EARLY HEARING DETECTION AND INTERVENTION VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
MARCH 2-5, 2021
(Virtually the same conference, without elevators, airplane tickets, or hotel room keys)
5/23/2019 | 11:30 AM - 11:45 AM | DEVELOPMENT AND CRITICAL EVALUATION OF A FISH COMMUNITY-BASED INDEX OF BIOTIC INTEGRITY FOR BOREAL PLAINS STREAMS | 150 DEF
DEVELOPMENT AND CRITICAL EVALUATION OF A FISH COMMUNITY-BASED INDEX OF BIOTIC INTEGRITY FOR BOREAL PLAINS STREAMS
Freshwater ecosystems are vulnerable to anthropogenic influences and multiple stressors, and proper management techniques are required to assess, conserve or restore aquatic health. Biological assessment is a valuable technique for measuring and evaluating the effects of stressors on the ecological condition of water resources. We are developing and critically evaluating a fish-based ecosystem health assessment tool, the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI), to assess fish communities, stream, river and watershed health for the Boreal Plain ecozone of Saskatchewan, Canada. Fish and benthic macroinvertebrate assemblage data, environmental DNA (eDNA), and various water quality, habitat and land use variables were collected from minimally-disturbed and impaired streams over three years. We evaluated fish community response to known stressors and potential annual variability in IBI methods and results. We found variations in species richness, composition, and abundance between years, which were reflected in IBI scores. Comparing the IBI with benthic macroinvertebrate indices and eDNA analysis over multiple years will help critically evaluate the reliability of IBI-type approaches in this biogeographic region. Our results reinforce the importance of long-term monitoring to decipher trends in natural variation of fish communities from variation created by anthropological stressors.
- Fish
- Invertebrate
- Multi-stressors
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Presenters/Authors
Kate Prestie
(), University of Saskatchewan, kate.prestie@usask.ca;
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Iain Phillips
(), Troutreach Saskatchewan/ Water Security Agency of Saskatchewan, iain.phillips@wsask.ca;
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Dave Janz
(), University of Saskatchewan, david.janz@usask.ca;
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Tim Jardine
(), University of Saskatchewan, tim.jardine@usask.ca;
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