Korean stream types based on benthic macroinvertebrate communities according to stream size and altitude

Abstract

Type-specific stream assessment systems based on biotic indicators are considered a main focus of future stream assessment in many European countries. However, there is a lack of information on type-specific differences of freshwater eco-regions in South Korea. We aimed to classify the stream types characterized by stream size and altitude. Analyzing the relationship between physical environmental variables and benthic macroinvertebrates collected between 2008 and 2015 at 1,020 sites (i.e. 13,366 samples) on a national scale in South Korea, we classified a total of five Korean stream types. All streams were divided into wadeable and non-wadeable streams using stream order and width. Wadeable streams were classified as mountain, highland, or lowland wadeable streams based on altitude. Nonwadeable streams were divided into lowland non-wadeable streams or rivers based on width. Mountain and highland streams significantly correlated with altitude, whereas others were distinctly related to stream order and width. We selected 25 indicator species sensitive to stream size and altitude. These assessments will provide preliminary information for development of a future biotic stream assessment system based on stream typology.

Distribution of benthic macroinvertebrate communities and assessment of water quality in a small UK river catchment

“…A limited composition of benthic macroinvertebrates accounted for a combination of ultimate (altitude, catchment area and slope) and proximate (BOD, phosphate-P, conductivity and discharge) factors. These factors align with studies of benthic macroinvertebrates in Asia countries [3,4].…”

“…While this study showed differences in catchment quality for altitudes between 31 and 140 m, other studies showed differences at much higher altitudes e.g. [2,4,30,31]. Lower altitude sites (S3-S5) had higher levels of conductivity, nutrients, ammonia-N and BOD and therefore suggests the impact of increased land use at these sections [22].…”

“…The relationship between an ecological metric and environmental variables may inform the source of stress or response experienced by an ecological indicator [1]. These relationships have been demonstrated between benthic macroinvertebrate communities and physicochemical variables in various studies [2][3][4]. In the case of urban rivers, the relationships could reveal the effect of multiple stressors collective termed "urban stream syndrome" [5] or by pollution.…”

Spatial distribution patterns of benthic macroinvertebrate functional feeding groups by stream size and gradient in Republic of Korea

“…This article investigated the distribution patterns of FFGs according to stream size and gradient on the national scale based on the RCC. The distribution of FFGs according to physical variables in the Republic of Korea was reported by Kim et al (2017). However, this study (1) confirmed the distribution of FFGs by adding sampling size (2,297), catchment area and slope that were not considered in the previous study, (2) set a biotic indicator using FFGs rather than distribution ratio of each FFG, (3) analyzed whether geology affects benthic macroinvertebrate communities.…”

“…Accordingly, continuous changes in various environmental variables due to the longitudinal gradient of stream are accompanied by changes in benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages. Among the various environmental variables, there are a number of physical variables that can influence benthic macroinvertebrate fauna regardless of water quality, which include stream order, catchment area, stream width, altitude, slope, geology, flow velocity, and streambed composition (Nelson and Lieberman 2002;Heino et al 2005;Merz and Ochikubo 2005;Jiang et al 2010;Li et al 2012;Jun et al 2016;Kim et al 2017). These physical variables also influence the distribution of FFGs by altering the food types.…”