A Proposed Aquatic Plant Community Biotic Index fo

Authors: Stanley Nichols Steven Weber Byron Shaw

Publish Date: 2014/02/08

Volume: 26, Issue: 5, Pages: 491-502

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Abstract

The Aquatic Macrophyte Community Index AMCI is a multipurpose tool developed to assess the biological quality of aquatic plant communities in lakes It can be used to specifically analyze aquatic plant communities or as part of a multimetric system to assess overall lake quality for regulatory planning management educational or research purposes The components of the index are maximum depth of plant growth percentage of the littoral zone vegetated Simpsons diversity index the relative frequencies of submersed sensitive and exotic species and taxa number Each parameter was scaled based on data distributions from a statewide database and scaled values were totaled for the AMCI value AMCI values were grouped and tested by ecoregion and lake type natural lakes and impoundments to define quality on a regional basis This analysis suggested that aquatic plant communities are divided into four groups 1 Northern Lakes and Forests lakes and impoundments 2 NorthCentral Hardwood Forests lakes and impoundments 3 Southeastern Wisconsin Till Plains lakes and 4 Southeastern Wisconsin Till Plains impoundments Driftless Area Lakes and Mississippi River Backwater lakes AMCI values decline from group 1 to group 4 and reflect general water quality and human use trends in Wisconsin The upper quartile of AMCI values in any region are the highest quality or benchmark plant communities The interquartile range consists of normally impacted communities for the region and the lower quartile contains severely impacted or degraded plant communities When AMCI values were applied to case studies the values reflected known impacts to the lakes However quality criteria cannot be used uncritically especially in lakes that initially have low nutrient levels

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