共查询到20条相似文献，搜索用时 93 毫秒
1.
Eric Christopher Merten Jacques Finlay Lucinda Johnson Raymond Newman Heinz Stefan Bruce Vondracek 《水文研究》2011,25(4):593-602
Wood deposited in streams provides a wide variety of ecosystem functions, including enhancing habitat for key species in stream food webs, increasing geomorphic and hydraulic heterogeneity and retaining organic matter. Given the strong role that wood plays in streams, factors that influence wood inputs, retention and transport are critical to stream ecology. Wood entrapment, the process of wood coming to rest after being swept downstream at least 10 m, is poorly understood, yet important for predicting stream function and success of restoration efforts. Data on entrapment were collected for a wide range of natural wood pieces (n = 344), stream geomorphology and hydraulic conditions in nine streams along the north shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota. Locations of pieces were determined in summer 2007 and again following an overbank stormflow event in fall 2007. The ratio of piece length to effective stream width (length ratio) and the weight of the piece were important in a multiple logistic regression model that explained 25% of the variance in wood entrapment. Entrapment remains difficult to predict in natural streams, and often may simply occur wherever wood pieces are located when high water recedes. However, this study can inform stream modifications to discourage entrapment at road crossings or other infrastructure by applying the model formula to estimate the effective width required to pass particular wood pieces. Conversely, these results could also be used to determine conditions (e.g. pre‐existing large, stable pieces) that encourage entrapment where wood is valued for ecological functions. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 相似文献
2.
《水文科学杂志》2013,58(5):929-948
Abstract Understanding hydrology of channelized and natural headwater streams is paramount for maintaining ecosystem function and natural flow regimes. Two channelized and two natural headwater streams located in Upper Big Walnut Creek (UBWC) watershed in Ohio, USA, were instrumented to facilitate measurement, characterization and comparison of hydrology to the accepted paradigm for headwater hydrology. Data were collected at 10-min intervals from 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2006. Differences in flow magnitudes (average, low and high) were generally greater (P < 0.05) in the channelized streams. Frequency of zero discharge and out-of-bank discharge was significantly greater in the natural streams. Zero discharge occurred in summer and out-of-bank flows occurred in winter. Rate of change variables indicated that channelized streams respond more quickly to rainfall, have significantly greater peak flows, and have slower recession times. In contrast, natural streams tend to be more “flashy”. The findings were generally consistent with the accepted paradigm for headwater hydrology and attributed to stream type, presence of subsurface drainage, potential connection to groundwater, and differences in riparian vegetation. The design and installation of management practices that influence hydrology should consider the potential impacts of altering stream hydrology. Management practices such as water-table management have the potential and show promise in altering the hydrology of channelized streams to resemble the hydrology of natural streams. 相似文献
3.
A theoretical model is presented which shows that streams with low solids concentrations and low lateral inflows, whose bed load sediments undergo either comminution or hydraulic sorting under steady or quasi-steady conditions, have exponential profiles. Similar streams in which both communition and sorting are significant have exponential profiles only if they are short Sediment threshold and flow depth estimates based on the theoretical model are consistent with field and laboratory data from the literature. A comparison of the model and communition and sorting data from the literature strongly suggests that hydraulic sorting and comminution dominate in short and long natural streams, respectively. No examples of natural streams of intermediate length with exponential longitudinal profiles were found, suggesting that neither sorting nor comminution is dominant in such streams. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 相似文献
4.
《Limnologica》2014
Artificial drainage of forested wetlands to increase timber production has profoundly altered the hydrology of North-European landscapes during the 20th century. Nowadays, drainage ditches and small dredged streams can comprise most fluvial water bodies there, but the resulting ecological effects are poorly documented. In the current study, we explored, using fish as an indicator group, consequences of the transformation of natural stream networks to a mixture of natural and artificial watercourses. We asked whether the transformation results in impoverishment, enrichment or re-assembling of the communities both at watercourse and the landscape scales. We sampled fish in 98 sites in five well-forested regions in Estonia where ditches formed 83–92%, dredged streams 4–7%, and natural streams 3–10% of the total length of small watercourses. Based on a total of 6370 individual fish of 20 species, we found that, compared to natural streams, ditches had an impoverished fauna at both scales and both in terms of species richness and assemblage composition. Only natural streams hosted characteristic species (with Barbatula barbatula, Lampetra planeri and Lota lota emerging as significant indicators), while dredged streams had intermediate assemblages. The habitat factors explaining those drainage-related differences included a reduced flow velocity, loss of stream channel variability, less transparent water, and abundant aquatic vegetation. Hence, for stream-dwelling fish, drained forest landscapes represent degraded habitats rather than novel ecosystems, which contrasts with the transformation of terrestrial assemblages. Future studies should address whether that reflects the situation for whole aquatic assemblages, and how is the functioning of the hydrological systems affected. We suggest that the critical management issues for environmental mitigation of ditching effects on fish include basin scale spatial planning, protecting of the remaining natural streams, and rehabilitation of ditch channels in flat landscapes lacking beavers. 相似文献
5.
