Fish-based Index of Biotic Integrity for wadeable streams from Atlantic Forest of south São Paulo State, Brazil

Cetra, Mauricio; Ferreira, Fabio Cop

doi:10.1590/S2179-975X1216

home Sumário navigate_before Anterior Atual Seguinte navigate_next

home Sumário

Original Articles • Acta Limnol. Bras. 28 • 2016 • https://doi.org/10.1590/S2179-975X1216 linkcopy

Fish-based Index of Biotic Integrity for wadeable streams from Atlantic Forest of south São Paulo State, Brazil

Índice de Integridade Biótica utilizando a comunidade de peixes para riachos de cabeceira que cruzam a Mata Atlântica do sul do estado de São Paulo, Brasil

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract:

Understanding the relationship between environmental quality of streams and biological integrity of fish assemblages is critical to successful ecosystem management.

Aim We adapted the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) using ecological data of the fish assemblages that occur in headwater streams from the Atlantic Forest in southern São Paulo State.

Methods We sampled the ichthyofauna and collected environmental data in 27 streams stretches during the dry season of 2010. The fish species were categorized into trophic group, position in the water column and preference for rapid meso-habitats. Candidate metrics were screened for range, responsiveness and redundancy.

Results Of the 17 metrics tested, four metrics were included in the IBI. They belonged to attributes species diversity: percentage of individuals as Loricariidae family; habitat use: percentage of individuals as benthic riffles; and trophic function: percentage of individuals as omnivores and percentage of individuals as herbivores/detritivores. Eight streams (30%) were classified as excellent or good and fourteen (50%) as poor or very poor.

Conclusions On a regional scale, many aspects of biological integrity were altered but there are streams that can be used as biological reference.

Keywords:
ichthyofauna; biomonitoring; multimetric index; neotropical

	Condition category
Habitat parameter	Optimal	Suboptimal	Marginal	Poor
Epifaunal Substrate/ Available Cover	Greater than 70% of substrate favorable for epifaunal colonization and fish cover; mix of snags, submerged logs, undercut banks, cobble or other stable habitat and at stage to allow full colonization potential (i.e., logs/snags that are not new fall and not transient).	40-70% mix of stable habitat; well-suited for full colonization potential; adequate habitat for maintenance of populations; presence of additional substrate in the form of newfall, but not yet prepared for colonization (may rate at high end of scale).	20-40% mix of stable habitat; habitat availability less than desirable; substrate frequently disturbed or removed.	Less than 20% stable habitat; lack of habitat is obvious; substrate unstable or lacking.
Score	20 19 18 17 16	15 14 13 12 11	10 9 8 7 6	5 4 3 2 1 0
Sediment Deposition	Little or no enlargement of islands or point bars and less than 5% of the bottom affected by sediment deposition	Some new increase in bar formation, mostly from gravel, sand or fine sediment; 5-30% of the bottom affected; slight deposition in pools.	Moderate deposition of new gravel, sand or fine sediment on old and new bars; 30-50% of the bottom affected; sediment deposits at obstructions, constrictions, and bends; moderate deposition of pools prevalent.	Heavy deposits of fine material, increased bar development; more than 50% of the bottom changing frequently; pools almost absent due to substantial sediment deposition.
Score	20 19 18 17 16	15 14 13 12 11	10 9 8 7 6	5 4 3 2 1 0
Frequency of Riffles (or bends)	Occurrence of riffles relatively frequent; ratio of distance between riffles divided by width of the stream <7:1 (generally 5 to 7); variety of habitat is key. In streams where riffles are continuous, placement of boulders or other large, natural obstruction is important.	Occurrence of riffles infrequent; distance between riffles divided by the width of the stream is between 7 to 15.	Occasional riffle or bend; bottom contours provide some habitat; distance between riffles divided by the width of the stream is between 15 to 25.	Generally all flat water or shallow riffles; poor habitat; distance between riffles divided by the width of the stream is a ratio of >25.
Score	20 19 18 17 16	15 14 13 12 11	10 9 8 7 6	5 4 3 2 1 0
Bank Stability	Banks stable; evidence of erosion or bank failure absent or minimal; little potential for future problems. <5% of bank affected.	Moderately stable; infrequent, small areas of erosion mostly healed over. 5-30% of bank in reach has areas of erosion.	Moderately unstable; 30-60% of bank in reach has areas of erosion; high erosion potential during floods.	Unstable; many eroded areas; “raw” areas frequent along straight sections and bends; obvious bank sloughing; 60-100% of bank has erosional scars.
Score	Left bank 10 9 Right bank 10 9	8 7 6 8 7 6	5 4 3 5 4 3	2 1 0 2 1 0

