Includes bibliographical references (pages 359-395) and index.

I. Conceptual framework for biocriteria development : 1. Introduction / Wayne S. Davis and Thomas P. Simon -- 2. Protecting aquatic ecosystems: clean water is not enough / James R. Karr -- 3. Biological assessment and criteria: building on the past / Wayne S. Davis -- 4. Defining acceptable biological status by comparing with reference conditions / Robert M. Hughes -- 5. Ecoregions: a spatial framework for environmental management / James M. Omernik -- 6. Multimetric approach for establishing biocriteria and measuring biological condition / Michael T. Barbour, James B. Stribling, and James R. Karr -- II. Water resource planning and decision-making : 7. Status of biological criteria development and implementation / Mark T. Southerland and James B. Stribling -- 8. Development and application of biological impairment criteria for rivers and streams in New York state / Robert W. Bode and Margaret A. Novak -- 9. Biological criteria program development and implementation in Ohio / Chris O. Yoder and Edward T. Ranking -- 10. Development of regionally based biological criteria in Texas / C. Evan Hornig, Charles W. Bayer, Steve R. Twidwell, Jack R. Davis, Roy J. Kleinsasser, Gordon W. Linam, and Kevin B. Mayes -- 11. Biocriteria: a regulated industry perspective / Robin J. Reash -- 12. Freshwater benthic macroinvertebrates and rapid assessment procedures for water quality monitoring in developing and newly industrialized countries / Vincent H. Resh -- III. Methods advancement and technical applications : 13. Habitat indices in water resource quality assessments / Edward T. Ranking -- 14. Use of periphyton in the development of biocriteria / Barry H. Rosen 15. Development and application of the invertebrate community index (ICI) / Jeffrey E. DeShon -- 16. Application of the index of biotic integrity to evaluate water resource integrity in freshwater ecosystems / Thomas P. Simon and John Lyons -- 17. Biological response signatures and the area of degradation value: new tools for interpreting multimetric data / Chris O. Yoder and Edward T. Rankin -- 18. The role of ecological sample surveys in the implementation of biocriteria / David P. Larsen -- IV. Policy and perspectives : 19. Monitoring water resource quality using volunteers / Joyce E. Lathrop and Abby Markowitz -- 20. Merging the science of biological monitoring with water resource management policy: criteria development / David L. Courtemanch -- 21. Policy issues and management applications for biological criteria / Chris O. Yoder -- 22. Filling the aps in water quality standards: legal perspectives in biocriteria / Robert W. Adler.