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  • Bioassessment of freshwater ecosystems using the Reference Condition Approach: comparing established and new methods with common data sets

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    Author(s)
    Bailey, Robert C
    Linke, Simon
    Yates, Adam G
    Griffith University Author(s)
    Linke, Simon
    Year published
    2014
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    Abstract
    Although used in many jurisdictions around the world, analytical approaches of the Reference Condition Approach (RCA) to bioassessment of freshwater ecosystems have evolved quite slowly over the past 2 decades. For this special series of papers in Freshwater Science, researchers analyzed 3 data sets that included both benthic macroinvertebrate and environmental data from a number of reference sites. Australian Capital Territory (ACT) reference sites (ntotal = 107) were wadeable streams in the upper Murrumbidgee River catchment, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Yukon Territory (YT) reference sites were wadeable streams ...
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    Although used in many jurisdictions around the world, analytical approaches of the Reference Condition Approach (RCA) to bioassessment of freshwater ecosystems have evolved quite slowly over the past 2 decades. For this special series of papers in Freshwater Science, researchers analyzed 3 data sets that included both benthic macroinvertebrate and environmental data from a number of reference sites. Australian Capital Territory (ACT) reference sites (ntotal = 107) were wadeable streams in the upper Murrumbidgee River catchment, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Yukon Territory (YT) reference sites were wadeable streams (ntotal = 158) in the Yukon Territory, Canada, part of the Yukon River basin. Great Lakes (GL) sites (ntotal = 164) were all nearshore (<20 m) lentic sites in the North American Great Lakes. For each data set, sites were divided into model-building (training) and model-testing (validation) groups. Each validation site was further subjected to 3 levels of simulated degradation based on the sensitivity of the biota to eutrophication. The analytical approaches ranged from standard or slight modifications of methods used in national programs (Australian River Assessment [AUSRIVAS], Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network [CABIN]), to improved matching of sites to be assessed and appropriate reference sites, and Bayesian and machine-learning modeling. In comparing Type 1 error rates (proportion of validation sites deemed not in reference condition) and power (proportion of simulated impairment sites deemed not in reference condition), we found no obvious pattern among the 3 data sets or approaches. Approaches commonly used in RCA programs would benefit from incorporating newer methods that better match reference and test-site environments and build better predictive models.
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    Journal Title
    Freshwater Science
    Volume
    33
    Issue
    4
    DOI
    https://doi.org/10.1086/678771
    Copyright Statement
    © 2014 North American Benthological Society. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
    Subject
    Biogeography and Phylogeography
    Ecology
    Other Biological Sciences
    Publication URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10072/154452
    Collection
    • Journal articles

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