caa a22 4500 445893842 CHVBK 20180317145625.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170323e20110501xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10750-011-0606-7 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10750-011-0606-7 The role of live diatoms in bioassessment: a large-scale study of Western US streams [Elektronische Daten] [Nadezhda Gillett, Yangdong Pan, Kalina Manoylov, R. Stevenson] Diatom-based stream bioassessment is constantly being improved to meet the increasing demands of water quality management. This study examined whether percentage of live diatoms (PLD) in periphyton communities can be used as a metric of human disturbance in streams and rivers. The analyzed dataset (587 sites) was collected over the course of 3 years (2000-2002) from 12 Western US states (US EPA's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program). The mean PLD in Western streams and rivers was low (34.50%) and highly variable (range 2.08-97.02%). It did not differ significantly between the Mountains (MT, 36.38%) and the Xeric (XE, 35.49%) ecoregions, but it was significantly (P<0.05) greater than that in the Plains ecoregion (PL, 28.27%). PLD distinguished reference from impacted sites in the MT (P<0.05) and somewhat in the PL (P=0.05). However, PLD exhibited opposite patterns in the two ecoregions. It increased with human disturbance in the MT and decreased in the PL due to a potential subsidy-stress gradient of available resources. The different pattern may be largely interpreted by the quality of the reference conditions in each ecoregion. In the MT ecoregion, the selected reference sites may resemble very closely the natural state in this ecoregion. In contrast, human disturbance is much more pervasive in the low-land PL ecoregion and the "reference sites” may reflect the best attainable conditions in this ecoregion. PLD as a metric has potential for monitoring human disturbance of streams, if reference sites represent natural conditions and differing responses among regions are included in expected effects. Springer Science+Business Media B.V., 2011 Bioassessment nationallicence Live diatoms nationallicence Streams and rivers nationallicence Western Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program nationallicence Gillett Nadezhda Environmental Sciences and Management, Portland State University, 97207, Portland, OR, USA aut Pan Yangdong Environmental Sciences and Management, Portland State University, 97207, Portland, OR, USA aut Manoylov Kalina Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Georgia College and State University, 31061, Milledgeville, GA, USA aut Stevenson R. Department of Zoology, Michigan State University, 48824, East Lansing, MI, USA aut Hydrobiologia Springer Netherlands 665/1(2011-05-01), 79-92 0018-8158 665:1<79 2011 665 10750 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-011-0606-7 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-011-0606-7 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Gillett Nadezhda Environmental Sciences and Management, Portland State University, 97207, Portland, OR, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Pan Yangdong Environmental Sciences and Management, Portland State University, 97207, Portland, OR, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Manoylov Kalina Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Georgia College and State University, 31061, Milledgeville, GA, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Stevenson R. Department of Zoology, Michigan State University, 48824, East Lansing, MI, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Hydrobiologia Springer Netherlands 665/1(2011-05-01), 79-92 0018-8158 665:1<79 2011 665 10750 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer