A preliminary index of biotic integrity for monitoring the condition of the Rio Paraiba do Sul, southeast Brazil.
The biodiversity of many Brazilian rivers is seriously threatened by industrial and municipal pollution, and Rio Paraiba do Sul, located between two major industrial centers is one example of this situation. A survey of the fish assemblage was conducted from October 1998 to September 1999 and the data were used to develop an index of biotic integrity (IBI). We sampled three zones in bracketing a large urban-industrial complex to evaluate water quality changes and the usefulness of the IBI as a monitoring tool. Water quality was classified as poor upstream of the effluent discharges, very poor near the discharges, and poor-fair downstream of the discharges, with this latter situation revealing the current biological capacity of the river. Physical and chemical habitat characteristics were also measured at each site to construct an independent environmental index to validate the IBI. The habitat and IBI indices were highly correlated, suggesting this IBI would be applicable to other large rivers in southeast Brazil.
Laboratório Ecologia de Peixes, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro Km 47., Antiga Rod. Rio-SP. 23851-970 Seropedica., RJ, Brazil. gerson@utrrj.br
Francisco Gerson
FG
Araujo
Ilana
I
Fichberg
Benjamin Carvalho Teixeira
BC
Pinto
Magna Galvao
MG
Peixoto
D000818:Animals; D001938:Brazil; D002965:Classification; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005399:Fishes; D007220:Industrial Waste; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012016:Reference Values; D045483:Rivers; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000506:poisoning*
D007220:Industrial Waste; D014873:Water Pollutants