Abstract
Creating a method to categorize the ecological status of streams according to their biological conditions and establishing scientifically defensible nutrient criteria to protect their biotic integrity poses significant challenges. Biomonitoring of least disturbed areas is an important issue to accurately assess the ecological status of surface waters and ensure their sustainability. The fuzzy logic as a novel approach was firstly applied to evaluate the biological condition gradient of 44 sampled streams in the Ceyhan River Basin, utilizing two diatom indices, total phosphorus (TP), electrical conductivity (EC), and CORINE data. The fuzzy logic was employed to examine variations in the diatom compositions and land cover based on biological condition gradients (BCGs) of various streams and to assess the suitability of BCG in evaluating the health of studied stream systems. A three-layer fuzzy logic was constructed to predict BCGs of steams based on input data, with diatom metrics, TP, and EC representing BCGdia and land cover variables contributing to BCGland. The effects of operating variables were studied to optimize BCG results. The highest BCG score (0.85) was determined in Aksu Spring Brook in the spring, whereas the lowest value (0.05) was calculated in Erkenez Stream3 in the summer. BCGs showed strong relationships with nutrients, altitude, and EC. Results of BCGs indicated that sampling stations have various ecological statuses ranging from bad to high in the Ceyhan River Basin. The BCGdia and BCGland made important contributions to determine the ecological status of streams in the Ceyhan River Basin. Results showed that the BCG approach allows a more reliable way to determine the ecological status of streams in the Ceyhan River Basin by combining biological and chemical assessments for the sustainability of the environment. It is recommended that the BCG will be applied and evaluated in future research studies across various river basins, both within and outside of Turkey.
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