Development and application of a biological assessment systems Multimetric Assessment of macroinvertebrates and Assessment Software Dr Mario Sommerh

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Development and application of a biological
assessment systemsMultimetric Assessment of
macroinvertebrates and Assessment SoftwareDr
Mario Sommerhäuser and University of Essen
Institute of EcologyDepartment of Hydrobiology
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• Biological Assessment

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Demands of the WFD within surface water assessment

• Type-specific surface water assessment

• Comparison with reference conditions

• Assessment in five classes (ecological quality
  classes)

• Biology as the main assessment tool for the
  ecological status aquatic quality components
  makroinvertebrates, fish, macrophytes/phytobent
  hos, phytoplankton

• physico-chemical data and hydro-morphological
  data for completion and validation

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• Main stressors for rivers today (Europe)

Organic pollution
Eutrophication
Hydro-morphology
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Indicator value of the different biological
quality components
short-term reaction
Organic pollution Eutrophi-cation Acidification Hydro-Morphology/Migration




Site
Long-term reaction
Basin
Holistic approach of WFD
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Common features of the new German biological
assessment methods for all four aquatic quality
components

• Type-specific approach
• Assessment in comparison with reference
  conditions ( high ecological status)
• New and specific sampling methods
• Multimetric approaches for the analysis of
  biological results (i. e. species lists)
• combination of different metrics (biocoenotic
  indicator values/functional groups) e. g.
  species number, share of certain groups like
  Stoneflies and others, share of functional
  feeding groups)
• Different reaction againts different stressors
• CEN and ISO standards for European biological
  indices

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• Example for the assessment with biol. quality
  elements
• Macroinvertebrates
• AQEM / PERLODES system

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Content
Content

• General concept and development of the
  multimetric assessment system (AQEM / PERLODES,
  Germany)
• Design and application European River
  Classification Software System Version 3.0
• Interpretation of assessment results
• Examples of taxa, ecological information, species
  traits, indicative potential as a basis for
  multimetric assessment systems

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Forms of impairments (Stressors)
General Concept
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Ecological Quality Assessment Multi-metric
concept
General Concept
Ecological Status
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General Concept
Stressor-specific Assessment
Taxalist
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General Concept
Stressor-specific Assessment
Reference status
Taxalist

Need for action
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General Concept
Stressor-specific Assessment
Taxalist
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General Concept
Stream type-specific Saprobic Index
Example Saprobic Index 1.85
reference good moderate poor bad
Alpine streams lt 1.20 to 1.80 to 2.55 to 3.25 to 4.00
Small mountain streams lt 1.45 to 2.00 to 2.65 to 3.35 to 4.00
Mid-sized mountain streams lt 1.60 to 2.10 to 2.75 to 3.35 to 4.00
Mid-sized sand bottom streams in the lowlands lt 1.90 to 2.35 to 2.90 to 3.45 to 4.00
(...)
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General Concept
Stressor-specific Assessment
Taxalist
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General Concept
Stressor-specific Assessment
Taxalist
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What is a Metric?
General Concept
Multi-metric Index(Hering et al. 2004a, b
Lorenz et al. 2004Meier et al. 2005)
- Abundance of a mayfly species
- Number of mayfly species
- Percentage of all mayfly species on the sample
- Presence of specific indicator species of the
mayflies
- Percentage of the filter feeding organisms
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General Concept
Selection of Metrics
Database 1 Taxalists
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General Concept
Correlation Analysis
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General Concept
Mid-sized sand bottom streams in the lowlands
Number of Trichoptera
Residential area
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General Concept
Mid-sized sand bottom streams in the lowlands
German Fauna Index
Residential area
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General Concept
Selection of Metrics
Calculation of ca. 80 metrics with every
taxalist
Correlation analysis
Selection of parameters, which indicate the
effects of degradation
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General Concept
Criteria for the selection of the metrics

• High and significant correlation of a metric with
  hydromorphological or land use parameters
• Candidate metrics for each stream type cover all
  metric groups according to the WFD
• taxonomic composition and abundance
• richness/diversity
• sensitive/tolerant taxa
• functional

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General Concept
Example Mid-sized mountain streams
Metric type
Metric
Information
Composition
EPT
of sensitive taxa and habitats
Richness/diversity
No. of EPTCBO
Diversity of fauna and habitats
Presence of specialists for rare or degraded
habitats
Sensitivity/tolerance
German Fauna Index mid-sized mountain streams
Situation in the catchment
Functional groups
Metarhithral
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ASTERICS

• Design and application of the AQEM/STAR European
  River Classification System v3.0

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ASTERICS v.3.0
The current version of the software to calculate
the ecological status of streams and rivers is
downloadable for free!

