Benthic Habitat Quality Practice Flashcards

Flashcards covering the fundamentals of benthic habitat quality, indices of biotic integrity, and assessment methodologies based on the lecture transcript.

According to Cohen et al. (1997), what percentage of the world's population lives within $100\,km$ of the coast?

Approximately $40\%$"

As a rough guide from Borja (2005), what is the estimated length of the coastline for the UK?

Approximately $20,000\,km$"

What percentage of the world's coastline is represented by the European coastline?

About $8.4\%$"

According to Karr & Dudley (1981), what ability should a water body have to be considered healthy?

The ability to "support and maintain a balanced, integrated, adaptive community of organisms having a species composition, diversity and functional organisation comparable to that of the natural habitat of the region"

Name the six conceptual attributes of habitat quality summarized by Costanza (1992).

(1) homeostasis, (2) absence of disease, (3) diversity or complexity, (4) stability or resilience (5) vigour or scope for growth, and (6) balance between system components

How did Costanza (1992) broaden the definition of habitat quality?

He pointed out that habitat quality is a normative concept and included several conceptual attributes inherent in a comprehensive consideration

What is the distinction between a driver (like low dissolved oxygen) being a stressor versus a response?

The distinction is based on whether the driver can be actively managed and on the direction of travel

What are the three phases of the trajectory for a managed system under stress?

Stimulation as stress starts, decline caused by increasing stress, and recovery due to reduced stress following management intervention

What is the definition of a "reference condition" provided by Reynoldson et al. (1997)?

"the condition that is representative of a group of minimally disturbed sites organised by selected physical, chemical and biological characteristics"

What does an ideal sampling design for a discrete disturbance event include?

Replicated samples taken immediately before, during, and on a number of occasions after the disturbance

According to Diaz et al. (2003), how far back can evaluations of historically characteristic conditions for reference sites go?

Greater than $100$ years

What medical-style procedure did Steevens et al. (2001) suggest for ecosystem monitoring?

A diagnostic procedure involving diagnosis of abnormal conditions, prognosis through predictive models, and treatment through remediation

Why is the lifespan of macrobenthic species useful for reflecting environmental stress?

Their lifespan (a few months to a few years) allows community structure to integrate and reflect sources of stress over time

What is the primary reason many pollutants concentrate at the sediment-water interface?

Because many macrobenthic species reside at this interface where such pollutants settle

In the hierarchy of targets by Müller et al. (2000), what concept is represented by the uppermost segment?

Sustainable development

What does the acronym EcoQO stand for?

Ecological Quality Objectives

What three elements must be attained to achieve ecological integrity?

Physical, chemical, and biological integrity

What is the main exception to the rule that physical properties of the bottom exist independently of biological processes?

When the biology generates the substrate, such as in shell or coral reefs

According to Karr (1991), what is a reason for the lack of holistic responsibility in water resource protection?

Limited legal and regulatory programs where responsibility is shared across different departments with no single holistic authority

What is the oldest class of assessment recognized by Verdonschot (2000)?

The saprobotic system

Who conceived the Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) and what was it originally designed to evaluate?

James Karr; it was designed to describe the condition of streams in central Illinois and Indiana based on fish communities

How many metrics are included in the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI)?

$12$ measures or metrics

What numeric ratings are assigned to metrics in the IBI based on their deviation from expectations?

$1$ (deviates strongly), $3$ (deviates somewhat), or $5$ (approximates expectations)

What is the maximum IBI score and what condition does it indicate?

A score of $60$, which indicates a site without perturbation

According to Diaz et al. (2004), what was the most common taxonomic resolution used in indices?

Species level, used in $81\%$ of cases

What concern did Diaz et al. (2004) raise regarding the creation of new environmental indices?

That "tautological development of new indices appears to be endemic, self-propagating and rarely justified"

Which index was updated by Valente et al. (1992) to reflect redox potential discontinuity depth and sedimentary methane?

The Organism-Sediment Index (OSI)

Why did Rosenberg et al. (2004) replace the BHQ index with the Benthic Quality Index (BQI)?

To fit the classification of marine benthic quality according to the European Union Water Framework Directive

According to the evaluation of reference sites by Diaz et al., what was the variation in the number of sites used?

Variation ranged from $1$ to $234$ sites

According to Elliot & Lawrence (1998), what is one of the dilemmas regarding species protection choice?

Whether conservation should focus on rare and vulnerable species, economically valuable species, or functionally important species