Tropical Zoology 21: 57-74, 2008
Adaptation of the Indice Biotico Esteso (IBE) for water quality assessment in rivers of Serra do Mar, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil R. Mugnai Baptista 1
,2,4,
R.B. Oliveira 1, A.
do
Lago Carvalho
3
and D.F.
1
Laboratório de Avaliação e Promoção da Saúde Ambiental, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Av. Brasil 4365, Manguinhos, 21045-900 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil 2 Graduate Program in Zoology, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil 3 Entomology Department, Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil Received 23 October 2006, accepted 31 July 2007
This paper presents the index Índice Biótico Estendido-Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IBE-IOC) adapted from the Indice Biotico Esteso (IBE) for the Serra do Mar region, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. This index was adjusted to 1st to 4th order streams using data from previous studies from 1999 through 2002. The surveys were carried out at 36 sampling sites, most with records from three different times of the year, for a total of 98 sampling events. The adaptation of the index was carried out in three stages: (1) adequacy of the taxonomic list of the SU definition table; (2) vertical modification of the calculation table, considering the taxa richness data; (3) horizontal modification of the calculation table, considering the tolerance of taxa to stress-related factors. In this article, there is also a table with the relative tolerances of the taxa present in the study area. Preliminary tests indicate good sensitivity of the IBE-IOC for the detection of different types of environmental impact, associated with the organic pollution, deforestation and industrial activities. key words:
IBE, biotic index, macroinvertebrates, IBE-IOC, biomonitoring.
Introduction . . . Study area . . . Material and methods
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4 Correspondence to: Riccardo Mugnai, Laboratório de Avaliação e Promoção da Saúde Ambiental, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Av. Brasil 4365, Manguinhos, 21045-900 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil (E-mail:
[email protected]).
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R. Mugnai et alii
Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RCE’s ability to distinguish quality classes . . . . Temporary stability of richness . . . . . . . Adaptation of the IBE . . . . . . . . . . Adaptation of the taxonomic list of the table for richness calculation . . . . . . . . . Variation in the vertical entrance of the calculation table . Variations in the horizontal entrance of the calculation table Calculation tables of the IBE-IOC index . . . . . Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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62 62 62 63
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63 64 65 68 69 71
INTRODUCTION
For the integrated management of water resources, environmental monitoring should include biological and landscape measures, in addition to the physical-chemical parameters, to obtain a wide spectrum of information about the ecosystem (Metcalfe 1989). The theoretical basis of water quality evaluation via biotic components was established in Germany in the middle of the 19th century with the saprobic concept, and its application was presented at the beginning of the 20th century (Rolauffs et al. 2004). Eighty years later, Metcalfe (1989) reported more than 50 different methods of biotic analysis. Woodiwiss (1964) created the Trent Biotic Index based on the saprobic indexes, which was successively modified by the same author in 1978 as the Extended Biotic Index (EBI). In the middle of the 1970s, most European countries rejected the saprobic and diversity indexes and adopted the EBI as the reference method, except for Germany and Holland (Metcalfe 1989). With the Water Framework Directive (EC/2000) and the project AQEM, the European Community has been investing in the use of multimetric indexes (Hering et al. 2004a, 2004b). However, the European agencies of environmental protection still use biotic indexes for routine analysis, including the Indice Biotico Esteso (IBE) adapted for Italy (Ghetti 1997). The IBE has also been used as a metric to calculate ecological quality in Greece (AQEM Consortium 2002). Morpurgo (1996) demonstrated that the IBE has a good correlation with the