resident communities generally reflects abiotic conditions integrated over time. We used fish data collected over 5 years for 470 Great Lakes coastal wetlands to develop multi-metric indices of biotic integrity (IBI). Sampling and IBI development were stratified by vegetation type within each wetland to account for differences in physical habitat. Metrics were evaluated against numerous indices of anthropogenic disturbance derived from water quality and surrounding land-cover variables. Separate datasets were used for IBI development and testing. IBIs were composed of 10–11 metrics for each of four vegetation types (bulrush, cattail, water lily, and submersed aquatic vegetation). Scores of all IBIs correlated well with disturbance indices using the development data, and the accuracy of our IBIs was validated using the testing data. Our fish IBIs can be used to prioritize wetland protection and restoration efforts across the Great Lakes basin. The IBIs will also be useful in monitoring programs mandated by the Agreement between Canada and the United States of America on Great Lakes Water Quality, such as for assessing Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs) in Great Lakes Areas of Concern, and in other ecosystem management programs in Canada and the USA.

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“…The metrics were M 1 : total number of native fish species, M 2 : number of riffle-benthic species, M 3 : number of sensitive species, M 4 : percentage of individuals that are tolerant species, M 5 : percentage of individuals that are omnivorous species, M 6 : percentage of individuals that are native insectivorous species, M 7 : total number of native individuals, and M 8 : percentage of individuals that are exotic carnivorous species. Each metric was assigned a value of 5, 3, or 1 reflecting low, moderate, or high anthropogenic impact on the fish community in a lotic system, respectively (Simon and Evans, 2017). The expected values of M1-M3 and M7 vary by stream order.…”

Section: Integrated Assessment Of River Health Based On Mwpi and Mibimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fish assemblages in lotic systems can provide reliable information about changes in biological structure and function associated with environmental factors and human-induced disturbances (Schinegger et al, 2016;Simon and Evans, 2017). The diversity and abundance of fish are generally influenced by the availability of resources and the heterogeneity of habitats along downstream gradients (Matthews, 1998;Muneepeerakul et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combining functional diversity of lotic fish communities with river health assessment based on multi-metric chemical pollution and biological integrity index models

Jargal

Mamun²,

Choi³

et al. 2022

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Trait-based functional studies are widely used to elucidate the relationships between ecological indicators and environmental parameters as well as to predict functional change in aquatic biota in response to various types of human disturbance. Clarifying how functional traits of aquatic organisms depend on environmental conditions can facilitate aquatic conservation and management, but determining the importance of these traits to ecological river health requires further investigation. As fish play a key role in the assessment of ecological conditions, we examined the relevance of the functional diversity of lotic fish to the river health assessment using multi-metric models of water pollution (mWPI) and fish-based biological integrity (mIBI). Twelve fish traits related to food acquisition, environmental stability, and mobility were used for the functional analyses. Chemical river health was highly sensitive to downstream organic matter and nutrient pollution according to mWPI. Based on the present gradient of chemical health and water chemical variables, we identified three water quality groups (G-I, G-II, and G-III). G-I, G-II, and G-III showed low, intermediate, and high levels of water quality degradation, respectively. Spatially significant differences among these groups were observed for both the taxonomic and functional structures of lotic fish as well as ecological river health based on mIBI. The dominance of sensitive species was high in G-I, whereas tolerant and exotic species contributed strongly to the species compositions of G-II and G-III. Functional richness and dispersal were significantly reduced in G-III, and their decreases correlated with ecological health and the loss of species that are insectivorous, rheophilic, and sensitive to water pollution. Regarding redundancy analyses, both the models of functional trait metrics (F = 8.06, p < 0.001) and mIBI metrics (F = 4.88, p < 0.01) indicated good performance in terms of the variation in water quality and chemical river health parameters. Overall, the functional trait-based diversity of lotic fish is significant to the assessment of ecological river health and reflects water chemical quality. This association arises because niche occupation in functional space by all species, along with their abundance distribution, is highly responsive to the loss of species with sensitive traits due to water pollution.

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Environmental Quality Assessment Using Stream Fishes

Cited by 9 publications

References 43 publications

Estimating fish alpha- and beta-diversity along a small stream with environmental DNA metabarcoding

Estimating fish alpha- and beta-diversity along a small stream with environmental DNA metabarcoding

An expanded fish-based index of biotic integrity for Great Lakes coastal wetlands

Combining functional diversity of lotic fish communities with river health assessment based on multi-metric chemical pollution and biological integrity index models

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