La Tour du Valat

Institut de recherche pour la conservation des zones humides méditerranéennes

Titre :	Assessment of Biotic Integrity of the Coastal Freshwater Tidal Zone of a Temperate Estuary of South America through Multiple Indicators
Auteurs :	N. Gomez, Auteur ; M. Licursi, Auteur ; D. E. Bauer, Auteur ; E. S. Ambrosio, Auteur ; A. Rodrigues Capitulo, Auteur
Type de document :	Article
Dans :	Estuaries and Coasts (35(5) SEP 2012)
Article en page(s) :	1328-1339
Résumé :	The aim of this study was to propose an index [Index of Biotic Integrity for the Rio de la Plata (IBIRP)] formulated from a minimum of information-rich metrics related to biological integrity for evaluation of the coastal freshwater tidal zone of the Rio de la Plata estuary. A total of 23 sites were selected along 170 km of shoreline (34A degrees 27'10aEuro(3) S, 58A degrees 30'21aEuro(3) W and 35A degrees 23'28aEuro(3) S, 57A degrees 08'50aEuro(3) W), being influenced by different land uses. We explored 36 biotic descriptors (designated candidate metrics), each of which is considered as an environmental indicator, and selected four metrics: two related to phytoplankton assemblage (planktonic cyanobacterial density and phytoplanktonic total density) and two linked to benthic assemblages, the diatoms (percent most tolerant taxa), and the invertebrates (percent Tanaidacea). The metrics that were chosen to integrate the IBIRP provide valuable information about the biotic integrity both in terms of time and space. The multimetric index can assume values between 0 (very bad status) and

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