Saprobic Index, indicating that the analysis system can theoretically be applied in other European countries. In Central and South America, the original IBE was tested in Nicaraguan streams (Fenoglio et al. 2002) and adapted for the rivers of the Argentinian pampas (IBPAMP) (Rodríguez Capítulo et al. 2001), demonstrating its potential applicability outside of Europe. In South America, the adaptation of monometric biotic indices is an important step for the development of the freshwater ecological quality assessment system (Fenoglio et al. 2002), and the IBE can be used as a simple tool for the water assessment or as a metric in multimetric indexes in routine monitoring programs (Fenoglio et al. 2002, Skoulikidis et al. 2004, Vlek et al. 2004). In Brazil, studies on biomonitoring systems are at an early stage and, only two indices have been adapted thus far: the monometric BMWP-CETEC
Adaptation of the IBE in Brazil
59
(Junqueira & Campos 1998, Junqueira et al. 2000) for Minas Gerais State; the multimetric SOMI (Baptista et al. 2007) for Rio de Janeiro State. Biotic indexes are usually specific for the detection of a pollution type in the geographical areas for which they were developed (Ravera 2001). The objective of this study was to adapt the Indice Biotico Esteso (sensu Ghetti 1997) for the mountainous region of Serra dos Órgãos in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. The choice of the IBE as an index to be adapted, was based on three factors: a preliminary study, subsequently confirmed by Olifier (2005) and Buss & Salles (2006), which showed great variability in the degree of tolerance at the genus level of some families like Gripopterygidae and Perlidae for Plecoptera and Baetidae for Ephemeroptera. This suggested (a) the utilization of an index that works at the genus level; (b) the structure of the scale of the Riparian, Channel and Environmental Inventory index (RCE) (Petersen 1992), the environmental data presented in the database, corresponds to the IBE (Petersen 1992); (c) the IBE index had already been tested and adapted for the South American rivers of Argentina (Rodríguez Capítulo et al. 2001, Fenoglio et al. 2002).
STUDY AREA Serra do Mar is a mountainous region that extends through 1,000 km in Rio de Janeiro and other States in the south-east of Brazil. The central portion of this core region in Rio de Janeiro State is known as Serra dos Órgãos and covers an area of 12,904 km², representing the largest geophysical structure in the central portion of the State. The mean altitude is between 800 and 900 m a.s.l., with peaks of about 2,000 m. The climate is tropical humid with annual mean temperatures between 20 and 25 °C and annual precipitation more than 1,500 mm. The precipitation pattern is characterized by only two seasons: the rainy season from November to February (more than 250 mm/month) and a dry season from June to September (less than 100 mm/month). Throughout the other months, rainfall remains within this range. The high anthropogenic pressure on the aquatic ecosystems in this region is a consequence of the ever-increasing population and urban sprawl of the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro (more than 8 million people). The samplings in this study were carried out in rivers of three water basins: Macaé (22°21’00”S, 42°27’00”W), Guapimirim (22°29’92”S, 42°58’73”W) and Grande (22°21’08”S, 42°37’79”W) (Fig. 1). This area can be considered one bioregion (Araújo et al. 2004), where the predominant geological substrate is granitic and the vegetation is a formation of Tropical Rain Forests (Brasil 1987). The reference sites had the following a priori physical-chemical water and environmental conditions: DO (dissolved Oxygen) ≥ 6 mg/l, pH between 6 and 8; no urbanized land in the upstream drainage basin; no visible sign of channeling and deforestation; “excellent” classification according to the RCE index and clear distinction of the meso-habitats of riffles and pools. The grossly polluted sites were characterized by: deforestation of ≥ 75% of the upstream area; silting in riffle mesohabitats ≥ 50%; “poor” classification according to the RCE index. The reference and disturbed sampling sites were in the same altitudinal range.
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Fig. 1. — Map of the study area indicating the sampling sites in the core portion of Serra do Mar region in of Rio de Janeiro State: Basin of Grande River (A); Macaé River (B); Guapimirim River (C).
