Sample size in the monitoring of benthic macrofauna in the profundal of lakes: evaluation of the precision of estimates

Veijola, Heikki; Meriläinen, Jarmo J.; Marttila, Virpi

doi:10.1007/978-94-009-1655-5_46

Cited by 13 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Lake profundal benthic data. -Veijola et al (1996) investigated Lake Paasivesi, Lake Puruvesi, and Lake Haukivesi in Finland. Twenty-five Ekman grab units (289 cm 2 each) were collected from the profundal zone of each lake at random in June and again in September-October 1991.…”

Section: Data Setsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of Ecological Communities: The Problem of Sample Representativeness

Cao¹,

Williams²,

Larsen³

2002

Ecological Monographs

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Obtaining an adequate, representative sample of ecological communities to make taxon richness (TR) or compositional comparisons among sites is a continuing challenge. Although randomization in the collection of sample units is often used to assure that sampling is representative, randomization does not convey the concept of how well samples represent the community or site from which they are drawn. In ecological surveys, how well a sample represents a community or site literally means the similarity in taxon composition and relative abundance between a sample and the community from which it is drawn. Using both field and simulated data, we show that the proportion of the total taxon richness at a site (%TTR) achieved with a fixed sample size varies across sites, which in turn causes changes in site-to-site differences in observed TR with sample size. This means that equal-sized samples may differentially represent the communities from which they are drawn. However, the similarity of a sample to the community from which it is drawn cannot be measured directly because the taxon composition and relative abundance of the community is usually unknown. We propose to estimate it by measuring the average similarity among replicate samples randomly drawn from a community, i.e., autosimilarity, which is measured with Jaccard Coefficient in this study. Using the same data sets, we found that:(1) samples of equal size from different sites or communities achieved different levels of autosimilarity, with lower levels achieved in taxon richer sites, indicating variation in how well samples of equal size represent their respective communities; (2) %TTR was positively and almost linearly correlated with autosimilarity, indicating that autosimilarity might be a good predictor of TTR; and (3) when samples were compared at the same level of autosimilarity, similar %TTRs across different sites were achieved (i.e., the relative differences in taxon richness among sites became independent of sample size). We conclude that standardization on autosimilarity, rather than on sample size, can improve the accuracy of taxon richness comparisons.

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Section: Data Setsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of Ecological Communities: The Problem of Sample Representativeness

Cao¹,

Williams²,

Larsen³

2002

Ecological Monographs

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“…However, even where the substratum is apparently uniform, aggregated distributions are still found (Shipley 1987). Aggregation has been demonstrated in the benthic fauna of lakes and large rivers (Downing 1979, Veijola et al 1996 in streams (Resh 1979, Morin 1985 and in the ocean (Vézina 1988) and appears to be a universal feature among benthic invertebrate populations. Resh (1979) demonstrated the effect of spatial variability among stream insects by comparing densities of a common caddisfly, Cheumatopsyche pettiti in 26 pairs of Surber samples taken side by side in a uniform stream riffle.…”

Section: Spatial Distribution Of Benthic Invertebratesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimization of field and laboratory methods for benthic invertebrate biomonitoring

Taylor

1997

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Hypothetical example of a log-normal distribution of individuals among different species in a benthic invertebrate community. (77) Examples of species abundances in benthic invertebrate samples. (78) APPENDIX Examples of taxonomic lists from benthic invertebrate samples xv Acknowledgements This report was written for the Aquatic Effects Technology Evaluation (AETE) program, a cooperative program among the Canadian mining industry and responsible agencies of the federal government and most provincial governments. The project was directed by Lise Trudel of the Canada Centre for Mineral and Energy Technology (CANMET). Thorough and helpful reviews of earlier drafts by

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“…A drawback of these metrics is that, in the absence of indicators, index values cannot be calculated, or they rely on only a few individuals, reducing the applicability of the method. Furthermore, if indicator taxa occur at low densities, they may be missed due simply to sampling error (Resh & McElravy, 1993;Veijola, Meriläinen & Marttila, 1996). Nevertheless, indices are considered easy to calculate and communicate to the general audience, and are therefore commonly used in biomonitoring as evidence of anthropogenic impacts or lack thereof (Hellawell, 1986).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of emergence phenology, taxa tolerances and taxonomic resolution on the use of the Chironomid Pupal Exuvial Technique in river biomonitoring

Raunio¹,

Paavola

Muotka

2006

Freshwater Biology

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1. We studied chironomid communities of four rivers in south-eastern Finland, differing in their water quality, during summer 2004 using the Chironomid Pupal Exuvial Technique, CPET. The aims of the study were to (i) test the adequacy of the generic-level identification in the CPET method, (ii) define the emergence patterns of chironomid taxa classified as intolerant to organic pollution, (iii) assess the tolerance levels of intolerant chironomids and (iv) identify taxa most indicative of good water quality. 2. Procrustean rotation analysis indicated very strong concordance between the ordinations using either species or genus-level data, suggesting that generic-level identification of chironomids is adequate for biomonitoring based on CPET. However, when only a few taxa occur in great numbers, it may be advisable to identify these to the species level, especially if these taxa are important indicators of the impact in question. 3. The detection of a particular species may require accurate timing of sampling, whereas a species-rich genus might be detected throughout a season. Given that the emergence of chironomid species may vary from year-to-year and between sampling sites, community differences detected at the species level may be related to between-site variation in species' emergence patterns rather than true differences in species composition. 4. Indicator species analysis (IndVal) showed that the distribution and abundance of intolerant chironomid taxa differed strongly among the studied rivers. Some of the intolerant taxa were restricted to unimpacted conditions, whereas others occurred mainly in impacted rivers. Thus, the indicator status of some genera (e.g. Eukiefferiella, Parametriocnemus, Stempellinella and Tvetenia) needs reassessment.

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Sample size in the monitoring of benthic macrofauna in the profundal of lakes: evaluation of the precision of estimates

Cited by 13 publications

References 27 publications

Comparison of Ecological Communities: The Problem of Sample Representativeness

Comparison of Ecological Communities: The Problem of Sample Representativeness

Optimization of field and laboratory methods for benthic invertebrate biomonitoring

Effects of emergence phenology, taxa tolerances and taxonomic resolution on the use of the Chironomid Pupal Exuvial Technique in river biomonitoring

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