《Limnologica》2020
A large number of restoration projects aims to improve the ecological quality of streams and rivers by focusing on the stream structure. However, improved habitat heterogeneity often does not lead to natural recolonization by sensitive freshwater macroinvertebrate communities, particularly when the recolonization potential is low and source populations are absent. In preliminary studies we tested whether natural substrate exposures could be used to sample and transport benthic macroinvertebrates. In this pilot study we used these previously tested natural substrate exposures to sample freshwater invertebrates in a donor stream in order to actively (re-)colonize a recipient stream. In the course of three reintroduction campaigns, we were able to accumulate over 350,000 benthic invertebrates, including 25 indicator taxa of the orders Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera and 30 taxa scoring positive in the German Fauna Index. In total, 45 taxa, which did not occur in the recipient stream before, were reintroduced. They were transported gently within natural substrate exposures and released on a stream bottom area of 500 m2 in the recipient stream. We intended to study if an increase of benthos fauna in a recipient stream is possible, and if this increase will eventually improve the ecological status. So far, the natural substrate exposure-method demonstrated to be an adequate tool to accumulate and transport benthic macroinvertebrates and, in general, has the potential to increase the biodiversity of streams when used as assisted migration measure. 相似文献
6.
A new fish-based multi-metric assessment index for cyprinid streams in the Iranian Caspian Sea Basin
《Limnologica》2015
A major issue for water resource management is the assessment of environmental degradation of lotic ecosystems. The overall aim of this study is to develop a multi-metric fish index for the cyprinid streams of the Caspian Sea Basin (MMICS) in Iran. As species diversity and composition as well as population structure in the studied streams are different to other regions, there is a substantial need to develop a new fish index. We sampled fish and environmental data of 102 sites in medium sized streams. We analysed human pressures at different spatial scales and determined applicable fish metrics showing a response to human pressures. In total, five structural and functional types of metrics (i.e. biodiversity, habitat, reproduction, trophic level and water quality sensitivity) were considered. In addition, we used 29 criteria describing major anthropogenic human pressures at sampling sites and generated a regional pressure index (RPI) that accounted for potential effects of multiple human pressures.For the MMICS development, we first defined reference sites (least disturbed) and secondly quantified differences of fish metrics between reference and impaired sites. We used a Generalised Linear Model (GLM) to describe metric responses to natural environmental differences in least disturbed conditions. By including impaired sites, the residual distributions of these models described the response range of each metric to human pressures, independently of natural environmental influence.Finally, seven fish metrics showed the best ability to discriminate between impaired and reference sites. The multi-metric fish index performed well in discriminating human pressure classes, giving a significant negative linear response to a gradient of the RPI. These methods can be used for further development of a standardised monitoring tool to assess the ecological status and trends in biological condition for streams of the whole country, considering its complex and diverse geology and climate. 相似文献
7.
8.
