River Benthic Macroinvertebrate Health Monitoring 2003-2023

2003 to 2023 sampling data tracks benthic macroinvertebrate communities in rivers, assessing biotic integrity via the Benthos Health Index (ISB). The dataset includes layers for sampling stations and drainage areas, with land use compiled for 2020.

Use Cases

• Analyze Benthos Health Index (ISB) trends over the 2003-2023 period to assess river ecosystem changes.
• Correlate land use categories from the 2020 compilation with benthic community health scores at monitoring stations.
• Compare biotic integrity between coarse-substrate (iSBG) and soft-substrate (iSBM) stream types using index classifications.
• Map sampling station locations and associated drainage areas to identify spatial patterns in benthic health.

Strengths

• Provides 20 years of temporal coverage from 2003 to 2023 for longitudinal analysis.
• Includes a specific land use compilation for the year 2020 as a potential explanatory variable.
• Offers data in multiple formats (GEOJSON, CSV, GPKG) for flexibility in analysis and GIS applications.

Limitations

• Unknown sample size (rows) and column structure limits precise assessment of analytical scope.
• Land use data is only compiled for 2020, which may not align temporally with all biological sampling events.
• Relies on automated translation for metadata, which may introduce inaccuracies in field descriptions.

Provenance

Source

Government and Municipalities of Québec

Collection Method

Field sampling of benthic macroinvertebrates at monitoring stations, with health indices calculated.

Time Range

2003 to 2023

Freshness

null

Geography

Rivers in Québec, Canada