Because invertebrates that live in or on sediments are exposed to environmental stressors on an ongoing basis, the benthic life present at a particular location often provides a good indicator of sediment quality.
Interpreting benthic community composition is challenging because the community can be impacted by other factors besides contamination, such as natural variations in habitat and physical disturbance. Benthic indices apply mathematical formulas to data on the number and diversity of benthic organisms at a particular location to find a score that rates the disturbance of the community. This provides a simple means for communicating complex ecological data to environmental managers.
Since the relative performance of different indices is not well-documented, SCCWRP researchers:
For more information on this topic, please contact Steve Bay at steveb@sccwrp.org