Juvenile north-temperate and Arctic fishes are faced with trade-offs between energy allocation to growth and energy storage (primarily lipids) prior to over-wintering. We determined classical morphometric (fork length, body weight and condition factor) and biochemical (whole body triglycerides, muscle RNA/DNA ratio, muscle proteins) measures of growth and condition in individual young-of-the-year (YOY) Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus). Grayling were collected just prior to over-wintering in late August (approximately 50 days after swim-up) from two natural streams and five locations within a 3.4 km long artificial stream constructed as a fish habitat compensation project and diversion channel for the diamond mining industry in Northwest Territories, Canada (64°45′N). Fork lengths, body weights and whole body triglyceride levels in grayling collected from all sites along the artificial stream were significantly lower than fish collected from one of the natural streams. Condition factor (weight-at-length) was not different among grayling collected from natural and artificial streams. Muscle proteins were lower in grayling collected from four sites along the artificial stream compared to the natural streams. In contrast, muscle RNA/DNA ratios were greater in grayling collected from two sites in the artificial stream compared to natural streams. There were no consistent differences in any variable among grayling collected at the five artificial stream sites or among grayling collected from the two natural streams. The higher RNA/DNA ratios and lower fork lengths, whole body triglycerides and muscle proteins in grayling inhabiting the artificial stream are consistent with energy still being primarily allocated to growth in these fish at this late stage of summer. Individuals that are both larger and possess greater energy storage in the form of triglycerides are more likely to survive the long over-wintering period at this latitude. Our results suggest that YOY grayling using the artificial stream as nursery habitat will likely face increased over-winter mortality, thus raising concerns over the use of fish presence, spawning and rearing as criteria for the initial success of artificial streams as habitat compensation measures in Arctic tundra regions. Further research is needed to determine the potential consequences of reduced size and energy storage in juvenile fishes in order to assess the viability of stream fish habitat compensation and restoration projects associated with industrial development in Arctic tundra regions. 相似文献
9.
Historical land use as a driver of alternative states for stream form and function in forested mountain watersheds of the Southern Rocky Mountains 
下载免费PDF全文
下载免费PDF全文 We demonstrate how land use can drive mountain streams in the Southern Rockies across a threshold to induce an alternative state of significantly reduced physical complexity of form and reduced ecological function. We evaluate field data from 28 stream reaches in relatively laterally unconfined valleys and unmanaged forest that is either old‐growth forest or naturally disturbed younger forest, and 19 stream reaches in managed forest with past land use. We evaluate potential differences in stream form, as reflected in channel planform, cross‐sectional geometry, and in‐stream wood loads, and stream function, as reflected in pool volume and storage of organic carbon. Field data indicate a threshold of differences in stream form and function between unmanaged and managed stream reaches, regardless of forest stand age, supporting our hypothesis that the legacy effects of past land use result in an alternative state of streams. Because physical complexity that increases stream retentiveness and habitat can maintain aquatic‐riparian ecosystem functions, the alternative physical state of streams in managed watersheds creates a physical template for an alternative ecological state with reduced pool volume, organic carbon storage, and ecosystem productivity. We recommend maintaining riparian forests that can supply large wood to streams as a stream restoration technique in historically forested stream segments. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 相似文献
10.
Zuzana Pastuchov 《Limnologica》2006,36(4):241-250
Macroinvertebrate communities at 16 sites in Cerová vrchovina highland were sampled in 2000–2001 to analyze the influence of environmental factors on community structure with emphasis on Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera (EPT). The extreme hydrological conditions of this area determine the macroinvertebrate community structure. Totally, 16 Ephemeroptera, 8 Plecoptera and 36 Trichoptera taxa were found. Predators of the families Perlidae, Perlodidae and Chloroperlidae (Plecoptera) were absent. The record of Protonemura aestiva is the second one in Slovakia. Ephemeroptera were represented mainly by rheophilous taxa. A rare lowland species Baetis tracheatus was found, known previously just from West Slovakia. Trichoptera were mainly represented by submontane rheophilous taxa. Species preferring low currents or backwaters from the family Limnephilidae were also recorded. Altitude and dissolved oxygen content were found to be the most important environmental variables determining the EPT community structure. Six types of streams were distinguished by the results of multivariate analysis, taxonomic composition and metric values. They belong to two main types: (1) EPT communities of the natural streams and (2) EPT communities of disturbed streams, where two types of stressor were identified–organic pollution and low discharge. A similarity between EPT communities of organically polluted streams and streams with very low flow was discovered. Values of biotic indices decreased in summer. The most diversified communities were found in the spring during higher water levels and better oxygen conditions. 相似文献
11.
Modeling of flow features that are important in assessing stream habitat conditions has been a long-standing interest of stream biologists. Recently, they have begun examining the usefulness of two-dimensional (2-D) hydrodynamic models in attaining this objective. Current modeling practices consider relatively long channel sections with their bathymetry represented in terms of large, macro-scale, topographic features. Meso-scale topographic features, such as boulders, root-wads and other obstructions are typically not considered in the modeling process. Instead, the overall effects of these flow obstructions are captured through increased values in the channel roughness parameters. Such an approach to 2-D modeling allows one to accurately predict average depth and velocity values; however, it is not capable of providing any information about the flow patterns in the vicinity of these obstructions. Biologists though have known that such meso-scale features and the complex velocity patterns generated by their presence, play an important role in the ecology of streams, and thus cannot be ignored. It is therefore evident that there is a need to develop better tools, capable of modeling flow characteristics at scales of ecological importance. The purpose of this study is to expand the utility of 2-D hydraulic models to capture these flow features that are critical for characterizing stream habitat conditions.
