Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM


Top Flashcards (Certified)
All Flashcards

1 ENVS1006 research and application > bioindicators > Flashcards

bioindicators Flashcards

(68 cards)

Start Studying
1
Q

what is an indicator species?

A

a species or group of species that readily reflects the abiotic or biotic state of an environment, represents the impact on environment change on a habitat, community or ecosystem.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

how many invertebrate indicator species are there?

A

4400 species

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

what are the different environmental factors which each species have different sensitivities to?

A

organic pollution, sedimentation, heavy metals, flow, physiochemical, habitat.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

what is biological metrics?

A

a method to measure the health of the ecosystem.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

what does BMWP stand for?

A

Biological monitoring working party

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

what does WHPT stand for?

A

Whalley, Hawkes, Paisley and Trigg

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

what does WFD stand for?

A

Water framework directive

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

what does CCI stand for?

A

Community conservation index

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

what does PSI stand for?

A

Proportion of sediment sensitive invertebrates

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

what does LIFE stand for?

A

Lotic Index invertebrate Flow Evaluation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

what does RICT stand for?

A

River Invertebrate Classificaion Tool

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

what does BMWP assign to?

A

assign to each family of freshwater taxa relative to their tolerance of organic pollutants.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

which pollution tolerant families score low in BMWP?

A

snails, leeches, largae, aquatic worms

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

which pollution sensitive families score high in BMWP?

A

mayfly, stonefly, caddis

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

what is a bad and good score for BMWP?

A

larger than 50 is good. below 50 is very bad. scores range from 0-300.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

what are the key limitations for BMWP?

A

the score only accounts for presence or absence of a family, it can easily be affected by a change in sampling effect. it also doesnt take in account the effects of toher common pollutions.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

which scoring system replaced BMWP in 2014?

A

WHPT

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

why did WHPT replace BMWP?

A

WHPT core is abundance weighted, and has been revisedd to reflect general pollution, rather than just organic pollution.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

what does WHPT assign to?

A

general pollution

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

how is WHPT scored?

A

average score per taxon. WHPT score divided by the number of scoring taxa.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

what is WHPT NTAXA?

A

number of scoring taxa, a measure of diversity.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

what is WHPT ASPT?

A

the average score per taxon

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

what does CCI assign to?

A

based upon each species national rarity.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

how does CCI score?

