Efficiency of the SASS4 rapid bioassessment protocol in Efficiency of the SASS4 rapid bioassessment protocol in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to verify the ability of the South African Scoring System version 4 (SASS4), to assess the health of aquatic ecosystems. The macroinvertebrate community attributes of the Mhlathuze River (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) were studied by applying the SASS4 rapid bioassessment method. In testing the effect of spatial and temporal variability in community structure on SASS4 scores it was found that there was a stronger spatial than a temporal effect. It was determined that of the indices used in association with SASS4, the biotic indices (average score per taxon, total score and number of taxa) reflected changes in community structure, but the abiotic habitat quality index did not. It was found that qualitative family-level data provided a n adequate classification of sites for use in routine biomonitoring. Ambiguous results were obtained with respect to the importance of measuring abundance during routine biomonitoring.

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