There exists a paucity of research addressing what types of topographic features should be included in 2-D model studies and to what extent a boulder or series of exposed boulders can influence predicted flow conditions and traditional useable habitat computations. Moreover, little research has been performed to evaluate the impact mesh refinement has on model results in natural streams. Numerical simulations, based on a natural river channel containing several large boulders, indicate that explicitly modeling local obstructions/boulders can significantly impact predicted flow parameters. The presence of these obstructions create velocity gradients, velocity shelters, transverse flows and other ecologically important flow features that are not reproduced when their geometry is not incorporated into the hydraulic model. Sensitivity analyses show that reducing element sizes in the vicinity of obstructions and banks is crucial in modeling the spatial flow patterns created by meso-scale topographic features. This information, combined with similar data obtained in future studies, can provide guidelines for the placement of fishrocks and other structures often used in stream restoration projects as well as determining what types of meso-scale topographic features might need to be incorporated into habitat suitability studies. Such information may also ultimately allow new spatial habitat metrics to be developed. 相似文献
12.
《Limnologica》2019
Streams are usually susceptible to land-use change, mainly in the tropics due to high dynamic climatic conditions. Native forests have been converted for agricultural purposes with significantly impacts in streams. Nowadays, forests plantations are taking place of some degraded land and its influence in headwater streams are not well understood in tropical high-altitude streams. Thus, this study aims to assess effects of land-use changes from pasture to Eucalyptus plantations in Colombian Andean catchments on stream water conditions and structural characteristics of stream channels. The study was conducted in three catchments, one catchment covered by pasture, one catchment that was converted from pasture to Eucalyptus plantations in 1995 and one pristine catchment with native forest cover. Physical, chemical and biological conditions of stream water were assessed by measurements of water temperature, concentration of dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll-a content of epiphytic communities. The structural characteristics of stream channels were evaluated using a visual-based habitat assessment protocol from the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed native forest and Eucalyptus plantations catchments associated with stream conservation characteristics and pasture catchment with overall degraded conditions. However, the Permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) showed significant differences between all streams indicating that, despite the overall positive conservation aspects of native and Eucalyptus catchments, their still different from each other. Pasture catchment showed the highest values for temperature and chlorophyll-a, and the lowest values for dissolved oxygen and final score for structural characteristics. Therefore, our results demonstrated that the land-use change from pasture to Eucalyptus plantation improved the stream water conditions and the structural characteristics of the studied headwater streams. Additionally, we propose the use of the rapid bioassessment protocol coupled some stream water characteristics as a rapid and useful tool for detecting effects of land-use changes on high-altitude Andean streams. 相似文献
13.
Mark R. Welford 《地球表面变化过程与地形》1994,19(4):287-297
This study investigates the fluvial dynamics of straight natural stream channels. In particular, this experimental field study quantitatively assesses a physically based non-linear mathematical theory of alternate bar formation under unsteady natural flow conditions within a straight alluvial stream. The study site is an artificially straightened section of the Embarras River located approximately 16 km south of Champaign, Illinois. Data were collected on channel form, gradient, alternate bar dimensions, bed sediment size and flow stage over a 2 year study period. Both linear and non-linear steady flow hydrodynamic theories suggest that alternate bars are critical to the process of meander development. But these theories do not predict bar development for unsteady flow conditions, which typically occur in natural alluvial channels. Tubino (1991) suggests that bar evolution for a flood hydrograph can be divided into three parts: (1) a period of limited bar growth during the rising stage of the flood; (2) a stage of modest bar decay near the peak of the flood; and (3) a stage of non-linear bar growth during the prolonged falling stage of the flood. Bars developed during the falling limb of a hydrograph, and exhibited sequential development rather than the uniform growth along the reach predicted by Tubino's model. As flow stage decreased, short, low, fine-grained bars were superimposed on long, high and coarser-grained bars that developed under preceding high flow stages. These results suggest that the process of bar formation in artificially straightened natural streams with heterogeneous bed material may occur under different flow conditions and in a different manner than predicted by theoretical models. Further work should focus on attempting to isolate the physical mechanisms responsible for alternate bar formation in straight natural streams with heterogeneous bed material and flashy hydrologic flow regimes. 相似文献
14.
