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FIELD AND LABORATORY PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF A NEW SAMPLING PROTOCOL FOR RIVERINE MACROINVERTEBRATE ASSEMBLAGES
Citation:
BLOCKSOM, K. A. AND J. E. FLOTEMERSCH. FIELD AND LABORATORY PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF A NEW SAMPLING PROTOCOL FOR RIVERINE MACROINVERTEBRATE ASSEMBLAGES. River Research and Applications. John Wiley & Sons Incorporated, New York, NY, 24(4):373-387, (2008).
Impact/Purpose:
The goal of this research is to develop methods and indicators that are useful for evaluating the condition of aquatic communities, for assessing the restoration of aquatic communities in response to mitigation and best management practices, and for determining the exposure of aquatic communities to different classes of stressors (i.e., pesticides, sedimentation, habitat alteration).
Description:
Measurement and estimation of performance characteristics (i.e., precision, bias, performance range, interferences and sensitivity) are often neglected in the development and use of new biological sampling methods. However, knowledge of this information is critical in enabling potential users to assess data quality and make comparisons among different sampling methods. In this study, the performance characteristics were evaluated for both the field and laboratory components of a new macroivnertebrate sampling protocol (mLR-BP) for nonwadeable streams (Flotemersch et al. 2004). We sampled 19 sites across two depth classes, collecting three replicate samples at each site and sorting three 300-organism subsamples from each sample. The replicate samples provided data for estimates of precision in the laboratory and the field, and water chemistry and habitat variables allowed for measurements of overall sensitivity. Precision, sensitivity and performance range all differed between shallow and deep sites, particularly for the field component. The precision was improved and performance range was larger for shallow sites, but differences in sensitivity indicated that the two depth classes may require different sets of metrics as indicators. As compared with precision measured in other studies of bioassessment methods, the field component of the mLR-BP performed similarly, particularly in shallow sites. If used for bioassessment in similar types of rivers, this protocol should be able to detect differences of approximately 10-20% in the metrics evaluated in this study. The sampling protocol shows great utility for bioassessment and monitoring of nonwadeable rivers, as well as for measuring the success of restoration efforts. In addition, the design of this study provides a template for estimating performance characteristics in other nonwadeable systems.