Testing the performance of macroinvertebrate‐based indices of intermittence in rivers beyond their region of development

Burgazzi, G, Laini, A, England, J, Guareschi, S, Viaroli, P and Stubbington, R ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8475-5109, 2025. Testing the performance of macroinvertebrate‐based indices of intermittence in rivers beyond their region of development. River Research and Applications. ISSN 1535-1459

Text 2454387_Stubbington.pdf - Post-print Full-text access embargoed until 8 June 2026. Download (829kB)

Abstract

Intermittent rivers represent more than half of the length of the global river network, and their extent is predicted to increase. Although flow intermittence is a natural phenomenon, it is exacerbated by the combined and interacting effects of climate change and anthropogenic pressures. This increasing intermittence represents a major threat to freshwater biodiversity and highlights the pressing need for indices that can assess the responses of freshwater biota to drying events. However, most such indices remain untested beyond their region of origin, limiting their widespread use. We addressed this gap by testing the capacity of two macroinvertebrate-based indices that respond to flow intermittence (the Drought Effect of Habitat Loss on Invertebrates [DEHLI] index and the Monitoring Intermittent Streams index [MIS-index]), developed and evaluated in the UK, to distinguish between perennial and intermittent river sites in Italy. Scores for both indices and index-derived richness metrics (i.e. the taxa richness of groups of environmental association classified by the indices) were higher at perennial than intermittent sites. Among index-derived richness metrics, only those including rheophilic taxa were lower at intermittent sites, whereas others were comparable at perennial and intermittent sites. Our results suggest that both indices have the potential for use beyond their original region of development, with a better performance of DEHLI index due to its family-level taxonomic resolution. However, their responsiveness could be enhanced by regional adaptation, to increase the pool of scoring taxa. In addition, the development of conceptual frameworks predicting assemblage composition in intermittent rivers across different biogeographical regions could guide the future development of new indices for flow intermittence.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	River Research and Applications
Creators:	Burgazzi, G., Laini, A., England, J., Guareschi, S., Viaroli, P. and Stubbington, R.
Publisher:	Wiley
Date:	8 June 2025
ISSN:	1535-1459
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1002/rra.4467 DOI 2454387 Other
Rights:	This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Burgazzi, G., Laini, A., England, J., Guareschi, S., Viaroli, P., & Stubbington, R. (2025). Testing the performance of macroinvertebrate‐based indices of intermittence in rivers beyond their region of development. River Research and Application, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.4467 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Laura Borcherds
Date Added:	16 Sep 2025 16:33
Last Modified:	16 Sep 2025 16:33
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/54334

Actions (login required)

Edit View

Statistics

Views

Downloads