Development of a Metric of Aquatic Invertebrates for Volunteers (MAIV): A Simple and Friendly Biotic Metric to Assess Ecological Quality of Streams

Abstract

Citizen science activities, involving local people in volunteer-supported and sustainable monitoring programs, are common. In this context, the objective of the present work was to develop a simple Metric of Aquatic Invertebrates for Volunteers (MAIV), including a user-friendly tool that can be easily accessed by volunteers, and to evaluate the efficiency of a volunteer monitoring program following an audit procedure. To obtain MAIV values, macroinvertebrate communities were reduced to 18 surrogate taxa, which represented an acceptable compromise between simplicity, efficiency, and reproducibility of the data, compared to the regular Water Framework Directive monitoring. When compared to results obtained with the National Classification System of Portugal, MAIV accurately detected moderate, poor, and bad ecological status. Thus, MAIV can be used by volunteers as a complement to the official monitoring program, as well as a prospective early warning tool for local problems related to ecological quality. Volunteers were students supervised by their teachers. Results obtained by volunteers were compared to results obtained by experts on macroinvertebrate identification to measure the efficiency of the procedure, by counting gains and losses on sorting, and identification. Characteristics of groups of volunteers (age and school level) did not influence significantly the efficiency of the procedure, and generally results of volunteers and experts matched.

Ecological characterisation of urban ponds in the Netherlands: a study based on data collected by volunteers

“…Although differences may exist between inventories made by volunteers and professionals (e.g. Peeters et al 2022), results of volunteers and experts generally matched (Pinto et al 2020).…”

Procesos participativos para el biomonitoreo ambiental comunitario en las cuencas Cuitzmala y Purificación, México

“…Así mismo, algunos docentes hicieron hincapié en que este era un ejemplo de poner en práctica lo que aprendían en el aula y se interesaron por que los alumnos pudieran realizar el cálculo del índice. La identificación taxonómica de los insectos acuáticos fue una de las principales dificultades entre los grupos participantes, este problema fue también reportado por Pinto et al (2020) en los monitoreos realizados por 36 grupos de estudiantes de secundaria en Portugal. Lo anterior, de acuerdo con la Agencia de Protección Am- biental de Estados Unidos (usepa por sus siglas en inglés, 1997) puede ser mejorado a medida que los participantes van adquiriendo más experiencia y cuentan con materiales adecuados que apoyen el proceso de identificación.…”

Citizen Science and Biological Invasions: A Review

“…The development of userfriendly tools and metrics enables the participation of a wider range of people. For example, the Metric of Aquatic Invertebrates for Volunteers (MAIV) enabled elementary and middle school students from Southern Portugal to evaluate the ecological status of streams (Pinto et al, 2020).…”