Suggested Sampling Methodology for Lake Benthic Macroinvertebrates under the Requirements of the European Water Framework Directive

• Published in: Water (Basel) Vol. 13; no. 10; p. 1353
• Main Authors: Ntislidou, Chrysoula, Bobori, Dimitra, Lazaridou, Maria
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.05.2021
• Subjects: Abundance; Aquatic ecological zones; biomonitoring; Community composition; Comparative analysis; Composition; Greek lakes; Lakes; Methods; modelling; precision; Rarefaction; Sample size; Sampling; Sampling designs; sampling effort; Sampling error; Sampling methods; Spatial variations; Statistical methods; taxa richness; Taxonomy; Variability; Water management; Greece; United Kingdom; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US
• ISSN: 2073-4441; 2073-4441
• DOI: 10.3390/w13101353

The estimation of the number of samples required for reliably monitoring lakes’ benthic macroinvertebrates is difficult due to the natural variability and cost and time constraints. To determine a statistically robust and effective sampling design, we collected benthic macroinvertebrate samples from 15 Greek natural lakes. We compared the spatial and temporal variability of the benthic macroinvertebrate community composition to identify differences among lakes, between lake zones (sublittoral and profundal) and sampling periods. Furthermore, we examined the sampling precision and determined the number of required samples to attain maximum taxa richness. The diminution of the sampling effort was estimated and the desired precision level, considering different benthic macroinvertebrate abundances, was modelled. No temporal or spatial variation between lake zones was observed in communities’ compositions. The precision of our sampling design was adequate, and rarefaction curves revealed an adequate taxa richness (>70%). The developed model could be applied to assess the required sampling effort in lakes within the Mediterranean ecoregion with similar benthic macroinvertebrate abundances.