Order/family/species	Position	Trophic	Riffles	Basin
Characiformes
Characidae
Astyanax altiparanae Garutti & Britski, 2000	nec	oni		P/S
Astyanax bockmanni Vari & Castro, 2007	nec	oni		P
Astyanax fasciatus (Cuvier, 1819)	nec	oni		P/S
Astyanax paranae Eigenmann, 1914	nec	oni		P/S
Astyanax ribeirae Eigenmann, 1911	nec	inv		RI
Astyanax sp.	nec	oni		RI
Astyanax sp2	nec	oni		RI
Bryconamericus iheringi (Boulenger, 1887)	nec	oni		S
Bryconamericus microcephalus (Ribeiro, 1908)	nec	inv	R	S
Bryconamericus stramineus Eigenmann, 1907	nec	inv		P
Deuterodon iguape Eigenmann, 1907	nec	oni	R	RI
Hyphessobrycon anisitsi (Eigenmann, 1907)	nec	inv		P/RI/S
Piabina argentea Reinhardt, 1867	nec	oni		P/S

Crenuchidae
Characidium gomesi Travassos, 1955	bent	inv	R	P/S
Characidium lanei Travassos, 1967	bent	inv	R	RI
Characidium oiticicai Travassos, 1967	bent	inv	R	P/S
Characidium pterostictum Gomes, 1947	bent	inv	R	RI
Characidium schubarti Travassos, 1955	bent	inv	R	P
Characidium zebra Eigenmann, 1909	bent	inv	R	P/S

Erythrinidae
Hoplias malabaricus (Bloch, 1794)	nec	car		P/RI/S

Parodontidae
Apareiodon ibitiensis Campos, 1944	bent	oni	R	S
Parodon nasus Kner, 1859	bent	herb-det	R	S

Cyprinodontiformes
Poeciliidae
Phalloceros reisi Lucinda, 2008	nec	oni		P/RI/S

Gymnotiformes
Gymnotidae
Gymnotus pantherinus (Steindachner, 1908)	nec	inv		RI
Gymnotus silvius Albert & Fernandes-Matioli, 1999	nec	inv		P/RI/S

Perciformes
Cichlidae
Australoheros facetus (Jenyns, 1842)	nec	oni		P/RI/S
Geophagus brasiliensis (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824)	nec	oni		P/S
Geophagus iporangensis Haseman, 1911	nec	oni		RI

Siluriformes
Callichthyidae
Callichthys callichthys (Linnaeus, 1758)	bent	oni		S
Corydoras aeneus (Gill, 1858)	bent	oni		S

Heptapteridae
Cetopsorhamdia iheringi Schubart & Gomes, 1959	bent	inv	R	P/S
Imparfinis mirini Haseman, 1911	bent	inv	R	P
Imparfinis borodini Mees & Cala, 1989	bent	inv	R	P/S
Phenacorhamdia tenebrosa (Schubart, 1964)	bent	inv	R	P
Pimelodella avanhandavae Eigenmann, 1919	bent	inv		P/S
Pimelodella transitoria (Ribeiro, 1907)	bent	inv		RI
Rhamdia quelen (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824)	bent	car		P/RI/S

Loricariidae
Harttia kronei Miranda-Ribeiro, 1908	bent	herb-det	R	RI
Hisonotus sp1	bent	herb-det	R	P
Hypostomus ancistroides (Ihering, 1911)	bent	herb-det	R	P/RI/S
Hypostomus variipictus (Ihering, 1911)	bent	herb-det	R	S
Isbrueckerichthys duseni (Miranda-Ribeiro, 1907)	bent	herb-det	R	RI
Isbrueckerichthys epakmos Pereira & Oyakawa, 2003	bent	herb-det	R	RI
Neoplecostomus ribeirensis Langeani, 1990	bent	herb-det	R	P/RI
Neoplecostomus cf. yapo Zawadzki, Pavanelli & Langeani, 2008	bent	herb-det	R	RI
Neoplecostomus sp.	bent	herb-det	R	S
Rineloricaria pentamaculata Langeani & Araújo, 1994	bent	herb-det	R	P

Trichomycteridae
Ituglanis proops (Miranda-Ribeiro, 1908)	bent	inv		RI
Trichomycterus iheringi (Eigenmann, 1917)	bent	inv	R	S
Trichomycterus cf. zonatus (Eigenmann, 1918)	bent	inv	R	RI
Trichomycterus sp.	bent	inv	R	P

