| Title |
Revision of Ecological Score of Benthic Macroinvertebrates Community in Korea |
| Authors |
공동수 ( Dongsoo Kong ) ; 박영준 ( Youngjun Park ) ; 전용락 ( Yong-rak Jeon ) |
| DOI |
https://doi.org/10.15681/KSWE.2018.34.3.251 |
| Keywords |
Benthic macroinvertebrates; Ecological Score; ESB; Tolerance value |
| Abstract |
In 1997, the environmental score (Q) corresponding the tolerance value of Korean benthic macroinvertebrate species and the related biotic score, the ecological score of benthic macroinvertebrates (ESB) were proposed; ESB was similar to Beck's biotic index or Chandler's biotic score. This study was carried out to revise the Q values of individual species and the assessment scheme of ESB based on the taxonomic performance and ecological information accumulated since then. The original ESB was renamed as TESB (total ESB), and AESB (average ESB) was newly proposed. AESB is calculated by dividing the TESB (for a given station) by the number of species present in the sample. In this study, TESB showed a positively skewed distribution, while AESB showed a negatively skewed distribution. The correlation between TESB and the concentration of BOD5 was a little stronger than that of the original ESB. TESB showed a very strong correlation (correlation coefficient r = 0.98) with Margalef's species richness, of which correlation coefficient was higher than that of AESB (r = 0.85). AESB showed a strong correlation (r = -0.79) with the concentration of BOD5, while TESB showed a weaker correlation (r = -0.67). Applying TESB and AESB together in an assessment of the environment may be comprehensive because the physical and chemical states of the environment can be evaluated together. AESB is less dependent on the sample size, while TESB tends to increase as the sample size increases. In the evaluation of the environment using TESB, it is necessary to standardize the methods on monitoring. |