Application of analytic hierarchy process in selecting a biological indicator for a river flow restoration

Abstract Biological indicators play a vital role in monitoring and assessing river health and their selections are, consequently, directly related to the overall success of monitoring programs. In this study, we employed the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to select an appropriate indicator from several indicator candidates. The process was first to form a three level AHP model with four criteria and three indicator alternatives, and then to evaluate the indicator alternatives mathematically, and finally to obtain the most appropriate one with highest values. The use of the proposed model showed that it can be relatively easy to select the most desirable indicator from several candidates. Also, the selection process was performed mathematically which was somewhat transparent.

[1]  Sharon Woolsey,et al.  A strategy to assess river restoration success , 2007 .

[2]  Darren S. Ryder,et al.  Potential for biofilms as biological indicators in Australian riverine systems , 2001 .

[3]  I. Growns,et al.  Ecological effects of flow regulation on macroinvertebrate and periphytic diatom assemblages in the Hawkesbury–Nepean River, Australia , 2001 .

[4]  Virginia H. Dale,et al.  Challenges in the development and use of ecological indicators , 2001 .

[5]  I. Schlosser.  Environmental variation, life history attributes, and community structure in stream fishes: Implications for environmental management and assessment , 1990 .

[6]  J. Allan,et al.  Functional Organization of Stream Fish Assemblages in Relation to Hydrological Variability , 1995 .

[7]  Kevin J. Collier,et al.  Effects of flow regulation and sediment flushing on instream habitat and benthic invertebrates in a New Zealand river influenced by a volcanic eruption , 2002 .

[8]  T. Saaty.  Fundamentals of Decision Making and Priority Theory With the Analytic Hierarchy Process , 2000 .

[9]  D. Goffaux,et al.  A review of existing fish assemblage indicators and methodologies , 2007 .

[10]  Evelyn E. Gaiser,et al.  Periphyton as an indicator of restoration in the Florida Everglades , 2009 .

[11]  M. Schomaker.  Development of environmental indicators in UNEP , 1997 .

[12]  R. J. Stevenson,et al.  Use of periphyton assemblage data as an index of biotic integrity , 2000, Journal of the North American Benthological Society.

[13]  M. Acreman,et al.  Environmental flows and the European Water Framework Directive. , 2010 .

[14]  Hartmut Bossel,et al.  Assessing Viability and Sustainability: a Systems-based Approach for Deriving Comprehensive Indicator Sets , 2002 .

[15]  Fu Xiao-cheng,et al.  Influence of cascaded exploitation of small hydropower on phytoplankton in Xiangxi River , 2007 .

[16]  Tao Lin,et al.  Quantitative selection model of ecological indicators and its solving method , 2012 .

[17]  Jianyi Lin,et al.  Using a network framework to quantitatively select ecological indicators , 2009 .

[18]  John Barry,et al.  Evaluation of the Q-method as a method of public participation in the selection of sustainable development indicators , 2009 .

[19]  Richard H. Norris,et al.  Evaluation and application of methods for biological assessment of streams: summary of papers , 2006, Hydrobiologia.

[20]  P. Mccormick,et al.  A proposed framework for developing indicators of ecosystem health , 1993, Hydrobiologia.

[21]  Kevin S. McKelvey,et al.  The Process of Indicator Selection , 2006 .

[22]  R. Noss.  Indicators for Monitoring Biodiversity: A Hierarchical Approach , 1990 .

[23]  Alan T. Herlihy,et al.  Assessment of streams of the eastern United States using a periphyton index of biotic integrity , 2003 .

[24]  V. M. Rao Tummala,et al.  An application of the AHP in vendor selection of a telecommunications system , 2001 .

[25]  Christopher J. Walsh,et al.  Biological indicators of stream health using macroinvertebrate assemblage composition: a comparison of sensitivity to an urban gradient , 2006 .

[26]  Rudolf de Groot,et al.  A conceptual framework for selecting environmental indicator sets , 2008 .