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Use of macroinvertebrate-based multimetric indices for water quality evaluation in Spanish Mediterranean rivers: an intercalibration approach with the IBMWP index

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Abstract

For the European Parliament and Commission to implement the Water Framework Directive (WFD), the water-quality indices that are currently used in Europe need to be compared and calibrated. This will facilitate the comparative assessment of ecological status throughout the European Union. According to the WFD, biologic indices should respond consistently to human impacts, using multimetric approaches and water-quality classification boundaries adjusted to a common set of normative definitions. The European Commission has started an intercalibration exercise to review biologic indices and harmonize class boundaries. We used data from rivers in Spain to compare the IBMWP (Iberian Biological Monitoring Working Party) index, which is commonly used by water authorities in Spain and by several research centers, with the Intercalibration Common Multimetric Index (ICM-Star), which was used as a standard in the intercalibration exercise. We also used data from Spanish rivers to compare the multimetric indices ICM-7 (based on quantitative data) and ICM-9 (based on qualitative data) with the IBMWP. ICM-7 and ICM-9 were proposed by the Mediterranean Geographical Intercalibration Group (Med-GIG). Additionally, we evaluated two new multimetric indices, developed specifically for macroinvertebrate communities inhabiting Mediterranean river systems. One of these is based on quantitative data (ICM-10), while the other is based on qualitative data (ICM-11a). The results show that the IBMWP index responds well to the stressor gradient present in our data, and correlates well with ICM-Star. Moreover, the IBMWP quality class boundaries were consistent with the intercalibration requirements of the WFD. However, multimetric indices showed a more linear relation with the stressor gradient in our data, and less variation in reference values. In addition, they may provide more statistical power for detecting potential environmental impacts. Multimetric indices produced similar results for quantitative and qualitative data. Thus, ICM-10 (also named IMMi-T) and ICM-11a (also named IMMi-L) indices could be used to meet European Commission requirements for assessing the water quality in Spanish Mediterranean rivers.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the use of the database of the GUADALMED I and II Projects (HID98-0323-C05 and REN2001-3438-C07), and also for the data obtained in diverse environmental assessment projects in several Catalan rivers performed by the FEM group of the Ecology Department of the University of Barcelona, supported by the Diputació de Barcelona. We wish to express our gratitude to all the members of both the working groups, without which we would not have had free access to the data that are now available on the internet (www.ecostrimed.net). Special thanks to Pau Fortuño for his work on reviewing the database, to Dr. Jean-Gabriel Wasson for his contribution to the criteria for reference site selection, and to Drs. Andrea Buffagni and Stefanía Erba for their guidance in calculating the multimetric indices, using the ICM-Easy software. We especially thank four anonymous reviewers and to Dr. Joel Trexler for their kind suggestions and profitable help to improve the statistical analysis and the results interpretation. Also, Dr. Emili Garcia-Berthou provided useful information about the statistical analysis and model comparison.

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  1. Catalan Water Agency, c/Provença, 204-208, 08036, Barcelona, Spain

    Antoni Munné

  2. Department of Ecology, University of Barcelona, Avda. Diagonal, 645, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Narcís Prat

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Munné, A., Prat, N. Use of macroinvertebrate-based multimetric indices for water quality evaluation in Spanish Mediterranean rivers: an intercalibration approach with the IBMWP index. Hydrobiologia 628, 203–225 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-009-9757-1

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