Centro de Oceanografia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2012 Jun;64(6):1136-42. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2012.03.030. Epub 2012 Apr 24.
Benthic macroinvertebrates communities are the most consistently emphasized biotic component of aquatic ecosystems and are one of the biological indicators required for assessment by the European Water Framework Directive. In this context, several indices based on these communities have been developed in order to assess ecological quality of estuarine systems. In the present work we used AMBI, M-AMBI, BENTIX and BAT to distinguish ecological status of five small estuarine systems of the Portuguese south and southwest coasts. Although indices outputs did not differ between systems and sampling seasons, results indicated that the metrics in which these indices are based could differentiate community structures as a result of two main gradients that force these communities: the natural variability, and the anthropogenic impact.
底栖大型无脊椎动物群落是水生态系统中最受重视的生物组成部分，也是欧洲水框架指令要求评估的生物指标之一。在这种情况下，已经开发了基于这些群落的几种指数，以便评估河口系统的生态质量。在本工作中，我们使用 AMBI、M-AMBI、BENTIX 和 BAT 来区分葡萄牙南部和西南部五个小型河口系统的生态状况。尽管指数的输出在系统和采样季节之间没有差异，但结果表明，这些指数所依据的指标可以区分群落结构，这是由于两种主要梯度的结果：自然变异性和人为影响。
