Search results for "bioassessment"

Dangerous relationships : biases in freshwater bioassessment based on observed to expected ratios

2018

Copyright by the Ecological Society of America The ecological assessment of freshwaters is currently primarily based on biological communities and the reference condition approach (RCA). In the RCA, the communities in streams and lakes disturbed by humans are compared with communities in reference conditions with no or minimal anthropogenic influence. The currently favored rationale is using selected community metrics for which the expected values (E) for each site are typically estimated from environmental variables using a predictive model based on the reference data. The proportional differences between the observed values (O) and E are then derived, and the decision rules for status ass…

Macrophytes in boreal streams: Characterizing and predicting native occurrence and abundance to assess human impact

2016

Abstract Macrophytes are a structurally and functionally essential element of stream ecosystems and therefore indispensable in assessment, protection and restoration of streams. Modelling based on continuous environmental gradients offers a potential approach to predict natural variability of communities and thereby improve detection of anthropogenic community change. Using data from minimally disturbed streams, we described natural macrophyte assemblages in pool and riffle habitats separately and in combination, and explored their variation across large scale environmental gradients. Specifically, we developed RIVPACS-type models to predict the presence and abundance of macrophyte taxa at …

Predictive models in assessment of macroinvertebrates in boreal rivers

2009

Jukka Aroviita tutki väitöskirjassaan jokien ja purojen biologisen tilan mittaamismenetelmiä. Aroviita osoitti, että ihmistoiminnan aiheuttamat biologiset muutokset voivat jäädä havaitsematta, jos eliöyhteisöjen luonnollista taustavaihtelua ei oteta kunnolla huomioon.- Tällöin vesistöjen saatetaan arvioida olevan paremmassa kunnossa kuin ne todellisuudessa ovatkaan. Muutosten tunnistamistarkkuuden tulisi olla mahdollisimman hyvä, sillä tila-arvioilla on myös juridisesti määräytyviä yhteiskunnallisia ja taloudellisia seuraamuksia, Aroviita toteaa. Vielä 1990-luvulla järvien ja jokien tilaa arvioitiin suurelta osin ihmisen näkökulmasta ja veden kemian perusteella. Nykylainsäädäntö edellyttää …

Environmental drivers of lake profundal macroinvertebrate community variation : implications for bioassessment

2011

An extended Benthic Quality Index for assessment of lake profundal macroinvertebrates: addition of indicator taxa by multivariate ordination and weig…

2014

The chironomid Benthic Quality Index (BQI) is a widely used metric in assessments of lake status. The BQI is based on 7 indicator taxa, which like most profundal fauna, often occur sporadically in low densities. Hence, a major weakness of the index is that it cannot be calculated when indicator taxa are not captured. Thus, an extension of the BQI that incorporates more macroinvertebrate taxa is desirable. We used 2 statistical approaches (Detrended Correspondence Analysis and Weighted Averaging) to estimate new benthic quality indicator scores for profundal macroinvertebrate taxa and to construct modified BQIs called Profundal Invertebrate Community Metrics (PICMs). We calibrated the PICMs …

Data from: The relevance of ecological status to ecosystem functions and services in a large boreal lake

2015

1. Environmental conventions aim to protect ecosystem structures and functions to provide goods and services for mankind. The degree of aquatic ecosystem naturalness, or ecological status as it is defined in the Water Framework Directive (WFD) of the European Union, is notionally linked to supplies of ecosystem services. In practice these links have rarely been documented or even investigated and, to justify conservation and management objectives based on the status indicators, it is essential to demonstrate their relationships to ecosystem functions and services. 2. The WFD requires member states to classify their surface waters aiming to achieve good ecological status of water bodies. How…