Abstract

The Flanders Environment Agency (VMM) has been performing biological water quality assessments on inland waters in Flanders (Belgium) since 1989 and sediment quality assessments since 2000. The water quality monitoring network is a combined physico-chemical and biological network, the biological component focusing on macro-invertebrates. The sediment monitoring programme produces biological data to assess the sediment quality. Both monitoring programmes aim to provide index values, applying a similar conceptual methodology based on the presence of macro-invertebrates. The biological data obtained from both monitoring networks are consolidated in the VMM macro-invertebrates database and include identifications at family and genus level of the freshwater phyla Coelenterata, Platyhelminthes, Annelida, Mollusca, and Arthropoda. This paper discusses the content of this database, and the dataset published thereof: 282,309 records of 210 observed taxa from 4,140 monitoring sites located on 657 different water bodies, collected during 22,663 events. This paper provides some background information on the methodology, temporal and spatial coverage, and taxonomy, and describes the content of the dataset. The data are distributed as open data under the Creative Commons CC-BY license.

Highlights

  • Biotic indices based on macro-invertebrates complement the physico-chemical water quality and are commonly considered as pollution indicators, they partially reflect overall habitat conditions

  • The water quality monitoring network is developed by the Flanders Environment Agency (VMM, https:// www.vmm.be/) and its preceding Flemish water authorities involved in wastewater and sanitation to assess the quality status of water bodies in Flanders

  • The quality is assessed by means of biotic indices: the Belgian Biotic Index (BBI) (De Pauw and Vanhooren 1983; De Pauw and Vannevel 1991; NBN 1984) and the Multimetric Macroinvertebrate Index Flanders (MMIF) (Gabriels et al 2010)

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Summary

Launched to accelerate biodiversity research

Stoev | Received 8 March 2018 | Accepted 24 April 2018 | Published 22 May 2018 http://zoobank.org/B74A09F1-799D-4820-8CE9-E8F727BBDE1F

Biotic indices and monitoring networks
Spatial and temporal coverage
Water quality monitoring network and methodology
Sediment quality monitoring network and methodology
Quality Control
Taxonomic coverage
Taxonomic ranks
Dataset specifications
Findings
Dataset description
Full Text
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