New Zealand's National River Water Quality Network: Long‐term trends in macroinvertebrate communities

Scarsbrook, Mike R.; Boothroyd, Ian; Quinn, John M.

doi:10.1080/00288330.2000.9516933

Cited by 41 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Had the study streams encompassed a wider range of impacts, more of the metrics used may have differentiated between site differences more clearly and consistently. Our finding that QMCI did not distinguish significant differences in impact between any of the sites supports the conclusion of Scarsbrook et al (2000) that QMCI may be less sensitive than MCI to variations between sites under certain circumstances. QMCI is more temporally variable as it is influenced by percentage community composition.…”

Section: Spatial and Temporal Variationssupporting

confidence: 77%

“…In addition, Stark (1985) noted little seasonal variation for MCI in a wide array of New Zealand streams, except where seasonal variability in discharge of effluent occurred. In contrast, recent evidence suggests elevated MCI values may be correlated with flood events (Boothroyd & Stark 2000), whereas Scarsbrook et al (2000) found clear long-term temporal trends in median MCI values at baseline sites of the National Rivers Water Quality Network.…”

Section: Spatial and Temporal Variationsmentioning

confidence: 45%

“…In New Zealand, most regulatory authorities undertake biological monitoring using macroinvertebrates (Collier et al 2000). Methods for sampling and data analysis, however, vary from place to place, and the ability to compare results between regions is therefore difficult, despite being important for defining trends in water quality at a national scale (e.g., Scarsbrook et al 2000). To assess the ability of biometrics to reflect differences in stream condition, and determine whether these assessments were consistent through time and space, we examined the accuracy and variance of six commonly used metrics in four low gradient, low altitude streams in Westland, South Island, New Zealand.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The hydroptilid caddisfly Oxyethira albiceps was excluded from calculations of number of EPT taxa and % EPT abundance because, unlike most other EPT taxa, it can be very abundant in enriched waters. These six indices are commonly used for investigating environmental impacts in New Zealand streams (e.g., Quinn & Hickey 1990;Collier et al 1998;Scarsbrook et al 2000). The time taken for processing (sorting and identification) of macroinvertebrates was recorded for each subsample size count and transect.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluation of invertebrate biometrics and the influence of subsample size using data from some Westland, New Zealand, lowland streams

Duggan¹,

Collier²,

Lambert³

2002

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research

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The accuracy and variability of six invertebrate biometrics (taxa richness, number of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (EPT) taxa, % EPT abundance, % dominant taxon, the Macroinvertebrate Community Index (MCI), and Quantitative MCI (QMCI)) were examined using data from four Westland, New Zealand, streams. All metrics except QMCI differed significantly among sites. Taxa richness and number of EPT taxa distinguished the most impacted site from the remaining sites. Significant temporal differences among streams occurred for % EPT abundance and MCI, and there were interaction effects for these plus % dominant taxon and QMCI, indicating that any differences among sites varied through time. Within individual streams, MCI and QMCI had low (<5%) variation about the mean from sampling of multiple transects, and the variation for all metrics generally stabilised when three transects were included. Increasing subsample size (100, 200, and 300 individuals) resulted in significant increases in estimates of richness measures and a decrease in MCI values.*Author for correspondence. M01043 Received 17 May 2001; accepted 17 August 2001Metric values obtained from random 100-count subsamples with replacement had low variability (<20%). Overall, our results suggest that 100-count subsamples collected from multiple transects within a site provide accurate assessments of most indices. However, richness measures, and biotic indices that are based on presence/absence (e.g., MCI), were more sensitive to low subsample size.

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Section: Spatial and Temporal Variationssupporting

confidence: 77%

Section: Spatial and Temporal Variationsmentioning

confidence: 45%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Evaluation of invertebrate biometrics and the influence of subsample size using data from some Westland, New Zealand, lowland streams

Duggan¹,

Collier²,

Lambert³

2002

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research

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“…As with any monitoring program, the value of sustained high-quality measurements only increases with time, and the New Zealand example allows insights into biological, physical and chemical linkages and changes, which would not be obtainable otherwise (e.g. Scarsbrook et al 2000Scarsbrook et al , 2003.…”

Section: Improved Monitoring For Australia's Aquatic Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observed climate change in Australian marine and freshwater environments

Hobday

Lough

2011

Mar. Freshwater Res.

120

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Relationships between invertebrate communities and both hydrological regime and other environmental factors across New Zealand's rivers

et al. 2014

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Robust relationships between biological characteristics and hydrological indices are required to provide a quantitative basis for environmental flows. Data from 1075 river sites distributed across New Zealand were used to investigate relationships between invertebrate communities and flow regimes, whilst also including the influence of additional environmental factors. Variance decomposition analysis was used to investigate the proportion of variance explained by hydrological, geomorphological, land cover, and catchment characteristics for the community matrix and each of three biotic indices representing taxon richness, Macroinvertebrate Community Index, and percentage of species in the Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera orders. Results showed that hydrological regime contributes a unique component to the explainable variation in the community, but this contribution is overestimated if other explanatory factors are not considered. A gradient forest model comprised of 93 random forest models, each predicting the probability of occurrence of a taxon, indicated the importance of high flows and also other dimensions of hydrological variation for predicting invertebrate taxa and biotic indices. Although many freshwater invertebrates in New Zealand are well adapted to a range of flow conditions through resistance traits and/or rapid colonization, this study suggests that several aspects of the flow regime influence invertebrate communities. These results suggest that environmental flows may be designed to sustain or even optimize specific ecological attributes or taxa, but changes along several dimensions of hydrological variability are likely to disadvantage other taxa and change invertebrate community composition. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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New Zealand's National River Water Quality Network: Long‐term trends in macroinvertebrate communities

Cited by 41 publications

References 18 publications

Evaluation of invertebrate biometrics and the influence of subsample size using data from some Westland, New Zealand, lowland streams

Evaluation of invertebrate biometrics and the influence of subsample size using data from some Westland, New Zealand, lowland streams

Observed climate change in Australian marine and freshwater environments

Relationships between invertebrate communities and both hydrological regime and other environmental factors across New Zealand's rivers

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