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Macrozoobenthos interlaboratory comparison on taxonomical identification and counting of marine invertebrates in artificial sediment samples including testing various statistical methods of data evaluation

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Abstract

A macrozoobenthos interlaboratory comparison was carried out by 16 laboratories to check the taxonomical expertise and the precision of sorting and counting. Participating laboratories had to determine and count in an artificial sediment sample 22 selected macrozoobenthos species taken from the western Baltic Sea. Two methods for the analysis of data were applied: assessment of qualitative and quantitative successful hits and the maximum-likelihood method.

The results of counting were mostly precise (one lab without mistake). Four laboratories had a rate of false determination of 10%, eight laboratories between 10 and 20% and four laboratories of more than 20%.

The species Arctica islandica, Retusa obtusa, Fabricia stellaris, Polydora quadrilobata, Pholoe assimilis, Microdeutopus gryllotalpa, and Corophium crassicorne caused some problems at the species determination step.

The comparison of the different methods of statistical data analysis shows that the maximum-likelihood method is more sensitive than the method of successful hits.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Renate Deutschmann and Eva Schmidt for their excellent technical assistance and all laboratories for participating in the interlaboratory comparison.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Water Analysis, Federal Environmental Agency, PO Box 33 00 22, 14191, Berlin, Germany

    Petra Schilling

  2. Institute of Biological Sciences, Marine Biology, University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Str. 3, 18051, Rostock, Germany

    Martin Powilleit

  3. quo data, Gesellschaft für Qualitätsmanagement und Statistik mbH, Siedlerweg 20, 01465, Dresden-Langebrueck, Germany

    Steffen Uhlig

Authors
  1. Petra Schilling
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  2. Martin Powilleit
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  3. Steffen Uhlig
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Correspondence to Petra Schilling.

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Schilling, P., Powilleit, M. & Uhlig, S. Macrozoobenthos interlaboratory comparison on taxonomical identification and counting of marine invertebrates in artificial sediment samples including testing various statistical methods of data evaluation. Accred Qual Assur 11, 422–429 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00769-006-0139-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00769-006-0139-3

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