Reduced count size can provide a robust and more efficient diatom assessment of environmental conditions.

ABSTRACT: 1. Bioassessment indices routinely used in freshwater assessments are calculated using enumeration methods that are often time-intensive. For diatom assessments that are mainly based on time consuming valve counts, little attention has been devoted to optimizing current counting methods, despite the need for cost-effective bioassessments and biomonitoring. 2. With a focus on count size sufficiency, we examined diatom samples from >3,000 rivers and streams across the U.S. to assess the effects of reducing the standard count size of 600 diatom valves on the recently published, genus-level, trait-based multimetric diatom indices (MMIs) and its component metrics. The diatom data were collected by the United States Environmental Protection Agency's National Rivers and Streams Assessment (NRSA).

SUBMITTER: Riato L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12186241 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature