Page 296 - Freshwater-Biology-and-Ecology-Handbook

CHAPTER 6 10.5 10.5 Riverfly Census

The Riverfly Census is undertaken by Salmon & Trout
Conservation UK to ensure that action is taken to protect the
quality of rivers used for game fishing https://salmon-trout.
org/projects/riverfly-census/
The first Riverfly Census was undertaken in 2015 and involved
surveying sites on 12 English river systems (S&TC UK, 2015). (158)

Five sites were sampled on each river, in spring and autumn,
using RIVPACS sampling methods. These were analysed
to species in order to derive a diverse group of measures to
‘fingerprint’ their quality.
These measures comprised:

• Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP) score
• Average [BMWP] Score Per Taxon (ASPT)
• Species Richness (number of species, R)
• Ephemeroptera Plecoptera Trichoptera (EPT) richness
• Community conservation index (CCI)
• Total invertebrate abundance
• Total Reactive Phosphorus Index (TRPI)
• Saprobic Index (SI)
• Proportion of Sediment-Sensitive Invertebrates (PSI)
• Lotic Invertebrate index for Flow Evaluation (LIFE)
• the abundance of Gammarus
• the abundance of Seratella ignita.

The report, and the analyses that it described, was designed to
be read by a general audience, not scientists, so particular care
was given to clear presentation.

A colour-coded ‘traffic-light system’ was used to classify the
face values of LIFE, PSI, SI and TRPI on a 5-class scale. The
census was expanded in 2017 to cover more rivers, and an
updated survey was undertaken in 2019 (S&TC UK, 2019). (159)

Figure 6.16
Front covers of the 2015 and 2019 Riverfly Census reports (158) (159)

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