MATERIAL AND METHODS Adaptation of the IBE The adaptation of biotic indexes requires that areas with different degrees of environmental integrity, exposed to different types of disturbances, should be evaluated to determine the organisms tolerance values. The adaptation of the IBE was based on data from biological surveys carried out from 1999 to 2002 at 36 sampling sites on 1st to 6th streams order. Each site was sampled three times: at the end of the rainy season (March-June), during the dry season (July-October) and during the rainy season (November-February), for a total of 98 events; this allowed us to distinguish the natural variations of the community’s structure. Thirteen sites were considered as reference sites, while the other 23 localities presented disturbances. The environmental information used to adapt the index was: survey of the benthic macroinvertebrate fauna, physical-chemical parameters (chloride, dissolved oxygen, pH, total alkalinity, ammonia, total hardness, nitrite), and integrity of the rivers, defined by the RCE index (Riparian, Channel and Environmental Inventory) (Petersen 1992) (Table 1).
Biological sampling At each site, three pseudo-replicates of each of the four main substrate types (sediment, stones, litter in riffle areas and litter in pool areas) were taken using a
Adaptation of the IBE in Brazil
61
Table 1. Mean, maximum and minimum values of the physical-chemical parameters and of the total richness related to the RCE quality classes in rivers of Serra dos Órgãos, RJ, Brazil. RCE quality class
Excellent
Very good
Good
Regular
Poor
RCE scores
290.670 (300-280)
197.000 (230-160)
125.000 (131-122)
102.570 (121-61)
35.450 (44-23)
49.110 (64-37)
46.350 (65-28)
45.810 (62-25)
35.900 (49-22)
15.300 (33-1)
Hardness (mg/l CaC03/1)
13.887 (20.00-9.50)
15.089 (22.00-8.00)
15.034 17.633 25.865 (26.00-10.00) (24.00-11.50) (62.00-10.00)
Chloride (mg/l)
6.818 (10.70-0.90)
6.371 (11.66-1.50)
6.577 (10.70-2.40)
7.001 (10.70-0.90)
9.197 (15.50-2.40)
Dissolved oxygen (mg/l)
8.988 (10.50-7.50)
8.172 (10.00-6.10)
8.160 (10.00-7.50)
8.578 (10.00-7.10)
7.047 (8.58-3.50)
pH
6.681 (7.40-5.90)
7.000 (8.50-5.90)
6.983 (7.40-6.00)
6.581 (7.40-5.70)
6.56 (7.40-5.60)
Alkalinity (mg/l)
6.069 (20.00-0.00)
10.399 (65.00-0.00)
12.021 (24.00-7.27)
13.796 (30.00-7.14)
17.591 (42.00-9.09)
Ammonia (mg/l)
0.095 (0.33-0.00)
0.926 (3.30-0.00)
0.953 (4.00-0.00)
0.566 (4.40-0.00)
1.073 (2.88-0.14)
Nitrite (mg/1)
0.006 (0.036-0.00)
0.076 (0.3 -0.00)
0.0796 (0.50-0.00)
0.030 (0.30-0.00)
0.034 (0.29-0.00)
Richness
Surber sampler (0.09 m2 area, 125 µm mesh size). The 12 samples were then pooled, representing a single sample for each site. In the laboratory, the material was washed in running water with the use of sieves (125 µm mesh size) and conserved in 80% alcohol. The macroinvertebrates were sorted and identified under the microscope to the lowest taxonomic level possible. The material was identified with aid of a specialized bibliography (e.g. Merritt & Cummins 1996; Carvalho & Calil 2000; Angrisano & Korob 2001; Salles et al 2004a, 2004b) and specialists.
Identification and gradient of the stress factors The taxa tolerance value in relation to stress factors is established based on a group of data that represent an environmental gradient. Several authors, like Ross (1963) and Cummins et al. (1989), have recognized the importance of using the land patterns in the area around a river to determine the macroinvertebrate community’s structure. Petersen (1992) stated that disturbance of the riparian zone and stream channel is a major cause of the reduction of a stream’s biological structure and function. Previous studies in this area demonstrated that the benthic community is more influenced by deforestation and erosion than by the physical-chemical characteristics of the water (Egler 2002). It was also demonstrated that the RCE index is the measure that best reflects the community structure (Buss et al. 2002).
