Bioindicators Flashcards

1
Q

These are living organisms that provide information about the health of an ecosystem

A

Biodindicators

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2
Q

Biondicators exhibit responses to these

A

Stressors/pollutants

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3
Q

Does sampling bioindicators or sampling water quality periodically give a better indication of long-term water quality?

A

Sampling bioindicators

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4
Q

What is the assumption for using bioindicators?

A

If conditions are suitable for indicator species, the rest of the species and state of the watershed should be suitable

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5
Q

What are 3 of 5 characteristics of biondicators?

A
  1. Lower food chain placement; 2. Narrow tolerance to change; 3. Native species; 4. Restricted range; 5. Public image
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6
Q

What are two examples of species that are known to be bioindicators?

A

Caddisflies and orangethroat darters

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7
Q

What are three levels of biondicator assessment?

A
  1. Single species; 2. Group of species; 3. Species and physical/chemical factors
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8
Q

What are three characteristics of benthic macroinvertebrates?

A
  1. Inhabit the benthic zone; 2. Large enough to be seen with naked eye; 3. Lack backbone
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9
Q

What are four reasons why benthic macroinvertebrates are one of the most commonly sampled biota?

A
  1. Indicate both aquatic and terrestrial habitat; 2. Each part of their lifecycle is spent in different habitats; 3. Lack of migration; 4. Integration of conditions over time at a specific site
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10
Q

What are 3 of 5 advantages of sampling benthic macroinvertebrates?

A
  1. Sensitive to point and nonpoint source pollution; 2. Short life cycles; 3. Diversity of species with range of responses; 4. Sampling methods are simple; 5. Occur in lower trophic levels
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11
Q

What are three disadvantages to sampling benthic macroinvertebrates?

A
  1. Not responsive to all pollution; 2. Abundance varies seasonally; 3. Require experience to identify
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12
Q

What are three examples of highly sensitive macroinvertebrates?

A

Mayflies, stoneflies, caddisflies

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13
Q

What are three examples of moderately sensitive macroinvertebrates?

A

Crayfish, dragonflies, alderflies

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14
Q

What are three examples of tolerant macroinvertebrates?

A

Black flies, leeches, aquatic worms

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15
Q

At what two times of year is macroinvertebrate sampling done?

A

Spring and fall

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16
Q

What part of the stream is sampled for macroinvertebrates?

A

Riffle

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17
Q

What kind of substrate is preferred for sampling macroinvertebrates?

A

Gravel

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18
Q

How many samples per stream reach are used for sampling macroinvertebrates?

A

1

19
Q

What are three types of gear are used to sample macroinvertebrates?

A

Kicknet, D-net, surber sampler

20
Q

This type of sampling is done to allow macroinvertebrates to colonize samplers

A

Leave-in-field sampling

21
Q

What are two levels to use when analyzing fish?

A

Individual fish or fish populations

22
Q

What are four things to sample from individual fish?

A
  1. Heavy metals in tissues; 2. Trace elements; 3. Altered physiology; 4. Altered behaviors
23
Q

What are five things to sample from fish populations?

A
  1. Stratified locations; 2. Habitat requirements; 3. Disturbances; 4. Pollution tolerance; 5. Ecological issues
24
Q

What are seven advantages of fish as bioindicators?

A
  1. Long-lived; 2. Occur in variety of habitats; 3. Extensively studied; 4. Extremely diverse; 5. Easily identified; 6. Toxicity trends; 7. Well-known/socially important
25
Q

What are three disadvantages of sampling fish as bioindicators?

A
  1. Manpower; 2. Migratory/spawning behaviors; 3. Sampling bias
26
Q

Can fish assemblages be compared across multiple regions?

A

No

27
Q

What are four major ways of sampling fish?

A

Seining, electrofishing, gill netting, trap/hoop/fyke netting

28
Q

What are two advantages of seining for fish?

A

Inexpensive/easy maintenance and minimal impact on fish

29
Q

What are two disadvantages of seining for fish?

A

Less effective for larger fish and standardization is difficult

30
Q

What are three advantages of electrofishing?

A

Time efficient, effective in many habitats, easily standardized

31
Q

What are two disadvantages of electrofishing?

A

Selective bias for large fishes and more harmful to fish

32
Q

What is an advantage of gill netting?

A

Minimal impact on fish population

33
Q

What are two disadvantages of gill netting?

A

Less effective for larger fishes and bias towards fish shape

34
Q

What are two disadvantages of trap/hoop/fyke netting?

A

Bias towards cover-loving fish and near-shore fish and can also trap non-fish

35
Q

What are two important considerations for trap/hoop/fyke netting?

A

Mesh size and throat size

36
Q

What are two extreme sampling methods used to sample fish?

A

Chemical dispersion and draining

37
Q

Can two or more different sampling methods be compared directly?

A

No

38
Q

These are relatively large intact sites that are self-sustaining and have not been greatly influenced by human-induced disturbances

A

Reference sites

39
Q

Do reference sites have to be pristine?

A

No

40
Q

Reference sites are paired with these for studies

A

Impacted/study sites

41
Q

What are 5 characteristics to reference sites and study sites have to share?

A
  1. Same chemical processes; 2. Same functions/nutrient cycling; 3. Same structure; 4. Same riparian area; 5. Same drainage
42
Q

Can indicators give insight into causation?

A

No

43
Q

What are five elements required for successful stream monitoring?

A
  1. Control site; 2. Pre-human impact information; 3. Proper scale; 4. Replication; 5. Continued monitoring over time to develop trends