Assessment of the biological health of the Brantas River, East Java, Indonesia using the Australian River Assessment System (AUSRIVAS) methodology

This study aimed to evaluate the applicability of the Australian River Assessment System (AUSRIVAS) bioassessment methodology to assess the biological health of streams in the upper-middle Brantas River catchment, East Java, Indonesia. A total of 84 `minimally disturbed' reference sites were selected and sampled for macroinvertebrates in riffle habitats. Sampling of macroinvertebrates and identification to family level was conducted by local biologists following intensive training, and under supervision. A quality control protocol was introduced to ensure the data were reliable and reproducible. A suite of `potential predictor' and `monitoring' environmental variables were also measured at each site. The macroinvertebrate data were used to develop a predictive AUSRIVAS model for the upper-middle Brantas river, and the model was then used to assess the `health' of 15 test sites in the catchment. Bioassessment outputs – Observed (O)/Expected (E) ratios – were found to be broadly related to measures of physical disturbance from land use and riparian degradation. Through the process of local reference site selection and sampling, model development, validation and subsequent use, the Australian AUSRIVAS rapid bioassessment method was assessed as being highly applicable to the upper-middle catchment sections of Indonesian river systems.

[1]  Mike T. Furse,et al.  Biological assessment of river quality: development of AUSRIVAS models and outputs. , 2000 .

[2]  Richard H. Norris,et al.  DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF PREDICTIVE MODELS FOR MEASURING THE BIOLOGICAL INTEGRITY OF STREAMS , 2000 .

[3]  K. Cummins,et al.  An Introduction to the Aquatic Insects of North America , 1981 .

[4]  C. Humphrey,et al.  AUSRIVAS: operator sample processing errors and temporal variability - implications for model sensitivity , 2000 .

[5]  T. Whitten,et al.  The Ecology of Java and Bali , 1996 .

[6]  A. Spacie,et al.  Biological Monitoring of Aquatic Systems , 1994 .

[7]  J. F. Wright,et al.  Development and use of a system for predicting the macroinvertebrate fauna in flowing waters , 1995 .

[8]  M. Parsons,et al.  The effect of habitat‐specific sampling on biological assessment of water quality using a predictive model , 1996 .

[9]  B T Hart,et al.  Application of the Australian river bioassessment system (AUSRIVAS) in the Brantas River, East Java, Indonesia. , 2001, Journal of environmental management.

[10]  L. Barmuta,et al.  Preliminary study of the ordination and classification of macroinvertebrate communities from running waters in Victoria, Australia , 1994 .

[11]  T. Reynoldson,et al.  The Reference Condition: A Comparison of Multimetric and Multivariate Approaches to Assess Water-Quality Impairment Using Benthic Macroinvertebrates , 1997, Journal of the North American Benthological Society.

[12]  Mike T. Furse,et al.  The reference condition: problems and solutions. , 2000 .

[13]  W. Hilsenhoff.  An Introduction to the Aquatic Insects of North America , 1997 .