Synbranchiformes
Synbranchidae
Synbranchus marmoratus Bloch, 1795	nec	car		P/S

Metric	Response
Species diversity
Species richness (S)	Reduces
Simpson’s equitability index (ED)	Reduces
ABC curve statistics (W)	Reduces
Number of fish species, family Loricariidae (Slor)	Reduces
Proportion of individuals, family Loricariidae (%Nlor)	Reduces
Habitat use
Number of benthic riffles species (Srif)	Reduces
Proportion of benthic riffles individuals (%Nrif)	Reduces
Trophic function
Number of trophic categories (Troph)	Reduces
Simpson’s equitability index for the number of trophic categories (TrophED)	Reduces
Number of carnivores species (Scar)	Reduces
Proportion of carnivores individuals (%Ncar)	Reduces
Number of invertivores species (Sinver)	Reduces
Proportion of invertivores individuals (%Ninver)	Reduces
Number of omnivores species (Soniv)	Increases
Proportion of omnivores individuals (%Noniv)	Increases
Number of herbivores/detritivores species (Sherb)	Reduces
Proportion of herbivores/detritivores individuals (%Nherb)	Reduces

	Classification
Parameter	Optimal	Suboptimal	Marginal	Poor
Epifaunal substrate	2	9	7	9
Sediment deposition	14	8	4	1
Frequency of riffles	6	7	7	7
Bank stability	-	4	11	12
PHI (total)	4	10	8	5

	Min	Max	Mean	CV	PC1	PC2	PC3	PHI_rs
S	4	15	8.89	34.37	-	0.74	-	-
ED	0.21	0.82	0.44	31.55	-	-	0.88	-
W	–0.27	0.41	0.01	1679.75	-	-	-	-
Slor	0	3	1.48	60.29	-	-	-	-
%Nlor	0	0.81	0.17	134.39	-	-0.78	-	0.52
Srif	0	10	3.85	78.12	0.89	-	-	0.41
%Nrif	0	0.95	0.41	79.83	0.81	-	-	0.63
Troph	2	4	3.37	16.76	-	-	-	-
TrophED	0.32	0.79	0.55	29.62	-	-	-	-
Scar	0	3	1.04	77.89	-	-	-	-
%Ncar	0	0.15	0.03	116.36	-	-	-	-
Sinver	0	8	2.37	104.75	0.77	-	-	-
%Ninver	0	0.90	0.30	98.24	0.72	-	-	-
Soniv	2	6	3.81	30.01	-	-	-	-
%Noniv	0.05	0.98	0.49	66.36	–0.89	-	-	–0.48
Sherb	0	4	1.70	62.66	0.84	-	-	0.42
%Nherb	0	0.81	0.18	127.64	-	–0.77	-	0.59

Metric		Scoring criteria
Metric	1	3	5
Species diversity
1. Percentage of individuals as Loricariidae family	≤ 2	2-21	≥ 21
Habitat use
2. Percentage of individuals as benthic riffles	≤ 5	5-60	≥ 60
Trophic function
3. Percentage of individuals as omnivores	≥ 87	17-87	≤ 17
4. Percentage of individuals as herbivores/detritivores	≤ 2	2-21	≥ 21

Categories	Values	Description	n
Excellent	19-20	Comparable to the best situation without human disturbance; the relative contribution of individuals as benthic riffles is high without omnivores.	3
Good	16-18	Fish community represented by individuals as Loricariidae family, benthic riffles and herbivores/detritivores and trophic structure shows some signs of stress.	5
Fair	13-15	Signs of additional deterioration include loss of individuals as benthic riffles and moderate skewed trophic structure with increasing frequency of omnivores.	5
Poor	9-12	Fish community dominated by omnivores with less abundance of individuals as benthic riffles.	4
Very poor	4-8	Dominated by omnivores.	10

vertical_align_top show_chart

more_horiz close
- image
- translate
- link
- article
- vertical_align_top
- file_download
- show_chart
- image
- translate
- link
- article

location_on

Associação Brasileira de Limnologia Av. 24 A, 1515, CEP: 13506-900 , Tel.:+55 (19) 3526-4225 - Rio Claro - SP - Brazil
E-mail: actalimno@gmail.com

rss_feed Acompanhe os números deste periódico no seu leitor de RSS

[1] nec – nektonic; bent – benthonic, trophic group (oni – omnivorous; inv – invertivorous; car – carnivorous; herb-det – herbivorous/detritivorous); riffles (R) and river basin (P – Paranapanema; S – Sorocaba; RI – Ribeira de Iguape.