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Adaptation of the index The following steps were taken to adapt the index: evaluation of the RCE’s ability to distinguish quality classes; adaptation of the taxonomic list of the table for richness calculation; variations in the horizontal entrance of the calculation table; variations in the vertical entrance of the calculation table.
RESULTS
RCE’s ability to distinguish quality classes The total richness in Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) of the class Insecta was calculated for each sampling site and the relationships with the physical-chemical and environmental data were evaluated. The multiple regression test showed that three factors were highly significant: the RCE index (0.7470, P = 0.000), total alkalinity (− 0.6748, P = 0.000) and total hardness (− 0.4574, P = 0.004) (P < 0.05, n = 38). A longitudinal disruption in faunal composition and structure among river sections of 1st-4th and 5th-6th orders was previously shown for the Serra dos Órgaos streams (Baptista et al. 1998a, 1998b, 2001a, 2001b). For this reason, data from streams of 1st to 4th order were used for adaptation of the index, for a total of 29 sampling sites and 85 events. The 29 sampling sites were divided in five quality classes based on the RCE index values. In this study, the “reference” and “very good” classes were pooled into a single “reference” class. In this way, the 27 sites were classified as: 12 “reference” (35 samplings), 5 “good” (15 samplings), 5 “regular” (15 samplings) and 7 “poor” (20 samplings). The seasonal samplings were used as pseudo-replicates as suggested by Hurbert (1984) and Stewart-Oaten & Murdoch (1986). The box-and-whisker plots show the relationship between total taxa richness and RCE classes and were used to evaluate the RCE’s ability to distinguish different environmental impact degrees. Although there is a small overlap among the intermediate classes, the existence of a gradient is clear (Fig. 2). Temporary stability of richness One of the problems of the biological monitoring of fresh water using biotic indices is the difficulty of distinguishing natural variations of the community’s structure from those due to pollution. The erroneous interpretation of these variations can decisively affect the evaluation of water quality (Ghetti 1986). For use in assessment projects, an index should not only be sensitive to environmental disturbances but should also supply coherent results for a relatively long period of the year. Thus, before proceeding with the adaptation of IBE, we evaluated the natural variations of taxa richness among different quality classes. The richness variation in each class in the three periods
Adaptation of the IBE in Brazil
63
Fig. 2. — Box-and-whisker plots of the values of total richness in Operational Systematic Units in quality classes defined by RCE for the river sampling sites of Serra dos Órgãos, RJ, Brazil.
of the year is illustrated in Fig. 3. The evaluation confirmed that the fluctuations of annual richness are limited, and that even though there is some small overlap among the intermediate classes, it is possible to distinguish a gradient along the entire year. Adaptation of the IBE The biotic indices derived from TBI evaluate the biological quality of water bodies based on: (a) specific sensitivities of some taxa used as references, ordered according to the tolerance to stress factors; (b) richness value in Systematic Units (SU). According to the application procedure, calculation of the biological quality value of a water body is performed using a table with two entrances: a vertical entrance — corresponding to the richness value found; and a horizontal entrance — corresponding to the least tolerant SU to stress factors. The biological quality value can be transformed into a quality class through the conversion table. Adaptation of the taxonomic list of the table for richness calculation According to Agostinho et al. (2005), the Brazilian continental waters are extraordinarily rich for some groups of Porifera, Annelida, Rotifera, Cladocera, Decapoda, Platyhelminthes, Acantocephala and Nematoda. Unfortunately, there is very little ecological information on those taxa and the taxonomic characteristics are complex. Therefore, some of the taxa used in the original table, i.e., Nematomorpha, Bryozoa, Celenterata (Cnidaria) and Porifera, were excluded. For other taxa, i.e. Tricladida, Hirudinea and Oligo-
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R. Mugnai et alii
Fig. 3. — Seasonal variation of taxa richness in the four RCE quality classes at the sampling sites in rivers of the Serra dos Órgãos, RJ, Brazil.