For sixteen years following the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill adult returns of pink salmon in Prince William Sound, Alaska were monitored to assess spill effects on survival. No evidence of spill effects was detected for either intertidal or whole-stream spawning fish. From 1989 through 2004 mean densities for oiled and reference streams tracked each other, illustrating similar responses of oiled and reference stream adult populations to naturally changing oceanographic and climactic conditions. Hatchery fish strayed into the study streams, but similar incursions occurred in oiled and reference streams, and their presence was compensated for to eliminate their influence on determining the success of the returning natural populations. These results, showing no detectable effects of oiling on pink salmon spawning populations, are supported by published field studies on pink salmon incubation success in oiled streams. 相似文献
15.
《Limnologica》2020
Headwater streams are interesting ecological systems for studies of metacommunities given their high degrees of isolation, unidirectionality of water flow and hierarchical organization in the drainage network. In addition, for passively dispersing aquatic organisms (e.g. planktonic diatoms), connectivity between sites is unidirectional, which implies a higher isolation of headwaters, leading to a greater dispersal limitation between streams. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relative importance of local environmental (i.e., physicochemical variables) and spatial (i.e., distance between sites) components to the planktonic diatom community in 28 headwater streams of the Cerrado, central region of Brazil. Due the fact that each sampling point was located in a different headwater stream, we expected that spatial components (a proxy for diatom dispersal) were more important than local environmental conditions to the structure of the diatom metacommunity. We found 51 morphospecies of diatoms (Bacillariophyceae). The community composition of diatoms showed strong spatial variation, which was also indicated by high beta diversity (mainly contributed by the turnover component). The variation in diatom community composition, species richness, total density, and Local Contribution to Beta Diversity (LCBD) of headwaters streams was explained solely by spatial factors. Based on these results, we inferred that due to dispersal limitation, the diatom communities of these headwaters tend to show distinct species composition, with high species turnover among the local communities. We highlight the importance of headwater streams as reservoirs of biodiversity for a riverine diatom metacommunity. 相似文献
16.
AbstractIn order to apply the EU Water Framework Directive for temporary streams, it is important to quantify the space–time development of different aquatic states. We report on research on the development of aquatic states for temporary streams in the Evrotas basin, Greece. The SIMGRO regional hydrological model was used in a GIS framework to generate flow time series for the Evrotas River and all major tributaries. Five flow phases were distinguished: flood conditions, riffles, connected pools, isolated pools and dry bed conditions. Thresholds based on local hydraulic characteristics were identified per stream reach and flow phase, enabling the frequency of flow phases per month and the average frequencies for all streams to be derived. Three historical scenarios within the 20th century, marking periods of major changes in water management, were investigated. Additionally, a climate scenario for the 2050s was analysed. Simulations revealed that low flows are now much lower, mainly because more groundwater is abstracted for irrigation. The consequence is that stretches of the river fall dry during several months, causing the ecological status to deteriorate.
Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz Associate editor X. Chen 相似文献
17.
18.
Agapetus fuscipes is a caddisfly that only seems to occur in unimpacted streams and therefore can be a suitable indicator species for natural conditions. The species has decreased in the Netherlands because of human activities which caused organic pollution and hydromorphological degradation. Literature was reviewed to study the autecology and life cycle of A. fuscipes in order to reveal the ecological requirements of this species. By taking Agapetus fuscipes as an example, it is shown that the autecology and life cycle of an indicator species can give important clues for its presence in unimpacted and absence in impacted streams. A. fuscipes is very susceptible to organic pollution and to a lesser degree to discharge dynamics (dropping water level and discharge peaks). The species copes with dynamic discharge events by maintaining a high population density and recolonisation of disturbed habitats from refuges. However, the vulnerability of the species strongly depends on the life stage of the animals (e.g., the ability to migrate, the oxygen demand and the habitat requirements differ between instars). Although several adaptations to dynamic conditions, a high frequency of discharge peaks or a long period of drought can cause the population to decline. Once a population has totally disappeared from a stream it will take the species a long time to recolonise the stream because of its low dispersion capacity. To protect this species stream restoration should focus on water quality (avoid organic pollution and agricultural run off) and on stabilising the discharge by taking care of natural infiltration in the catchment area instead of fast removal of rain water by drainage systems. 相似文献
19.
