Development and Evaluation of a Macroinvertebrate Biotic Integrity Index (MBII) for Regionally Assessing Mid-Atlantic Highlands Streams

Abstract

The Macroinvertebrate Biotic Integrity Index (MBII) was developed from data collected at 574 wadeable stream reaches in the Mid-Atlantic Highlands region (MAHR) by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP). Over 100 candidate metrics were evaluated for range, precision, responsiveness to various disturbances, relationship to catchment area, and redundancy. Seven metrics were selected, representing taxa richness (Ephemeroptera richness, Plecoptera richness, Trichoptera richness), assemblage composition (percent non-insect individuals, percent 5 dominant taxa), pollution tolerance [Macroinvertebrate Tolerance Index (MTI)], and one functional feeding group (collector-filterer richness). We scored metrics and summed them, then ranked the resulting index through use of independently evaluated reference stream reaches. Although sites were classified into lowland and upland ecoregional groups, we did not need to develop separate scoring criteria for each ecoregional group. We were able to use the same metrics for pool and riffle composite samples, but we had to score them differently. Using the EMAP probability design, we inferred the results, with known confidence bounds, to the 167,797 kilometers of wadeable streams in the Mid-Atlantic Highlands. We classified 17% of the target stream length in the MAHR as good, 57% as fair, and 26% as poor. Pool-dominated reaches were relatively rare in the MAHR, and the usefulness of the MBII was more difficult to assess in these reaches. The process used for developing the MBII is widely applicable and resulted in an index effective in evaluating region-wide conditions and distinguishing good and impaired reaches among both upland and lowland streams dominated by riffle habitat.

Ecological informatics approach to screening of integrity metrics based on benthic macroinvertebrates in streams

“…Based on the literature (Barbour et al, 1999;Blocksom et al, 2002;Klemm et al, 2002;Klemm et al, 2003;Bo¨hmer et al, 2004;Ode et al, 2005;Hargett and Zumberge, 2006;Purcell et al, 2009), 37 metrics were initially chosen from community data of benthic macroinvertebrates (Table 1). Kerans and Karr (1994) and Klemm et al (2003) proposed five categories of metrics including richness, tolerance, composition, functional feeding group, and habitat type, while Stoddard et al (2009) classified candidate metrics in six categories with the addition of diversity. In this study, we chose four categories: diversity, richness, tolerance, and composition, because functional feeding groups and habitat types frequently overlapped within the family level (e.g., Baetidae presenting scraper and collector-gatherer at the same time).…”

“…Up to 237 metrics (Whittier et al, 2007) have been reported and accordingly evaluated in streams (Kerans and Karr, 1994;Barbour et al, 1999;Klemm et al, 2002;Blocksom, 2003;Bo¨hmer et al, 2004;Ode et al, 2005;Whittier et al, 2007;Stoddard et al, 2009) and in lakes Solimini et al, 2008;Taowu et al, 2008;Trigal et al, 2009). The criteria used for selection were the degree of gradient (i.e., presenting the overall impact of an environment), discriminatory power Klemm et al, 2003), and the decrease in redundancy among similar metrics (Klemm et al, 2003).…”

Developing a Benthic Index of Biological Integrity and Some Relationships to Environmental Factors in the Subtropical Xiangxi River, China

“…The metrics were based on the structure, composition, and assemblage pattern of benthic macroinvertebrate species (KERANS and KARR, 1994;BARBOUR et al, 1999;MAXTED et al, 2000;BLOCKSOM et al, 2002;KLEMM et al, 2003). The B-IBI metrics were categorized into six main groups, namely richness measures, composition measures, tolerance measures, feeding measures, habitat measures and biodiversity index (Table 1).…”

“…In addition to using fish assemblages for bioassessment (KARR, 1981), the IBI has also been used with other aquatic organisms, such as benthic macroinvertebrates (PLAFKIN et al, 1989;YODER and SMITH, 1999) and periphyton (KERANS and KARR, 1994;HILL et al, 2000). Benthic macroinvertebrates are directly linked to aquatic habitats and the abundance and community structure of benthos are related to chemical and physical conditions, and to substrate type, channel morphology, and type of detritus and aquatic vegetation (RICHARDS and HOST, 1994;KLEMM et al, 2003). The invertebrates are also affected indirectly by changing nutrient concentrations and shifts in primary productivity (RICHARDS and HOST, 1994;WANG and STEVENSON, 2005).…”

Development of a benthic multimetric index for the Serra da Bocaina bioregion in Southeast Brazil

“…Based on the procedures described in Klemm et al (2003), Baptista et al (2007) and Baptista et al (2011) we followed four steps to develop the Multimetric Index for Serra da Bocaina (MISB). First we tested if metrics defined in the SOMI (Family Richness, Ephemeroptera + Plecoptera + Trichoptera (EPT) Richness, % Coleoptera, % Diptera, BMWP-CETEC, % Shredders) could be used for SB region.…”