• Homepage
• www.aqem.de or
• www.fliessgewaesserbewertung.de

• Options
• Germany official system (PERLODES)
• Germany original (AQEM system)
• Several European countries

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ASTERICS v.3.0
Overview

• The assessment-software runs under Windows 98,
  NT, 2000 and XP.
• The data import is normally carried out via MS
  Excel.
• The import table must follow certain rules on
  layout and format.
• The assessment-software calculates the ecological
  quality status of each imported taxalist.
• The assessment-software calculates about 300
  additional metrics for each imported taxalist.
• Note Yet, no interpretation of the results or
  recommendations for improvement of the quality
  status are given.

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ASTERICS v.3.0
Data sources

• Data import by Excel- or text-files
  (ASCII-Format) respect correct format
• Main component of the data import Key code
  (encoding every taxon definitely by numbers
  and/or letters)

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ASTERICS v.3.0
Application of the Assessment Software (in four
steps)
Note The menues 2 and 3 appear gradually after
pressing the Import button.
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ASTERICS v.3.0
Application of the Assessment Software (4 steps)
(1) Import Import of an Excel file or ASCII file
(2) Settings choice of key code
(3) Settings choice of stream type and stressor
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ASTERICS v.3.0
Taxalist
Metrics
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ASTERICS v.3.0
Results

• Assessment Display of scores of the Ecological
  Quality Class together with
• the Core Metrics and underlying results.

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ASTERICS v.3.0

• Level 1 Ecological quality class (integrated
  assessment)

• Level 2 Quality classes of the single moduls

• Level 3 Results of the core metrics

• Level 4 Results of all metrics

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ASTERICS v.3.0
Export-Function
The software has the possibility to export all
metric results to Excel
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Interpretation of assessment results

• Examples of taxa, ecological information, species
  traits and the indicative potential as a
  basisfor multimetric assessment systemsand the
  interpretation of results

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Interpretation of Assessment Results
Mid-sized sand-bottom lowland streams
Lachte NI
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Interpretation of Assessment Results
Scores Lachte
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Interpretation of Assessment Results
Results Lachte
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Interpretation of Assessment Results
Taxalist Lachte
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Interpretation of Assessment Results
Stever near Füchtelner Mühle (NRW)
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Interpretation of Assessment Results
Level 1 Ecological quality class
poor
Level 2 Results of the different modules -
Saprobic index - General degradation
good
poor
Thus, the reason for the poor status is the
general/hydro-morphological degradation. To rise
the ecological status the hydromorphology of the
site has to be improved.
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Interpretation of Assessment Results
Level 3 Scores of the core metrics
rare and type specific species are missing

• German Fauna Index 0,09
• Trichoptera 0,13
• EPT-Taxa 0,25
• Litoral 0,24
• Pelal 0,87

poor habitat diversity, e.g. organic substrates
are absent (woody debris, CPOM)
Low species-richness and shifted abundances
Disturbance of natural flow regime (stagnant
situations, absence of shading and high amounts
of macrophytes)
Summary The single results imply that the site
is hydromorphologically extemely impaired. The
effects on the invertebrate community are obvious
(Fauna Index, number of Trichoptera taxa,
Littoral preferences).
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Interpretation of Assessment Results
Taxalist Stever
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Interpretation of Assessment Results
Ebene 3 Ergebnisse der Core Metrics
Level 3 Scores of the core metrics

• German Fauna Index 0,09
• Trichoptera 0,13
• EPT-Taxa 0,25
• Litoral 0,24
• Pelal 0,87

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• Standardized sampling method Multi-Habitat-Sampli
  ng (AQEM method EUROPEAN CEN Standard since
  2010)

Netz- maschen- weite 0,5 mm
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• Standardized treatment of the samples (sieving
  and sub-sampling

Comparison with operational taxa list!
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Autecology on species level
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(1) A água não é um produto comercial como
outro qualquer, mas um património que deve
ser protegido, defendido e tratado como tal.
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Further information about European Water
Framework Directive