CITAB-Center for Research and Technology of Agro-Environment and Biological Sciences, Forestry Department, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Apartado 1013, 5001-801, Vila Real, Portugal.
Environ Monit Assess. 2010 Jul;166(1-4):201-21. doi: 10.1007/s10661-009-0996-4. Epub 2009 Jun 2.
A procedure to select the most relevant metrics for assessing the ecological condition of the Douro basin (north Portugal) was developed based upon a set of 184 benthic community metrics. They were grouped into 16 biological categories selected from literature using data collected over 2 years from 54 sites along 31 rivers covering the whole perceived range of human disturbance. Multivariate analyses were carried out to identify the main trends in the macroinvertebrate data, to select reference versus impaired sites, to avoid multicolinearity between metrics, and to identify those that were clearly independent from natural stream typology. Structural metrics, adaptation metrics, and tolerance measures most effectively responded across a range of human influence. We find these attributes to be ecologically sound for monitoring Portugal's lotic ecosystems and providing information relevant to the Water Framework Directive, which asserts that the definition of water quality depends on its "ecological status", independent of the actual or potential uses of those waters.
开发了一种程序，用于从文献中选择 16 个生物类别，从 184 个底栖群落指标中选择最能评估杜罗流域（葡萄牙北部）生态状况的指标。这些指标是基于两年内从 31 条河流的 54 个地点收集的数据，这些河流覆盖了整个感知到的人类干扰范围。进行了多元分析，以确定大型无脊椎动物数据中的主要趋势，选择参考与受损地点，避免指标之间的多重共线性，并确定那些明显与自然溪流类型无关的指标。结构指标、适应指标和耐受度量在一系列人为影响下最有效。我们发现这些属性对于监测葡萄牙的流水生态系统和提供与水框架指令相关的信息是合理的，该指令认为水质的定义取决于其“生态状况”，而不取决于这些水的实际或潜在用途。
