scholarly journals Streamflow, water quality, and aquatic macroinvertebrates of selected streams in Fairfax County, Virginia, 2007-12

Author(s):  
John D. Jastram
Author(s):  
Jeninah Atwebembeire ◽  
Morgan Andama ◽  
Joel Bazira ◽  
Julius Bunny Lejju ◽  
Julius Tumusiime ◽  
...  

Rwizi River, often called the life-line river, supports over five million people in Western Uganda and is a major contributor of freshwater to Lake Victoria. Surrounded by a large and rapidly growing population, the river has suffered anthropogenic disturbances whose impact on the integrity of the system is a subject of concern. Aquatic macroinvertebrates, used globally to monitor both short- and long-term environmental conditions, were thus used to assess the biological integrity of streams and channels draining into the river system. Macroinvertebrates were sampled for six months in 2017 encompassing the wet and dry seasons using the kick net sampling method. The macroinvertebrates were identified morphologically using peer reviewed identification keys and their pollution sensitivity scored using the Tanzanian River Scoring System (TARISS). The Shannon diversity index was computed per site and related to average score per taxon (ASPT). We collected a total of 5442 macroinvertebrates belonging to 54 families dominated by Chironomidae (29.1%). Macroinvertebrate diversity increased with ASPT (r = 0.57; N = 131; P = 0.000). The water quality was generally poor and was not affected by the season (t = 1.03; df = 64; P = 0.303) though sites had different water quality (F = 11.32; df = 20; P = 0.000) attributed the degree of anthropogenic disturbance. We concluded that river Rwizi system is highly degraded and thus recommend restoration of the entire catchment. Aquatic macroinvertebrates are good indicators of long-term conditions but less sensitive to short-term changes. Multiple approaches, biological and chemical, are encouraged during the restoration process.


2010 ◽  
Vol 70 (4 suppl) ◽  
pp. 1207-1215 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Bieger ◽  
ABP Carvalho ◽  
MN Strieder ◽  
L. Maltchik ◽  
C Stenert

Macroinvertebrate communities are one of the most used groups in assessments of water quality, since they respond directly to the level of contamination of aquatic ecosystems. The main objective of this study was the assessment of the water quality of the Sinos River basin (Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil) through biotic indices based on the macroinvertebrate community ("Family Biotic Index - FBI", and "Biological Monitoring Working Party Score System - BMWP"). Three lower order streams (2nd order) were selected in each one of three main regions of the basin. In each stream, the samplings were performed in three reaches (upper, middle, and lower), totalling 27 reaches. Two samplings were carried in each reach over one year (winter and summer). A total of 6,847 macroinvertebrates distributed among 54 families were sampled. The streams from the upper region were of better water quality than the lower region. The water quality did not change between the upper, middle and lower reaches of the streams. However, the upper reaches of the streams were of better water quality in all the regions of the basin. The water quality of the streams did not vary between the summer and the winter. This result demonstrated that water quality may be analysed in both studied seasons (summer and winter) using biotic indices. The analysis of the results allows us to conclude that the biotic indices used reflected the changes related to the water quality along the longitudinal gradient of the basin. Thus, aquatic macroinvertebrates were important bioindicators of the water and environmental quality of the streams of the Sinos River basin.


Author(s):  
Liz Ortiz Contreras ◽  
Bori Ortega ◽  
Patricio Méndez ◽  
Patricio Tierra

