Benthic Biomonitoring of the Apex River and Airport Creek; A Community-Based Approach in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada
A useful tool for monitoring the ecological health of aquatic systems is by means of benthic invertebrate analysis in a biomonitoring approach. Here, we investigate an approach for monitoring biological impairment in Arctic streams from anthropogenic land-use at two streams with different levels of...
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| Format: | Dataset |
| Language: | unknown |
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Canadian Cryospheric Information Network (CCIN)
2021
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| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.21963/13209 https://www.polardata.ca/pdcsearch/?doi_id=13209 |
| Summary: | A useful tool for monitoring the ecological health of aquatic systems is by means of benthic invertebrate analysis in a biomonitoring approach. Here, we investigate an approach for monitoring biological impairment in Arctic streams from anthropogenic land-use at two streams with different levels of development in Iqaluit, Nunavut including Airport Creek, a heavily urbanized stream and Apex River, a control site with mainly peri-urban impact in the summers of 2007-2009, 2014-2019, and 2018-2019. Invertebrate community structure and abundance were assessed with a methodology successfully adopted in temperate systems – a before-after-control-impact (BACI) study. Sites upstream of development, at mid-point locations, and at the mouth of each waterbody to address spatial relationships of site degradation. Subfamily identification of Chironomidae, and family-level resolution for all other taxa was used. Summary metrics (e.g. Shannon index, relative abundance) revealed biological impairment in downstream and mid-point sites in Airport Creek – a shift in community structure and species richness was statistically significant. Apex River benthos revealed a retention of complex community structure throughout the entirety of the river. |
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