Fola S. Ebisemiju 《水文研究》1989,3(3):237-253
Analysis of the bankfull cross-sections of headwater streams in Ado-Ekiti region of Southwestern Nigeria and their comparison with data from other tropical environments and temperate latitudes reveal that the channel capacities of streams in the humid tropics are relatively smaller than those of temperate regions, averaging 1.51 m2 with a coefficient of variation of 87 per cent. This is attributed to the small stream discharge, the predominantly low and highly seasonal flows of the streams, the low shear stress of stream load, and the stabilizing and protective influence of riparian vegetation and surface incrustations. The chanel capacities of the urban streams (mean = 1.13m2) are about 47 per cent smaller than those of the natural streams (mean = 2.12 m2) in the same ecological zone. In terms of hydraulic efficiency, the urban streams also have relatively inefficient cross-sections and larger width/depth ratios than their rural or natural counterparts. Resurveys of seventeen monumented cross-sections reveal that while channel shoulder width increased by only 6 per cent over a one-year period, channel depth and capacity decreased by 16 per cent and 4 per cent respectively; the observed decrease in channel size occurs entirely in the channel depth dimension. Thus the response of stream channels to the urbanization of small headwater catchments in the humid tropics is probably more of vertical accretion of channel bed and reduction in channel capacity rather than the widely-reported anomalous enlargement of urban streams through channel widening. The rapid rate of channel aggradation is attributed to excessive rates of sediment production and delivery to streams in urbanized catchments in the humid tropics, rapid deposition of sediments during small runoff events and on the falling stage of storm hydrographs, and the inability of the streams to evacuate the sediments delivered to them despite the increased discharge and peak flow associated with urbanization. The low competence of the urban streams is attributed to the predominance of low flows, very gentle bed slopes, and most importantly the widespread dumping of refuse into the channels thereby reducing flow velocity and promoting backwater flooding, ponding, and sedimentation. The correlations between drainage basin area, a surrogate for stream discharge, and channel capacity are very strong for the rural watersheds, and the regression analysis indicates a tendency towards a steady-state isometric relationship. Urban channels are, to a large extent, in disequilibrium with the urban hydrological state. However, spatial variations in the degree of urbanization of the catchments, and, therefore in runoff volume and velocity, exercise strong control on channel width, depth, and size. A model of the sequence of stream channel adjustment to the urbanization of small headwater catchments in the humid tropics is presented. 相似文献
20.
《Limnologica》2014
A new multimetric MMI_PL index, which is based on the macroinvertebrate composition and combines six single key metrics, has already been implemented in Poland according to the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive. The objectives of our survey were to assess the biological water quality using the new multimetric MMI_PL index in both reference and human-impacted streams, to analyze whether the values of the new multimetric index properly reflect the ecological status of the water in upland and mountain streams as well as to determine which environmental factors influence the distribution of benthic macroinvertebrates and the values of the metrics. The study was carried out from 2007 to 2010 in three Ecoregions that were established by the EU WFD. A total of 60 sampling sites: 36 reference sites that were situated in the headwaters of mountain streams at mid- and high-altitudes and 24, human-impacted sampling sites were selected. The benthic macroinvertebrate surveys were supported by both a hydromorphological and macrophyte assessment according to the River Habitat Survey (RHS) and to the Macrophyte Methods for Rivers. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that the values of the Habitat Quality Assessment (HQA) index, conductivity, pH and altitude were the parameters most associated (statistically significant) with the distribution of benthic macroinvertebrate taxa and the values of the metrics in both the reference and human-impacted (impaired) sections of the streams in Ecoregions 9, 10 and 14. The new MMI_PL index was useful for biological water quality assessment and was also important for separating both the reference and impaired sections of streams. The MMI_PL index and some key metrics performed contrary to what was expected in relation to the reference high-altitude siliceous streams (the High Tatra Mts., Ecoregion 10). Low values of multimetric index and key metrics did not properly reflect their high ecological status and pristine character as reflected by the hydromorphological (RHS) and macrophyte surveys or the physical and chemical parameters of the water. 相似文献