Water Stewardship Information Sources
| ID | 1555 |
|---|---|
| Citation | Rosenberg, DM, Reynoldson, TB and Resh, VH. 1999. Establishing baseline conditions for benthic invertebrate monitoring in the Fraser River Catchment, British Columbia, Canada. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, DOE-FRAP 1998-32. |
| Organization | DFO |
| URL | http://research.rem.sfu.ca/frap/9832.pdf |
| Abstract/Description or Keywords | The problem of assessing pollution in the catchment of the Fraser River, British Columbia, Canada, was addressed by using benthic macroinvertebrates to develop a biomonitoring program based on the reference-condition approach to water-quality assessment. The reference condition is represented by groups of minimally disturbed sites organized by selected physical, chemical, and biological characteristics. Potentially impaired sites in the catchment can eventually be compared against the appropriate reference group. Multivariate statistics are used to create the reference groups of macroinvertebrate assemblages, to create the physicalchemical models to predict group membership, and to compare potentially impaired sites with reference groups. Techniques are described for: (1) selecting reference sites; (2) choosing physical, chemical, and biological variables to be measured at each site and the methods of measurement involved; (3) developing the sampling and processing protocols used for benthic macroinvertebrates; (4) creating a family-level predictive model of invertebrate assemblage structure, and testing it with sites exposed to logging, mining, and agricultural disturbances; and (5) choosing appropriate metrics for analysis and interpretation. water quality, biological water quality, biomonitoring, model |
| Information Type | report |
| Regional Watershed | Fraser, Nicola, Thompson |
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| Project status | complete |
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