KiEco Freshwater Ecology: River Macroinvertebrates

Natural Resources Wales

Description

Freshwater marcoinvertebrates are used as an indicator of water quality and river flow requirements due to the relative immobility and abundance. This dataset is made up of the species abundance values from the freshwater river macroinvertebrates surveys conducted across Wales by Natural Resources Wales and former Environment Agency Wales. These surveys are conducted as part of on-going monitoring of river water quality for legislative requirements and to meet business drivers.

Geographic Description

Wales

Methods

A strict methodology is applied when sampling for freshwater river macroinvertebrates. There is a core network of sites which are monitored on a three-yearly rolling programme. These sites are located where risk assessment has shown significant risk of failure of WFD ecological quality standards. In addition sites may be sampled for investigative work, or on an ad hoc basis. Sampling areas are located with a larger survey area and must be representative of the overall survey area. A three-minute kick-sample is the most commonly used sampling method, although where necessary alternative methods are used, for example in deeper water or for investigative work. Once samples are collected they are sent NRW ecology laboratories for identification using standard methodologies, employing a strict Analytical Quality Control (AQC) procedure.

Once the data is collated in the central database, it has then been extracted and QA'd before going onto the NBN Atlas. It is important to note that this dataset will include some sampling events from recent months where sampling has been undertaken but laboratory analysis has not been completed, therefore the full complement of taxa for that sampling event will not yet be uploaded. These records will be completed in future data uploads from NRW to the NBN Atlas. This dataset also includes records for some non-macroinvertebrate species, such as birds and fish, that were either observed or collected during sampling. Any non-target organisms collected during sampling were immediately returned to the river.

Citation

Natural Resources Wales. ([Insert year of download]) KiEco Freshwater Ecology: River Macroinvertebrates. Occurrence dataset accessed through the NBNAtlas

Rights

© CNC/NRW

Data may be re-used under the terms of the Open Government Licence providing it is done so, acknowledging both the source and NRW's copyright. It is the recipient's responsibility to ensure the data is fit for the intended purpose.

Attribution statement: Contains Natural Resources Wales information © Natural Resources Wales and Database Right. All rights Reserved.

Digitised records