An expanded fish-based index of biotic integrity for Great Lakes coastal wetlands
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Keyword
BioassessmentBiotic Indicator
Coastal Marsh
Fish
Wetland
Water Quality
Land Use
Laurentian Great Lakes
Journal title
Environmental Monitoring and AssessmentDate Published
2018-01-01Publication Volume
190Publication Issue
580
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Biotic indicators are useful for assessing ecosystem health because the structure of resident communities generally reflects abiotic conditions integrated over time. We used fish data collected over 5 years for 470 Great Lakes coastal wetlands to develop multimetric indices of biotic integrity (IBI). Sampling and IBI development were stratified by vegetation type within each wetland to account for differences in physical habitat. Metrics were evaluated against numerous indices of anthropogenic disturbance derived from water quality and surrounding land-cover variables. Separate datasets were used for IBI development and testing. IBIs were composed of 10–11 metrics for each of four vegetation types (bulrush, cattail, water lily, and submersed aquatic vegetation). Scores of all IBIs correlated well with disturbance indices using the development data, and the accuracy of our IBIs was validated using the testing data. Our fish IBIs can be used to prioritize wetland protection and restoration efforts across the Great Lakes basin. The IBIs will also be useful in monitoring programs mandated by the Agreement between Canada and the United States of America on Great Lakes Water Quality, such as for assessing Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs) in Great Lakes Areas of Concern, and in other ecosystem management programs in Canada and the USA.Citation
Environ Monit Assess (2018) 190: 580 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-018-6950-6DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-018-6950-6ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-018-6950-6
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