Tolerance values of benthic macroinvertebrates for stream biomonitoring: assessment of assumptions underlying scoring systems worldwide |
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Authors: | Feng-Hsun Chang Justin E Lawrence Blanca Rios-Touma Vincent H Resh |
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Institution: | 1. Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan 2. Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720-3114, USA 3. Re-inventing the Nation’s Urban Water Infrastructure (ReNUWIt), National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720-3114, USA 4. Institute of Urban and Regional Development, College of Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
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Abstract: | Tolerance values (TVs) based on benthic macroinvertebrates are one of the most widely used tools for monitoring the biological impacts of water pollution, particularly in streams and rivers. We compiled TVs of benthic macroinvertebrates from 29 regions around the world to test 11 basic assumptions about pollution tolerance, that: (1) Arthropoda are < tolerant than non-Arthropoda; (2) Insecta < non-Insecta; (3) non-Oligochaeta < Oligochaeta; (4) other macroinvertebrates < Oligochaeta + Chironomidae; (5) other macroinvertebrate taxa < Isopoda + Gastropoda + Hirudinea; (6) Ephemeroptera + Plecoptera + Trichoptera (EPT) < Odonata + Coleoptera + Heteroptera (OCH); (7) EPT < non-EPT insects; (8) Diptera < Insecta; (9) Bivalvia < Gastropoda; (10) Baetidae < other Ephemeroptera; and (11) Hydropsychidae < other Trichoptera. We found that the first eight of these 11 assumptions were supported despite regional variability. In addition, we examined the effect of Best Professional Judgment (BPJ) and non-independence of TVs among countries by performing all analyses using subsets of the original dataset. These subsets included a group based on those systems using TVs that were derived from techniques other than BPJ, and groups based on methods used for TV assignment. The results obtained from these subsets and the entire dataset are similar. We also made seven a priori hypotheses about the regional similarity of TVs based on geography. Only one of these was supported. Development of TVs and the reporting of how they are assigned need to be more rigorous and be better described. |
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