chaeta, only presence or absence data were considered. For Ephemeroptera, identification at the genus level is required in the original table, although it was left at the family level for Baetidae because of difficulties in taxonomic identification, e.g. mouth parts visualization (Salles et al. 2004b). Lepidoptera and Blattaria, not used in the original index, were included. For the nomenclature of insect groups, we used the publication “The insects of Australia” (CSIRO 1991) as a reference. Thus, the term Planipennia was changed to Neuroptera. The table for the richness calculation of the adapted index is presented below. For further information, refer to the table beside the original IBE table (Table 2). Variation in the vertical entrance of the calculation table The table for calculation of the biological quality value of the IBE was originally developed for temperate environments and the maximum richness value in the index, represented by the last column, is a value of “36 or more” SU. Systematic units recorded with only one or two specimens were excluded, avoiding a possible increase of richness due to drift phenomena (Ghetti & Bonazzi 1981, Ghetti 1986).
Adaptation of the IBE in Brazil
65
Table 2. Table for the richness calculation with the taxonomic levels required defined as Systematic Units: (a) IBE adapted for the rivers of Serra dos Órgãos, RJ, Brazil; (b) original IBE. (a) Taxonomic level request IBE adapted
(b) Taxonomic level request IBE original
Plecoptera Ephemeroptera
genus genus / family for Baetidae
Plecoptera Ephemeroptera
genus genus
Trichoptera
family
Trichoptera
family
Coleoptera
family
Coleoptera
family
Odonata
genus
Odonata
genus
Diptera
family
Diptera
family
Hemiptera
genus
Hemiptera
genus
Crustacea
family
Crustacea
family
Mollusca
genus
Mollusca
genus
Tricladida
presence
Tricladida
genus
Hirudinea
presence
Hirudinea
genus family
Oligochaeta
presence
Oligochaeta
Megaloptera
genus
Megaloptera
genus
Neuroptera
family
Planipennia
family
Lepidoptera
family
—
—
Blattaria
presence
—
—
—
—
Nematomorpha
presence
—
—
Bryozoa
presence
—
—
Coelenterata
presence
—
—
Porifera
presence
The maximum richness value in the excellent class was 41 SU. However, considering the possibility of environments with higher taxa richness, we inserted new columns with the value of “> 45 SU”. The poor class had a maximum value of 19 SU and a minimum value of 0, while the regular class had a maximum value of 30 SU and a minimum of 13. The value of the first column of 0-5 SU in the original index was increased to 0-10 because the value of 10 SU was closer to the mean value of the poor class and the minimum value of the regular class. Variations in the horizontal entrance of the calculation table To evaluate the tolerance to stress of the taxa used as indicators in the IBE, we produced diagrams of taxa distribution (presence or absence) in the four RCE quality classes (Table 3). Besides the indicative taxa, we assessed
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R. Mugnai et alii
Table 3. Taxa list and distribution in the four RCE quality classes in the rivers of Serra dos Órgãos, RJ, Brazil (E-excellent, G-good, R-regular, P-poor). Presence l, absence °. Taxa
Quality class E
G
R
P
PLECOPTERA
E
G
R
P
