Abstract
Different components of biological diversity of larval Chironomidae, typically the most abundant and the most diverse of all lotic zoo-benthos, were assessed to determine their suitability in prediction of the environmental quality. Animals were collected as 73 samples at 62 riverine sites on the territory of Poland and identified morphologically. The analysis of nonlinear regression was used to compare the suitability of the seven indices of diversity. Traditional indices of taxonomic diversity (taxonomic richness, Margalef and Shannon indices) and indices of taxonomic distinctness were found to be unsuitable for this purpose because of the unimodal type of response of their values along with the gradient of the environmental quality. Contrary to them, values of two measures of phylogenetic diversity monotonically increased along with the values of environmental quality measured by official index MMI (Multimetric Macroinvertebrate Index) and were considered highly useful. The best fitted functions estimating relationships between MMI and both indices of phylogenetic diversity (total phylogenetic distance and quadratic entropy) were statistically highly significant and have high values of the fit-accuracy parameters. Original index of phylogenetic diversity ChiPDi based on total phylogenetic diversity, quadratic entropy and taxonomic richness has been presented as well as the proposal of related procedure using barcoding methods.
Highlights
Water Framework Directive (Directive, 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council—2000) introduced the term environmental quality of aquatic ecosystems, defined as a quality of their structure and functioning (Furse et al, 2006) for general use in the literature on environmental assessment
The classification is based on the results of environmental quality assessment expressed by the values of MMI (Multimetric Macroinvertebrate Index) being an official multimetric biotic index dedicated to biological assessment of
Results of Individual Rarefaction are presented as curves based on averaged values for groups of samples from the sites belonging to the same type and the same ecological status with estimated SD (Fig. 3)
Summary
Water Framework Directive (Directive, 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council—2000) introduced the term environmental quality of aquatic ecosystems, defined as a quality of their structure and functioning (Furse et al, 2006) for general use in the literature on environmental assessment. Traditional indices of taxonomic diversity are not suitable for the purposes of biological assessment because of unimodal (hump-like) distribution of their values along with the gradient of ecological disturbance (Bini et al, 2014; Koperski, 2017). This type of response makes it difficult to distinguish the values of diversity indices at high values of ecological quality from those at low values (De Pauw & Vanhooren, 1983; Barbour et al, 1999) Commonly, assessment of benthic invertebrate diversity contains mixed-level taxonomic identification or species-level identification of selected taxa with high indicative value (Bailey et al, 2001). The suitability of molecular-based phylogenetic studies using barcoding methods for conservation ecology was demonstrated by Faith & Baker (2006) and Winter et al (2013) and for biological monitoring by Carew et al (2011)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
