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

Abstract

-Benthic macroinvertebrates are considered as a representative taxon that indicates the ecological status of freshwater ecosystems. Numerous indices derived from community data have been proposed to estimate either biological water quality or ecosystem health. In this study, metrics based on benthic macroinvertebrates at the family level were screened using ecological informatics to provide a multi-metric measurement that would be suitable for presenting ecological integrity across different levels of environmental impact. Benthic macroinvertebrates were collected at a total of 720 sample sites from river basins and streams in Korea in 2009. Based on four categories of community status (i.e., diversity, richness, tolerance, and composition), 37 metrics were selected as initial candidates according to the literature. The candidate metrics were evaluated according to parameters including discriminatory power, redundancy, and responsiveness to stressors. Self-organizing map was utilized to assist the screening procedure by providing ordination, clustering, and visualization of metric and environmental data. Six metrics were finally selected as a multimetric and were compared with conventional indicators for presenting the ecological integrity of streams.

Stream biomonitoring using macroinvertebrates around the globe: a comparison of large-scale programs

“…It is being conducted in five main river basins, where 640-960 sites are selected for surveying diatoms, macroinvertebrates, and fish two times per year. Multitaxa community organization and water quality according to the Korean Saprobic Index (Bae et al 2011;Cho et al 2011;Jun et al 2012) are reported based on survey results. In this review, we analyze the NAEMP, which focus specifically on assessing the ecological health of South Korean streams.…”

“…Multimetric approaches for benthic macroinvertebrates are the most widely used approach for waterquality assessments (Bonada et al 2006). Large-scale multimetric indices have been developed for macroinvertebrates in many countries and continents (Klemm et al 2003;Hering et al 2006;Baptista et al 2007;Stoddard et al 2008;Moya et al 2011;Cho et al 2011;Jun et al 2012). The USEPA-NRSA uses both multimetric and O/E indices for assessing all wadeable streams in the conterminous USA Stoddard et al 2008;USEPA 2013).…”

“…That may be a new approach in biomonitoring programs, given that extensive sampling is conducted in reference sites. Other quantitative multivariate techniques employ artificial neural networks (i.e., self-organizing maps) by extracting complexity residing in community and metric data (Park et al 2004;Bae et al 2011;Cho et al 2011;Li et al 2012;Chon et al 2013). Also, the use of multiple biological traits (Statzner et al 2001;Menezes et al 2010;Marzin et al 2012) has been tested and this approach has advantages for large-scale applicability because aquatic invertebrates worldwide can be described and compared on the same scale for a given trait (Statzner et al 1997).…”

The response of phytoplankton, zooplankton and macrozoobenthos communities to change in the water supply from surface to groundwater in aquaculture ponds

“…These communities are significant indicators of ecological status of a range of water habitats and changes in abundance and diversity can be considered as a response to variations in water quality and might reflect modifications produced in freshwater food webs (Abrantes et al, 2009;Cho et al, 2011).…”

Ecological monitoring, assessment, and restoration of running waters in Korea

“…Ecological health assessment and restoration are important topics in this special issue. Cho et al (2011) consider the various metrics used to monitor benthic macroinvertebrates, in terms of stream biological water quality and ecosystem health, and test their utility in comparison with conventional indicators. J.H.…”