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
°
°
BIepharopus
l
l
°
°
Leptonema
l
l
l
°
Macronema
l
l
°
l
Smicridea
l
l
l
l
Calamoceratidae
Guaranyperla
l
°
°
°
Gripopteryx
l
°
°
°
Paragripopteryx
l
l
°
°
Tupiperla
l
°
°
°
Anacroneuria
l
l
l
°
Kempnyia
l
°
°
°
Macrogynoplax
l
°
°
°
Perlidae
°
EPHEMEROPTERA l
l
l
l
Caenidae Caenis
Quality class
TRICHOPTERA
Gripopterygidae
Baetidae
Taxa
l
°
°
°
Leptohyphidae
Phylloicus Glossosomatidae Protoptilia Helycopsychidae Helycopsyche Hydrobiosidae Atopsyche Hydropsychidae
Hydroptilidae
Leptohyphes
l
l
l
l
Alisotrichia
l
l
l
l
Tricorythopsis
l
l
l
l
Leucotrichia
l
l
l
l
Ochrotrichia
l
l
l
l
Leptophlebiidae
Leptoceridae
Askola
l
°
°
°
Farrodes
l
l
l
°
Grumichella
l
l
°
l
Hylister
l
l
l
°
Nectopsyche
l
l
l
l
Massartella
l
°
°
°
Notalina
l
l
l
°
Miroculis
l
l
°
°
Oecetis
l
l
l
°
Thraulodes
l
l
°
°
Triplectides
l
l
°
°
Barypenthus
l
°
°
°
Marilia
l
l
°
°
l
l
l
°
Cyrnellus
°
°
l
°
Polycentropus
l
°
°
°
Polyplectropus
l
°
°
°
Oligoneuriidae Lachlania
Odontoceridae l
°
°
°
° l(?) °
°
Euthyplociidae Campylocia
Philopotamidae Chimarra Polycentropodidae
(continued)
Adaptation of the IBE in Brazil
67
Table 3. (continued) Taxa
Quality class E
G
R
Taxa
P
DIPTERA
Quality class E
G
R
P
Elmidae
Blepharoceridae
l
°
°
°
Austrolimnus
l
l
l
l
Ceratopogonidae
l
l
l
l
Cylloepus
l
l
°
°
Chironomidae
l
l
l
l
Gonielmis
l
l
°
l
Culicidae
l
l
l
°
Heterelmis
l
l
l
l
Dixidae
l
°
°
°
Hexanchorus
l
l
l
l
Empididae
l
l
l
l
Macrelmis
l
l
l
l
Ephrydridae
l
°
°
°
Neoelmis
l
l
l
l
Psychodidae
l
l
l
l
Phanocerus
l
l
l
l
Simulidae
l
l
l
l
Promoresia
l
l
l
°
Stratiomyidae
l
°
°
°
Xenelmis
l
l
l
l
Syrphidae
°
°
°
l
Gyrinidae
l
°
°
°
Tabanidae
l
°
°
°
Hydrophilidae
l
l
°
l
Tipulidae
l
l
l
°
Lutrochidae
l
l
l
°
Psephenidae
l
l
l
°
l
l
°
°
Scirtidae
l
l
°
°
Staphylinidae
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
°
HEMIPTERA
l
l
l
°
Belastomatidae
°
°
°
l
°
l
°
°
l
l
l
°
Cryphocricos
l
l
l
°
Linmocoris
l
l
l
l
l
°
°
°
ODONATA Aeshnidae Calopterygidae Hetaerina Coenagrionidae Gomphidae
Corixidae
Epigomphus
l
° °° °
Gomphoides
l
l
l
°
Helotrephidae
Progomphus
l
l
l
°
Neotrephes
Brechmorhoga
l
l
l
l
Elasmothemis
l
l
l
l
Libellulidae
Naucoridae
Megapodagrionidae Heteragrion
Tenagobia
Notonectidae l
°
°
°
COLEOPTERA
Notonecta Pleidae
Dryopidae
l
°
°
°
Neoplea
l
l
°
°
Dystiscidae
l
°
°
°
Paraplea
l
l
°
°
°
°
l
l
Velidae Microvelia
l
Rhagovelia
l
l
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R. Mugnai et alii
the distribution patterns of all taxa present in the database. We paid special attention to taxa not included in the original IBE or not present in Europe, such as Lepidoptera and Blattaria (Fenoglio et al. 2002). None of those groups presented a particular high sensitive for environmental disturbances that justified its entrance in the group of reference taxa. Calculation tables of the IBE-IOC index Based on information obtained in the previous stages, we defined the table of calculation of the adapted index, Índice Biótico Estendido — Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IBE-IOC) (Table 4). Table 4. Table for calculation of the biological quality values of the Índice Biótico Estendido — Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IBE-IOC), adapted for rivers of Serra dos Órgãos region, RJ, Brazil.
