Chironomid Midges as Indicators of Organic Pollution in the Scioto River Basin, Ohio
Loading...
Date
1989-03
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Faunal and water chemistry data were derived from an extensive survey of streams in the Scioto River basin, Ohio and analyzed to determine biotic indicators of water quality. The data for 11 water chemistry characteristics were simplified by means of factor analysis, which generated three new axes (alkalinity-hardness, enrichment (sewage), agricultural runoff) that explained 71.5% of the total variance. The distributions of 14 common larval chironomid genera were then placed upon these new axes, based on coordinates generated for each sample site. These genera were found to occupy significantly different environments. Heuristic analysis of the data identified five groups of genera, each indicating particular water quality conditions: 1) Stictocbironomus—hard, alkaline unpolluted water; 2) Pentaneura, Cricotopus, and Tanytarsus—sewage enriched water; 3) Procladius and Dicrotendipes—high agricultural runoff; 4) Ablabesmyia and Tribelos —general organic pollution, soft acid water; and 5) Micropsectra, Microtendipes, Glyptotendipes, Chironomus, Polypedilum, and Cryptochironomus — facultative genera.
Description
Author Institution: Department of Zoological and Biomedical Sciences, Ohio University
Keywords
Citation
The Ohio Journal of Science. v89, n1 (March, 1989), 5-9