Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
https://www.arca.fiocruz.br/handle/icict/17758
Type
ArticleCopyright
Open access
Collections
- IOC - Artigos de Periódicos [12642]
Metadata
Show full item record
RAPID BIOASSESSMENT PROTOCOLS USING BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES IN BRAZIL: EVALUATION OF TAXONOMIC SUFFICIENCY
Córregos vadeáveis
Ecologia de água doce
Região neotropical
Avaliação de métodos
Affilliation
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Avaliação e Promoção da Saúde Ambiental. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil.
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Avaliação e Promoção da Saúde Ambiental. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil.
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Laboratório de Avaliação e Promoção da Saúde Ambiental. Rio de Janeiro, RJ. Brasil.
Abstract
Rapid Bioassessment Protocols (RBPs) have been widely used to assess the ecological health of
aquatic ecosystems. Specific aims of RBPs for wadeable streams are to indicate the ecological condition of a
stream using low-cost protocols to allow long-term and widespread routine monitoring. Our study was
part of an ongoing effort to test and standardize a protocol using benthic macroinvertebrates as indicators
of the water quality of wadeable streams in southeast Brazil. One of the most controversial issues during
RBP development is deciding the taxonomic resolution that should be used. We evaluated how well genus-,
family-, and order-level taxonomic resolution detected a gradient of impairment. All 3 taxonomic resolutions
statistically discriminated reference, intermediately impaired, and impaired sites based on assemblage
structure, water-quality classification, and biotic index responses. Analysis at the genus level was more
effective than analysis at other levels of taxonomic resolution for discriminating sites that varied in
degradation conditions, especially when considering biotic index responses, but the lack of comprehensive
taxonomic keys and information about the ecology of those genera hinder their widespread use in
bioassessments. On the other hand, analyses at the order level had lower discriminating power to separate
reference sites from intermediately impaired sites when considering biotic index responses. Analyses at the
family level gave results similar to results at the genus level, and we support its use in a RBP program for this
region, at least until better keys and autoecological knowledge are available.
Keywords in Portuguese
BiomonitoramentoCórregos vadeáveis
Ecologia de água doce
Região neotropical
Avaliação de métodos
Share