Benyi Sandra J, Hollister Jeffrey W, Kiddon John A, Walker Henry A
US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Atlantic Ecology Division, Narragansett, RI 02882, United States.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2009;59(1-3):65-71. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2008.11.009. Epub 2008 Dec 24.
Often when various estuarine benthic indices disagree in their assessments of benthic condition, they are reflecting different aspects of benthic condition. We describe a process to screen indices for associations and, after identifying candidate metrics, evaluate metrics individually against the indices. We utilize radar plots as a multi-metric visualization tool, and conditional probability plots and receiver operating characteristic curves to evaluate associations seen in the plots. We investigated differences in two indices, the US EPA Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program's benthic index for the Virginian Province and the New York Harbor benthic index of biotic integrity using data collected in New York Harbor and evaluated overall agreement of the indices and associations between each index and measures of habitat and sediment contamination. The indices agreed in approximately 78% of the cases. The New York Harbor benthic index of biotic integrity showed stronger associations with sediment metal contamination and grain size.
当各种河口底栖生物指数对底栖生物状况的评估不一致时，它们往往反映了底栖生物状况的不同方面。我们描述了一个筛选指数间关联的过程，在确定候选指标后，针对这些指数分别评估指标。我们使用雷达图作为多指标可视化工具，以及条件概率图和受试者工作特征曲线来评估图中显示的关联。我们利用在纽约港收集的数据，研究了两个指数的差异，即美国环境保护局弗吉尼亚省环境监测与评估计划的底栖生物指数和纽约港生物完整性底栖生物指数，并评估了这些指数之间的总体一致性以及每个指数与栖息地和沉积物污染测量值之间的关联。这些指数在大约78%的情况下是一致的。纽约港生物完整性底栖生物指数与沉积物金属污染和粒度的关联更强。
