Towards a multimetric index for ecological assessment of Mediterranean flatland ponds: the use of macroinvertebrates as bioindicators

Abstract

Fifty-five macroinvertebrate metrics were tested for their response to pond condition in 41 ponds of northwest Spain to develop a preliminary multimetric index for ecological assessment of Mediterranean flatland ponds. Stressor specific response of individual attributes to eutrophication and habitat alteration was also investigated to identify differences in the responses of metrics to single stressors and elucidate how this might affect the performance of the final index. Several combinations were tested using discrimination efficiency (25th percentile of slightly impaired sites for metrics decreasing with perturbation and 75th percentile of slightly impaired sites for metrics increasing with perturbation) and Mann-Whitney U-test with Bonferroni adjustment (P < 0.001). The final index comprised five measures (generic richness of Chironominae, generic richness of Dytiscidae + Odonata + Tanypodinae, relative richness of Chironomidae, % Macropelopini and Shannon index) and discriminated between acceptable (good) and unacceptable (moderate) conditions with more than 86% efficiency. Moreover, all the five measures included in the final index showed unidirectional responses to eutrophication, decreasing as eutrophication increased. In contrast, the effect of habitat alteration was less clear, especially in ponds in best available conditions where a vegetation belt of shrubs and trees prevented growing of macrophitic vegetation on shores and consequently associated fauna. Interestingly, none of the functional groups (e.g. % predators and % collector-gatherers) were sensitive to degradation.

Keywords

Macroinvertebrates; Mediterranean ponds; Water Framework Directive; Multimetric index; Eutrophication; Habitat alteration

Published in

Hydrobiologia
2009, volume: 618, pages: 109-123
Publisher: SPRINGER

SLU Authors

• Trigal, Cristina

  • Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • University of León

UKÄ Subject classification

Fish and Aquacultural Science

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-008-9569-8

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/61647