A

conservation score based on national rarity. multiply a mean of these scores by a community score derived from either the rarest taxon present or the BMWP score given.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
what does PSI measure?
assesses the impact of fine sediment accumulation on macro-invertebrate communities.
26
how does PSI score?
species are assigned a score based on their sensitivity to sediment. calculation of the PSI score takens into account abundances of each.
27
what does LIFE measure?
the predominant flow types and changes in preceding flows.
28
what are high and low LIFE scores?
above 7 are high life scores that indicate higher velocities habitat. lower scores found for standing water.
29
what are environmental variables?
grid references, altitude, and slope, distance to the source, width, and depth, alkalinity or conductivity, discharge or velocity.
30
what does RICT measure?
compares sampling data to reference condition sites data. WFD tool to classify macro-invertebrates communities.
31
what are 3 low flow investigations?
water companies abstract water for public supply responsibility to ensure abstractions are suitable water industry national environmental programme sets out actions.
32
what does WINEP stand for?
water industry national enviroenmtnal programme
33
what is the funding and regulation steps?
the environment agency determines which studies are required and Ofwat ensure water company is providing value for money > studies are funded by the water company > studies are usually undertaken by consultancies > the regulator (environmental agency and or Natural England), assess the reports and accept or reject the findings.
34
how is groundwater abstracted?
from aquifers. many watercourses are dependent on flow fro groundwater-fed springs.
35
what are some potential impacts of groundwater extraction?
reduced river flow, reduced water levels, timings of flows, sediment depositions, barriers to migrations, effects on habitats, direct ad indirect impacts.
36
how do we assess if a watercourse is flow stressed?
focus on macro-invertebrates- ess mobile than fish, response time to changes in flows and conditions. monitoring programmes.
37
what are the different metrics?
LIFE, WHPT, ASPT, WHPT NTAZA, CCI, PSI.
38
what is regression analyisis and how is it measured?
relationship between preceding flow and LIFE scores. minimum flow requirements
39
how do you measure community analysis?
multivariate statistical approach. look at similarities and dissimilarities between smples. used to determine what drives differences in community composition.
40
what are other factors which might impact macro-invertebrates?
ephemeral watercourses, natural droughts and flow stress, water quality STW, pollution incidents, habitat quality.
41
what is water framework directive?
prorgammes of measures. aspirational- put ecology, geomorphology, and water quality at the heart of legislation.
42
what is habitat regulations assessment?
council directive on the conservation of natural habitats and on flora and fauna. European directive transposed into UK law.
43
what are the stages of habitat regulations assessment?
screening, appropriate assessment, etc.
44
what is HRA biological indicators?
9 protection sites within 2km. qualifying features- watercourse of plain to montane levels.
45
how do you avoid mitigation?
avoidance, compensation enhancement, designed mitigation and compensation, delivery.
46
what is EIA and biological indicators?
predicting ecological imapcts and effects. characterising ecological impacts. assessment of cumulative impacts and effects, assessment of residual impacts, significant eggectsc, determining ecological singificant effects.
47
what are biological indicators?
is any species or group of species whose function, or status can reveal the qualitative status of the environment.
48
what are environmental indicators?
indicates environmental conditions such as soil properties, pollution, oxygen levels .
49
why do you have to measure soil properties?
presence or abundance of plant species can indiicate soil parameters.
50
why do you have to measure pollution?
presence of species that can tolerate high levels of specific pollutants, coupled with the absence of pollution sensitive species.
51
why do you have to measure oxygen levels?
presence of species that can tolerate low levels of oxygen, coupled with the absence of species that require high oxygen.
52
why is grazing important?
relative abundace of species in different functional groups.
53
what is habitat age?
presence of slow dispersing and disturbance-sensitive species to indiciate habitat.
54
what are the different types of indicators?
bio-surveys and biotic indices
55
what are bio-surveys?
survey of the presence of specific species or community
56
what are biotic indices?
designed to use species communities to asnwer questions about ecosystems.
57
what is the Taxonomy classes
DKPCOFGS
58
what are lumpers?
an individual which groups species due to what they look like. broad.
59
what is a splitter?
an individual who takes precise definitions and creates new categories to classify samples that differ in key ways.
60
how do species and communities vary?
number of species. nuber of other taxonomic levels, abundance, number of feeding guilds, number of tropic levels, conservation status, response to the environment, and traits.
61
what does CWM stand for
Principal component analysis of global polt level trait means
62
what does a CWM graph look like
a dot for each sight of the species. it shows the relationship, forming a cloud, represented by the traits /
63
what are the niches and tolerance ranges?
they all have species tolerance levels for a whole set of environmental parameters. species have an optimal range to parameters, theory underpins environmental indicators.
64
what does the ubiquitous environmental gradient look like?
wide, more spread out.
65
what makes a good indicator? (5 things)
closely linked to environmental parameters be predictable in response to parameter respond proportionally to the magnitude of change well studied widespread- consistent relationship with the environment.
66
what are the different ways you can characterize communities provide information on? (5 things)
``` conservation health of ecosystem diversity of ecosystem function of ecosystems how well an ecosystem has restored ```
67
what are the advantages of indicators? (4 things)
data can be gathered quickly and without specialist equipment results provide long term insight data can be used to demonstrate effects can be used where it is not possible to quantify specific environment directly.
68
what are the disadvantages of indicators (5 things)
ecological and environmental complexity is simplified data might not be accurate or robust as it seems often based on expert opinion rather than actual data effectiveness can be influenced by other variables time scales can be problematic

1 ENVS1006 research and application (6 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions