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A Preliminary Index of Biotic Integrity for Monitoring the Condition of the Rio Paraiba do Sul, Southeast Brazil

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Abstract

The biodiversity of many Brazilian rivers is seriously threatened by industrial and municipal pollution, and Rio Paraiba do Sul, located between two major industrial centers is one example of this situation. A survey of the fish assemblage was conducted from October 1998 to September 1999 and the data were used to develop an index of biotic integrity (IBI). We sampled three zones in bracketing a large urban–industrial complex to evaluate water quality changes and the usefulness of the IBI as a monitoring tool. Water quality was classified as poor upstream of the effluent discharges, very poor near the discharges, and poor–fair downstream of the discharges, with this latter situation revealing the current biological capacity of the river. Physical and chemical habitat characteristics were also measured at each site to construct an independent environmental index to validate the IBI. The habitat and IBI indices were highly correlated, suggesting this IBI would be applicable to other large rivers in southeast Brazil.

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Acknowledgements

We are particular grateful to Robert M. Hughes and Phil Kaufmann for invaluable advice and encouragement to adapt IBI to Brazilian rivers. The manuscript was improved by their useful comments. We thank Leska S. Fore. Alonso Ramirez, and an anonymous referee for reading and commenting on the manuscript. Financial support for field work has been provided by the Brazilian Agency for Research Development- CNPq.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório Ecologia de Peixes, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro Km 47., Antiga Rod. Rio-SP. 23851-970 Seropedica. RJ, Brazil

    Francisco Gerson Araujo, Ilana Fichberg, Benjamin Carvalho Teixeira Pinto & Magna Galvao Peixoto

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  1. Francisco Gerson Araujo
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  2. Ilana Fichberg
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  3. Benjamin Carvalho Teixeira Pinto
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  4. Magna Galvao Peixoto
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Correspondence to Francisco Gerson Araujo.

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Araujo, F., Fichberg, I., Pinto, B. et al. A Preliminary Index of Biotic Integrity for Monitoring the Condition of the Rio Paraiba do Sul, Southeast Brazil . Environmental Management 32, 516–526 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-003-3003-9

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