Faunistic groups PLECOPTERA except Paragripopteyx and Anacroneuria
SU richness SU
1-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-45
45
> 1 SU
—
—
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
1 SU
—
—
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
—
—
7
8
9
10
11
12
—
—
—
6
7
8
9
10
11
—
>1 SU
—
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
—
1 SU
—
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
—
AMPHIPODA including Baetidae, Hylister, Farrodes, Leptohyphidae, Calamoceratidae, Glossosomatidae, Helicopsychidae, Hydroptilidae, Hydropsychidae and Leptoceridae
—
3
3
4
5
6
7
8
—
—
OLIGOCHAETA / CHIRONOMIDAE
—
1
2
3
4
5
—
—
—
—
Others
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
EPHEMEROPTERA > 1 SU except Baetidae, Leptohyphidae and gen. Hylister e Farrodes, including Para- 1 SU gripopteyx TRICHOPTERA except Calamoceratidae, Glossosomatidae, Helicopsychidae, Hydroptilidae, Hydropsychidae and Leptoceridae, including Anacroneuria
Adaptation of the IBE in Brazil
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Table 5. System of conversion of the numerical values of IBE-IOC into quality classes, adapted for rivers of the Serra dos Órgãos, RJ, Brazil. IBE-IOC value 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
Quality class
Description
Color
I
unpolluted
blue
8, 9
II
slightly polluted
green
6, 7
III
moderately polluted
yellow
3, 4, 5
IV
heavily polluted
orange
1, 2
V
very heavily polluted
red
The conversion of the numerical values of the index into quality classes was carried out using Table 5. For this conversion system, a small adjustment among the values of classes IV and V was needed.
DISCUSSION
For the adaptation of a biotic index, it is necessary to distinguish the patterns of the natural variations within the communities from those induced by human disturbance. Regarding the patterns of natural variations of a river’s longitudinal gradient, it is known that the composition and structure of the fauna changes with altitude in temperate and tropical rivers (Jacobsen et al. 1997, Henriques-Oliveira 2006). For the Serra dos Órgãos streams, a disruption in the composition and structure among river stretches of 1st-4th and 5th-6th orders has been demonstrated (Baptista et al. 1998a, 1998b, 2001a, 2001b). Because of that disruption, this work proposes the adaptation of a biotic index for streams of 1st to 4th order. The period of emergence of aquatic insects is generally controlled by the temperature and photoperiod, as well as by the rain pattern and the amount of organic substances in the water (Hynes 1970, MacArthur 1972, Yule & P earson 1996). In temperate areas, numerous species of insects are univoltine and live in the water in limited periods of the year (Ghetti 1986, Ward 1992). In contrast, in tropical areas, the communities present less regularity of their biological cycle (M ac A rthur 1972). Although several studies conducteded in the Serra dos Órgãos indicate regular seasonal variations in the biological cycle of some aquatic macroinvertebrates (Hamantinco & Nessimian 2000, Passos et al. 2003, Pepinelli et al. 2005), the community generally presents seasonal stability of its composition (Baptista et al. 2001b, Buss et al. 2002, Egler 2002, Silveira et al. 2005). According to this and to the box-and-whisker plot, the small seasonal fluctuations of richness values do not jeopardize the use of qualitative biotic indexes through all seasons.
