| Title | THE AQEM MULTIMETRIC SYSTEM FOR THE SOUTHERN ITALIAN APENNINES: ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF WATER QUALITY AND HABITAT DEGRADATION ON POOL MACROINVERTEBRATE IN MEDITERRANEAN RIVERS |
| Abstract | In accordance with the aims of the E.U. funded AQEM Project, an assessment system module based on aquatic
macroinvertebrates was developed for small sized rivers in the southern Apennines (south Italy). Eleven stream
sites, impacted to a greater or a lesser extent by organic pollution and/or habitat impairment and chosen to cover
the whole degradation gradient present in the geographical area were sampled in three seasons. The samples
were collected following a proportional, multihabitat procedure, afterwards considering separately the replicates
collected in the depositional (pool) and transport (riffle) areas for the analysis. A PCA multivariate analysis was
performed to extract the main axes of variation of the biological community, which resulted in the first axis
being strongly correlated to ecological quality. The final assessment module is based on a multimetric system,
structured by selecting the best metrics in simulating the first axis gradient. The system considers a total of 15
different metrics, mainly providing information concerning tolerance to pollution, taxa richness, habitat features
and trophic structure of the community. In accordance with theWFD requirements, some of these metrics are based
on abundance classes of taxa. Depositional and transport units, due to the observed dissimilarity in the structure
of their benthic communities, were kept separate during the development of the assessment system to retain this
potentially useful information and to clear interpretation of the results. Both 'riffle' and 'pool' invertebrate data
showed clear differences in ecological quality between sites. Nevertheless, the final assessment module is based
on the macroinvertebrates inhabiting depositional areas of rivers only, because the metrics for these river units
showed a better performance than those examined for the transport river units. The application of the assessment
module requires 10 replicates to be quantitatively collected, for a total area of 0.5 m2. In terms of sampling
and identification effort, the assessment module shows a good comparability with the standard Italian method
presently in use and might thus be easily applied for river sites classification according to the Water Framework
Directive in southern Italy. The site classification obtained with the proposed multimetric index shows a very good
correspondence with the post-classification based on multivariate analysis. |
| Source | Hydrobiologia (The Hague. Print) 516, pp. 313–329 |
| Keywords | WFDmultimetricmacroinvertebratepoolriffle |
| Journal | Hydrobiologia (The Hague. Print) |
| Editor | Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, Paesi Bassi |
| Year | 2004 |
| Type | Articolo in rivista |
| DOI | 10.1023/B:HYDR.0000025273.15958.6a |
| Authors | BUFFAGNI A., ERBA S., CAZZOLA M., KEMP J.L. |
| Text | 42254 2004 10.1023/B HYDR.0000025273.15958.6a ISI Web of Science WOS 000220995000020 WFD multimetric macroinvertebrate pool riffle THE AQEM MULTIMETRIC SYSTEM FOR THE SOUTHERN ITALIAN APENNINES ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF WATER QUALITY AND HABITAT DEGRADATION ON POOL MACROINVERTEBRATE IN MEDITERRANEAN RIVERS BUFFAGNI A., ERBA S., CAZZOLA M., KEMP J.L. CNR IRSA In accordance with the aims of the E.U. funded AQEM Project, an assessment system module based on aquatic macroinvertebrates was developed for small sized rivers in the southern Apennines south Italy . Eleven stream sites, impacted to a greater or a lesser extent by organic pollution and/or habitat impairment and chosen to cover the whole degradation gradient present in the geographical area were sampled in three seasons. The samples were collected following a proportional, multihabitat procedure, afterwards considering separately the replicates collected in the depositional pool and transport riffle areas for the analysis. A PCA multivariate analysis was performed to extract the main axes of variation of the biological community, which resulted in the first axis being strongly correlated to ecological quality. The final assessment module is based on a multimetric system, structured by selecting the best metrics in simulating the first axis gradient. The system considers a total of 15 different metrics, mainly providing information concerning tolerance to pollution, taxa richness, habitat features and trophic structure of the community. In accordance with theWFD requirements, some of these metrics are based on abundance classes of taxa. Depositional and transport units, due to the observed dissimilarity in the structure of their benthic communities, were kept separate during the development of the assessment system to retain this potentially useful information and to clear interpretation of the results. Both riffle and pool invertebrate data showed clear differences in ecological quality between sites. Nevertheless, the final assessment module is based on the macroinvertebrates inhabiting depositional areas of rivers only, because the metrics for these river units showed a better performance than those examined for the transport river units. The application of the assessment module requires 10 replicates to be quantitatively collected, for a total area of 0.5 m2. In terms of sampling and identification effort, the assessment module shows a good comparability with the standard Italian method presently in use and might thus be easily applied for river sites classification according to the Water Framework Directive in southern Italy. The site classification obtained with the proposed multimetric index shows a very good correspondence with the post classification based on multivariate analysis. 516 http //www.springerlink.com/content/mp21253785117173/ MUD=MP THE AQEM MULTIMETRIC SYSTEM FOR THE SOUTHERN ITALIAN APENNINES ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF WATER QUALITY AND HABITAT DEGRADATION ON POOL MACROINVERTEBRATE IN MEDITERRANEAN RIVERS AQEM_med_pool_Italy_Buffagni.pdf Articolo in rivista Kluwer Academic Publishers 0018 8158 Hydrobiologia The Hague. Print Hydrobiologia The Hague. Print Hydrobiologia The Hague. Print Hydrobiologia. The Hague. Print Hydrobiologia Dordrecht The Hague. Print Hydrobiologia Boston The Hague. Print Hydrobiologia London The Hague. Print marcello.cazzola CAZZOLA MARCELLO andreastefano.buffagni BUFFAGNI ANDREA STEFANO stefania.erba ERBA STEFANIA TA.P04.016.001 Caratteristiche ecologiche di comunita acquatiche in ambienti fluviali e lagunari TA.P04.032.003 La risposta delle comunita acquatiche bioindicatori e WFD |