This bibliographic review work presents a compilation of the bioindicators of water quality, its main advantages and disadvantages; the types of bioindicators are detailed, for example bacteria, protozoa, phytoplankton, macrophytes, fish and aquatic macroinvertebrates. It is important to know how the collection of macroinvertebrates is carried out, in the case of environments with running or sleeping waters, not very deep, a net is used, while for environments with currents or calm but deep waters, the use of dredgers is It is recommended that, after collection, it should be kept in appropriate containers until the types of bioindicators that were collected can be identified with the help of a microscope. It can be said that the use of aquatic macroinvertebrates as indicators of water quality is very widespread throughout the world, so their evolution has increased as they already have taxonomic species determined for different quality states. That is why the objective of this research is to know the evolutionary importance of aquatic macroinvertebrates as indicators of water quality, at the same time the advantages and disadvantages of the use of bioindicators, compared to physical-chemical methods. Keywords: Bioindicator, macroinvertebrates, evolution, water quality, monitoring. Resumen El presente trabajo de revisión bibliográfica muestra una recopilación de los bioindicadores de la calidad del agua, sus principales ventajas y desventajas; se detalla los tipos de bioindicadores por ejemplo bacterias, protozoos, fitoplancton, macrófitas, peces y macroinvertebrados acuáticos. La importancia de este artículo radica en la recolección de macroinvertebrados, en el caso de ambientes con aguas corrientes o dormidas no muy profundas, se utiliza una red, mientras que en ambientes de aguas corrientes o tranquilas pero profundas, se recomienda el uso de dragas. Luego de la recolección se debe mantener en envases apropiados, hasta que con la ayuda de un microscopio se pueda identificar los tipos de Bioindicadores que se colectó. Se puede decir que el uso de los macroinvertebrados acuáticos como indicadores de la calidad del agua está generalizándose en todo el mundo, por lo que su evolución ha incrementado al tener especies taxonómicas determinadas para diferentes estados de calidad. Es por ello que el objetivo de esta investigación es dar a conocer la importancia evolutiva que tienen los macroinvertebrados acuáticos como indicadores de la calidad del agua, así como las ventajas y desventajas que presenta la utilización de bioindicadores, en comparación con métodos físico-químicos. Palabras Clave: Bioindicador, macroinvertebrados, evolución, calidad del agua, monitoreo.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-75
Author(s):  
Ildefonso Liñero Arana ◽  
Víctor H. Balarezzo ◽  
Héctor Eraso ◽  
Francisco Pacheco ◽  
Carolina E Ramos ◽  
...  

Ecuador is crossed by a network of rivers that originate mainly in the high Andean reliefs and pour into two basins: Amazon and Pacific. Many suffer from severe human impact. The main objective of the present study was to assess water quality of Mojarrero stream using biotic indices (BMWP/Col. and Shannon-Wiener index) as a tool to evaluate ecosystem health. During June, August and October 2014, bottom samples were taken at three stations. Each month and season three replicates of benthic aquatic invertebrates were taken on sandy-stony bottoms with a 0,3 mm mesh “D-net”. The fauna was represented by eleven orders and 29 families. The most abundant order was Coleoptera, representing 42,70% of total collected organisms, followed by Diptera (19,01%) and Ephemeroptera (11,38%). The most abundant family was Elmidae, with 568 individuals, (37,37% of total organisms), followed by Chironomidae (11,38%) and Baetidae (7,24%). Shannon diversity values ranged between 0,98 bits/ind. (June, EST. 2) and 2,23 bits/ind. (October, Est 1). The BMWP/Col. index values indicate that the river has a good environmental health on the high and low sections. The median section has some pollution, particularly during August and October.


2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 989-1006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick M. Wilkins ◽  
Yong Cao ◽  
Edward J. Heske ◽  
Jeffrey M. Levengood

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-20
Author(s):  
D. Madden ◽  
S. Harrison ◽  
J.A. Finn ◽  
D. Ó hUallacháin

Abstract Measures that prevent cattle access to watercourses are commonly implemented through agri-environment schemes, in an effort to address the objectives of the Water Framework Directive. Despite the widespread implementation, few studies have assessed the impact of cattle access to streams on aquatic macroinvertebrates. This study assessed the local-scale impact of cattle drinking points on water quality parameters (i.e. macroinvertebrate and water chemistry metrics) on 39 intensively-managed grassland farms in the south-east of Ireland. The results indicate that sites that were more than or equal to good quality upstream of cattle drinking points, were more susceptible to cattle access impacts than sites where upstream water quality was less than good. The European Court of Auditors (2011) recommended that there should be a higher rate of EU contribution for measures with higher environmental potential, in this instance, for cattle exclusion measures targeted to sites where background quality is more than or equal to good. Appropriate efforts should thus be made to incentivise farmers in good to high status sites to adopt cattle exclusion measures.


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