Macroinvertebrates in Estonian streams: the effects of habitat, season, and sampling effort on some common metrics of biological quality

Abstract

According to the EU Water Framework Directive, benthic macroinvertebrates are considered a biological quality element required for typology and classification of the ecological status of freshwaters. The effects of habitat, season, and sampling effort on three common quality metrics were studied in Estonian streams. More than 900 macroinvertebrate samples from minimally disturbed sites, collected in 1985-2002, were analysed. All metrics were significantly influenced by stream size, bottom substrate, flow velocity, and geographical location. The biological quality was the best 30-50 km from the stream source. The geographical distribution of the values of ASPT (mean sensitivity of a taxon) and DSFI (level of organic pollution) was markedly different from the geographical distribution of the values of NTAXA (taxa richness). All metrics also revealed lower quality for sandy than for stony bottom, and for low than for high flow velocity (except NTAXA). Unlike the other two metrics, ASPT did not depend on sampling season and depended much less on sampling method. Hence it could be recommended as a tool for transforming the biological quality derived from historical non-standard samples into modern terms.

The use of benthic macroinvertebrate families for river quality assessment in Lithuania

“…The observed relationships were in concordance with the River Continuum Concept also [65]. On the other hand, it is known, that DSFI became lower in the largest rivers than in the smallest sizes [62].…”

“…Physical environmental parameters as bottom structure and higher flow velocity influence the higher natural quality for EPT, ASPT and DSFI [62]. Families influenced positively by current velocity during this investigation were also treated as indicators of clean water according to BMWP: Hydroptilidae (6 scores according to BMWP, 6 scores according to BMWP-PL), Leptoceridae (10 and 10 scores), Ephemeridae (10 and 7 scores, respectively).…”

“…To demonstrate different aspects of water quality, integral metrics (including taxa richness, abundance, biodiversity, sensitive taxa and other metrics) are highly recommended [1,45,62]. Multimetric indices for fresh water bodies were developed in some European countries already [45,66,67].…”

Meander reconnection method determines restoration success for macroinvertebrate communities in a German lowland river

“…Ephemeroptera such as Baetis rhodani and Trichoptera such as Athripsodes cinereus and Hydroptila sp. that showed strongest positive responses to meander reconnection in our study were likely influenced by the improvement in available substrate types (Timm et al, ), but macroinvertebrates have generally been shown to profit from a diverse substrate heterogeneity (Buss et al, ; Garcia et al, ). River stretches with areas containing larger substrates support a higher number of macroinvertebrates than stretches consisting mainly of uniform small substrates (Duan et al, ; Pan et al, ).…”

Influence of environmental factors on the distribution of caddisfly (Trichoptera) communities in medium-sized lowland streams in Latvia

“…Alkalinity and nitrate ion concentration were the remaining significant local chemical variables. According to Timm et al (2008), the effect of bedrock on macroinvertebrates usually depends on its alkalinity.…”