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The taxa distribution related to the impact gradient defined by RCE showed that each quality class presented a typical pattern. Consequently, it indicated specific degrees of tolerance for each Systematic Unit, showing the best indicative taxa and allowing their ordination in a scale of tolerance. As suggested by Fenoglio et al. (2002), in the process of adaptation of IBE for areas of South America, attention should be given to those groups that do not have representatives in Europe. Therefore, in our study, we analysed the taxa distribution in relation to the environmental gradient considering all the taxa present in the database. In the IBE, the taxonomic groups used as indicators have an increasing tolerance to the stress factors. This corresponds to the following scale from less to most tolerant: Plecoptera-Ephemeroptera-Trichoptera-Decapoda-Chironomidae. In Ephemeroptera, the families Baetidae and Caenidae have the highest tolerance, and they are placed in the same level of the Order Trichoptera (Ghetti 1986). In contrast, our study found that the taxa in the Serra dos Orgãos had great variability in the degree of tolerance at the family and genus level. For example, in the order Plecoptera, there are two very tolerant genera: Paragripopteryx Enderlein 1909 (Gripopterygidae), present until the “good” class, and Anacroneuria Klapálek 1909 (Perlidae) until the “regular” class. In Ephemeroptera, some genera present low sensitivity, such as Leptohyphes Eaton 1882 and Thricorythopsys Trarer 1958 (Leptohyphidae) and Rivudiva Lugo-Ortiz & McCafferty 1998 and Zelusia Lugo-Ortiz & McCafferty 1998 (Baetidae), which are present until the “poor” class. The genera Hylister Domínguez & Flowers 1989 and Farrodes Peters 1971 (Leptophlebiidae) are present until the “regular” class. However, five other genera of Ephemeroptera were only found in places classified as “excellent”: Caenis Stephens 1835, Askola Peters 1969, Lachlania Hagen 1868 and Massartella Lestage 1930. Special attention was paid to the genus Caenis which is placed in the group of tolerance of Trichoptera in the original IBE. In the study area, for the order Trichoptera, the families Calamoceratidae, Glossosomatidae, Helicopsychidae, Hydroptilidae, Hydropsychidae and Leptoceridae presented tolerant genera in the “regular” and “poor” classes, while the families Hydrobiosidae, Polycentropodidae and Odontoceridae were most sensitive and found only in the “good” class. In the other groups, only two families presented a distribution restricted to the reference sites: Megapodagrionidae (Odonata) and Blepharoceridae (Diptera). This distribution seems to be more associated with specific ecological factors such as water speed (Fitter & Manuel 1993, Carvalho & Nessimian 1998) than with he responses to the stress factors. In the specific case of Megapodagrionidae, there is evidence that the species can be sensitive to environmental degradation (Machado 1988). However, there have been no studies on this topic to date. Comparison of the table of calculation of IBE-IOC with IBPAMP and BMWP-CETEC revealed differences in the tolerance level of some taxonomic groups. IBPAMP is characterized by the absence of typical elements of the fauna of mountainous areas, with the presence of a few species of Trichoptera and Ephemeroptera and the absence of Plecoptera. In contrast to IBEIOC, the calculation table of IBPAMP presents a lower richness interval,
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reaching a maximum value of > 26 SU and uses Odonata, Coleoptera and Mollusca as reference taxa and the family Leptoceridae (Trichoptera) as the one most sensitive to pollution. The tolerance levels of some taxa defined by BMWP-CETEC are different from those of IBE-IOC, e.g. Helicopsychidae and Leptoceridae (Trichoptera), Leptohyphidae (Ephemeroptera). These differences show the need for regional adaptation, considering local characteristics, and the need for studies to better understand the specific tolerance of some taxa. The IBE-IOC index presented in this paper was tested in several tributaries of the Guandu River basin in Rio de Janeiro State; the results demonstrated good sensitivity for the detection of different types of environmental impact associated with organic pollution, deforestation and industrial activities (Mugnai 2006). Therefore, the IBE-IOC is considered an adequate tool for the assessment of freshwater ecological quality in small and medium rivers in the Serra do Mar region, in Rio de Janeiro State.
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