Stream Bioassessment Life Sciences Essay Research Paper

Stream Bioassessment
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Stream Bioassessment
Stream assessment is based on understanding how the changes in human land use affect the stream biota. Waite et al. (2014) explain that stream assessment is also founded on understanding the activities that result in the effects, and the temporal and spatial scales at which the activities and effects operate, which are substantial in assessing the stream ecology biota.
Benthic macro-invertebrates refer to small animals that live in water bottoms and aquatic insects in larval stages. The animals include beetles, worms, snails, stonefly larvae, and dragonfly larvae. Patang et al. (2018) explain that evaluating the variety and abundance of benthic macro-invertebrates indicates the healthy nature of the water body. In most cases, water bodies in an unpolluted environment support a broad variety and numerous macroinvertebrate taxa, including those that are not tolerant of pollution. As such, samples that show species that tolerate pollution indicate that the water body is not healthy. Besides, a healthy water body has its physical and chemical composition in good condition.
Stream assessment has been important over the decades because it has enabled researchers to undertake ecological studies to determine how anthropogenic stressors affect aquatic ecosystems, and how the damaged waters can be restored and managed (Kalaninová et al., 2017). Over the years, the benthic macroinvertebrate cultures of aquatic ecosystems have been adversely affected by agrarian practices, and municipal, industrial, and residential development (Jones & Clark, 1987). According to Linke et al. (1999), the control of water levels has caused the modifications of flow regimes. Moreover, the development of reservoirs and riparian buffers eradication has minimized the capability of aquatic communities to manage pollutants and the retention of nutrients, which has created the need for stream bioassessment and re...