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Can Benthic Macro‐Invertebrates Be Used to Assess the Impact of Pollution Incidents and Subsequent Recovery in Streams?
Author(s) -
Pisolkar E. M.,
Hedges P. D.,
Shillabeer N.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-6593.2002.tb00364.x
Subject(s) - benthic zone , invertebrate , streams , environmental science , macro , pollution , benthos , pollutant , hydrology (agriculture) , ecology , computer science , engineering , biology , computer network , programming language , geotechnical engineering
This paper describes an investigation into the use of benthic invertebrates to assess impact and recovery following transient pollution events in watercourses. The study showed that benthic macro‐invertebrates can be used to assess pollution impact and recovery in streams, provided that (a) the BMWP score is 40 or more (prior to the incident) and (b) there are adequate reference conditions. Monitoring should cover the whole area impacted by the pollutant to allow for spatial variation in benthic macro‐invertebrate communities supported by the watercourse. A decision‐making strategy for the use of macro‐invertebrates in pollution‐incident monitoring is provided.