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Refinement, validation, and application of a benthic condition index for northern Gulf of Mexico estuaries

Estuaries
By:  and 
https://doi.org/10.2307/1353050

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Abstract

By applying discriminant analysis to benthic macroinvertebrate data, we have developed an indicator of benthic condition for northern Gulf of Mexico estuaries. The data used were collected by the United states Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) in the Louisianian Province from 1991 to 1994. This benthic index represents a linear combination of the following weighted parameters: the proportion of expected species diversity, the mean abundance of tubificid oligochaetes, the percent of total abundance represented by capitellid polychaetes, the percent of total abundance represented by bivalve mollusks, and the percent of total abundance represented by amphipods. We successfully validated and retrospectively applied the benthic index to all of the benthic data collected by EMAP in the Louisianian Province. This benthic index was also calculated for independent data collected from Pensacola Bay, Florida, in order to demonstrate its flexibility and applicability to different estuarine systems within the same biogeographic region. The benthic index is a useful and valid indicator of estuarine condition that is intended to provide environmental managers with a simple tool for assessing the health of benthic macroinvertebrate communities.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Refinement, validation, and application of a benthic condition index for northern Gulf of Mexico estuaries
Series title Estuaries
DOI 10.2307/1353050
Volume 22
Issue 3A
Year Published 1999
Language English
Publisher Springer
Description 12 p.
First page 624
Last page 635
Country United States
Other Geospatial Gulf of Mexico
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