Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.02.096
Title (Primary) Assessing anthropogenic pressures on streams: A random forest approach based on benthic diatom communities
Author Larras, F.; Coulaud, R.; Gautreau, E.; Billoir, E.; Rosebery, J.; Usseglio-Polatera, P.
Source Titel Science of the Total Environment
Year 2017
Department BIOTOX
Volume 586
Page From 1101
Page To 1112
Language englisch
Keywords Risk assessment; Traits; Nutrients; Toxics; Land-use; Hydromorphological pressures
UFZ wide themes RU2;
Abstract Benthic diatoms have been widely used to assess the ecological status of freshwater ecosystems, especially in the context of recent international water framework directive policies (e.g. the WFD). Despite diatom-based indices are known to respond fastly to water quality degradation, they are not designed to precisely identify the nature of pressures co-occurring in the environment. Based on large scale monitoring data, we aimed at building models able to estimate the risk of stream impairment by many types of anthropogenic pressures from taxonomy-based and trait-based characteristics of diatom assemblages. Random forest models were built to individually evaluate the impairment risk of diatom assemblages for six chemical and five hydromorphological or land-use related pressure categories. Eight models provided good impairment risk assessment (Area Under the Curve ≥ 0.70). Under multi-pressure scenarios, models built for chemical pressures exhibited a better accuracy than hydromorphological or land-use related ones. Models were able to detect both ecological restoration and degradation, based on long-term surveys. These models have been implemented in a R user-friendly routine, to help stream managers to early identify degrading processes and prioritize management actions.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=18692
Larras, F., Coulaud, R., Gautreau, E., Billoir, E., Rosebery, J., Usseglio-Polatera, P. (2017):
Assessing anthropogenic pressures on streams: A random forest approach based on benthic diatom communities
Sci. Total Environ. 586 , 1101 - 1112 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.02.096