Biological water quality assessment of running waters based on macroinvertebrate communities: History and present status in Europe

Metcalfe, J. L.

doi:10.1016/0269-7491(89)90223-6

Cited by 456 publications

(275 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…The BMWP score was designed to give a general indication of the biological conditions of rivers. Each macroinvertebrate family is given a score between one and ten, based upon its susceptibility to organic pollution (Metcalfe, 1989). The ASPT is calculated by dividing the BMWP score by the number of taxa.…”

Section: Water Quality Monitoringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological Recovery of the River Pelenna (South Wales) Following the Passive Treatment of Abandoned Mine Drainage

Wiseman¹,

Edwards²,

Rutt³

2002

JASMR

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Abstract. From the 1960s to the late 1990s, the River Pelenna in South Wales was impacted for a distance of 7 km by five significant discharges from abandoned coal mines. Elevated iron and low pH caused significant orange staining and had detrimental effects on the river ecology. The River Pelenna Minewater Project constructed a series of passive wetland treatment systems to treat these discharges. Monitoring of the performance and environmental benefits of these has been undertaken as part of an ongoing Environment Agency R&D project. This project has assessed the changes in water quality as well as monitoring populations of invertebrates, fish and birds between 1993 and 2001.Performance data from the wetlands show that on average the three systems are removing between 82 and 95% of the iron loading from the minewaters. Downstream in the rivers the dissolved iron concentration has dropped to below the Environmental Quality Standard (EQS) of 1 mg/l for the majority of the time. Increases in pH downstream of the discharges have also been demonstrated.Trout (Salmo trutta) recovered quickly following minewater treatment, returning the next year to areas that previously had no fish. Intermittent problems with overflows from the treatment systems temporarily depleted the numbers, but the latest data indicate a thriving population. The overflow problems and also background episodes of acidity have affected the recovery of the riverine invertebrates. However there have been gradual improvements in the catchment, and in the summer of 2001 most sites held faunas, which approached unpolluted controls. Recovery of the invertebrate fauna is reflected in marked increases in the breeding success of riverine birds between 1996 and 2001.This study has shown that constructed wetlands can be an effective, low cost and sustainable solution to ecological damage caused by abandoned mine drainage. ___________________

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Section: Water Quality Monitoringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological Recovery of the River Pelenna (South Wales) Following the Passive Treatment of Abandoned Mine Drainage

Wiseman¹,

Edwards²,

Rutt³

2002

JASMR

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“…The most commonly used variables to monitor water quality at present include physical and chemical attributes (e.g., pH, conductivity, water temperature, current speed, streamflow, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD 5 ), chemical oxygen demand (COD), phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, and oils and grease) as well as biological attributes (e.g., benthonic macroinvertebrates, fish, algae, and bacteria). While physical and chemical analyses are capable of detecting pollutants directly, they only reflect water quality at the moment of sampling (Metcalfe 1989, Alba-Tercedor 1996. In contrast, biological communities provide a more faithful reflection of environmental conditions, since they are continually exposed to them (Rosenberg & Resh 1993).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An accurate assessment of the aesthetic, recreational, and ecological value of lakes and rivers is only possible using an integrated approach to water quality, i.e., by taking into account the vegetation, anthropogenic activities, and other biotic components of the area under study (Allan 1995, Metcalfe 1989.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A comparative analysis of biotic indices that use macroinvertebrates to assess water quality in a coastal river of Paraná state, southern Brazil

Gonçalves

Menezes

2011

Biota Neotrop.

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MENEZES, M.S. A comparative analysis of biotic indices that use macroinvertebrates to assess water quality in a coastal river of Paraná state, southern Brazil. Biota Neotrop. 11(4): http://www. biotaneotropica.org.br/v11n4/en/abstract?article+bn00411042011.Abstract: Biotic indices to monitor water quality are helpful tools for evaluating the health of rivers and lakes. In Brazil water samples are mainly analyzed using physical and chemical attributes, because most biotic indices were developed in other countries and their effective application to Brazilian ecosystems requires significant research. This study compared four biotic indices commonly used to evaluate water quality via benthic macroinvertebrates in order to determine which index best reflects ecosystem health in a coastal river in Brazil's Paraná state. We also analyzed functional feeding groups. The indices studied were: 1) EPT (percent of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera); 2) BMWP' (Biological Monitoring Work Party System); 3) BMWP'-ASPT (Average Score per Taxon); and 4) HFBI (Hilsenhoff Family Biotic Index). All indices were calculated from five samples collected from April 2005 to April 2006 at two stations on the coastal do Pinto River. The river's headwaters are inside a protected area but impacts increase downriver (e.g., towns, cattle grazing, tourism). The HFBI index did the poorest job of reflecting water quality. No one index performed better than the others, and all indices yielded water quality scores that did not accurately reflect macroinvertebrate community structure because all of them had differences between ordination scores and the structure of assemblage. The functional feeding groups protocol classified the lower stretch of the river as disturbed due to human impacts, suggesting that this method is a good one to evaluate health in environments.

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“…Many comparative studies have examined the effects of agriculture on benthic macroinvertebrates, as invertebrates may be utilized as indicators of habitat conditions (Wright et al 1984;Metcalfe 1989;Merritt et al 2008). These studies have been conducted at the community level (Wright et al 1984;Richards and Minshall 1992;Robinson et al 2004) and at the level of single taxon responses (Newell and Minshall 1978;Vodopich and Cowell 1984).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These studies have been conducted at the community level (Wright et al 1984;Richards and Minshall 1992;Robinson et al 2004) and at the level of single taxon responses (Newell and Minshall 1978;Vodopich and Cowell 1984). These studies suggest that macroinvertebrates are useful as environmental indicators due to gradients of responses among taxa to environmental variables (Metcalfe 1989) and can also be used to describe system recovery following local disturbance (Robinson et al 2004). However, it is difficult to use bioindicators to precisely identify the source and extent of degradation in the habitat due to the multitude of factors influenced by anthropogenic disturbances.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interactions between macroinvertebrate taxa and complex environmental gradients influencing abundance and distribution in the Umatilla River, Northeastern Oregon

Scherr

Wooster²,

Rao

2011

Journal of Freshwater Ecology

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Non-parametric multiplicative regression was used to develop regression models for six macroinvertebrate genera present in the Umatilla River in northeastern Oregon. For all taxa, elevation, turbidity, and conductivity were identified as predictors. They described between 25.5% and 63.4% of the variation in the abundance of the six taxa. Sensitivity analysis of the parameters showed the relative importance of the model parameters as predictors of abundance, with conductivity having a broader range of sensitivity values than either elevation or turbidity. Daily average temperature, percentage of algal cover, depth, and width were also shown to be possible predictors of taxa abundance. As all the variables examined in this study are potentially impacted by non-target effects of agriculture in rivers, these results indicated that agriculture disturbance in the adjacent landscape affects the abundance and distribution of benthic indicator taxa.

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Biological water quality assessment of running waters based on macroinvertebrate communities: History and present status in Europe

Cited by 456 publications

References 23 publications

Ecological Recovery of the River Pelenna (South Wales) Following the Passive Treatment of Abandoned Mine Drainage

Ecological Recovery of the River Pelenna (South Wales) Following the Passive Treatment of Abandoned Mine Drainage

A comparative analysis of biotic indices that use macroinvertebrates to assess water quality in a coastal river of Paraná state, southern Brazil

Interactions between macroinvertebrate taxa and complex environmental gradients influencing abundance and distribution in the Umatilla River, Northeastern Oregon

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