Tracking environmental stress gradients using three biotic integrity indices: Advantages of a locally-developed traits-based approach

摘要: Abstract Estuarine and coastal ecosystems are productive functionally diverse areas that provide a wide range of societal benefits. Along with human exploitative uses comes an array anthropogenic disturbances can affect ecological integrity, including changes to the composition resilience benthic macroinvertebrate communities. To understand responses communities disturbance manage mitigate effects, indices for assessing integrity estuarine waters have proliferated worldwide. Using data from 84 intertidal sites in Auckland, New Zealand, we evaluated suitability two widely used measures were developed USA Europe, respectively: Benthic Index Biotic Integrity (B-IBI) AZTI's Marine (AMBI). We then local index based on macrofaunal traits verified its utility using independent >100 additional sites. The (TBI), constructed richness taxa seven functional groups, responded sediment mud percentage heavy metal contaminant concentration gradients below international guidelines. TBI performed better than overseas, probably because they designed track organic enrichment hypoxia, which not predominant stressors Zealand at present. successfully tracked most relevant locally indicated relative levels within-group taxonomic various As is component redundancy resilience, offers trifecta simplicity, robustness meaningfulness will facilitate management.