An index of biotic integrity based on the summer polyhaline zooplankton community of the Chesapeake Bay.
A zooplankton index of biotic integrity was developed for the polyhaline waters of the Chesapeake Bay using data from a long-term environmental assessment program in which both zooplankton and water quality were regularly monitored. Summer (July to September) sampling events were classified as either coming from impaired or reference (least-impaired) conditions based on water quality conditions. Seventeen zooplankton community metrics were evaluated under these criteria and nine were chosen for a composite index. These were the Simpson diversity index, and abundance of barnacle larvae, rotifers, cladocerans, copepods, total mesozooplankton, and predators. The composite index of biotic integrity correctly classified about 94% of the impaired samples and about 82% of the reference samples. Average classification efficiency was 88%. This index appears to be an effective measure of eutrophication for the summer polyhaline waters of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem.
Carpenter
K E
KE
Department of Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529, USA.
Johnson
J M
JM
Buchanan
C
C
D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D003625:Data Collection; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005068:Eutrophication; D007448:Invertebrates / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology; D008386:Marine Biology / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D015233:Models, Statistical; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012621:Seasons; D012623:Seawater; D014768:Virginia; D015048:Zooplankton / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*