Response of Chironomids to Key Environmental Factors: Perspective for Biomonitoring

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Benthic macroinvertebrates of inland waters, including running waters and lakes, are frequently used in biomonitoring. Sometimes, environmental data associated with species lists are not available; in this situation traits or functional adaptations of species to environment can be considered as a tool to translate the list of species into a useful index to evaluate the environmental quality a body of water. ABSTRACT: Chironomids are the species-richest family among macroinvertebrates and are often used as indicators of ecological conditions in inland waters. High taxonomic expertise is needed for identification and new species are still being described even in the well-known West Palearctic region. Our Microsoft Access relational database comprises data on Chironomid species collected in rivers and lakes in Italy and some other European countries over a period of about 50 years, often associated with physical-chemical data, but in some cases, only data on Chironomids are available with no associated environmental data. The aim of the present paper was to propose the calculation of ecological traits of Chironomid species as a tool to derive information on water quality, when only data on Chironomid species composition are present, while environmental data are lacking. Traits summarizing the species’ response to environmental variables were evaluated, with emphasis on natural and man-influenced factors: current velocity, water temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, and nutrients. Traits calculations were carried out in the R environment using a subset of our data, including both environmental data and Chironomid abundances. The relations between sites, Chironomid, species and traits were evaluated using correspondence analysis and other multivariate methods. The response of species showed an interaction among different factors, with the possibility of ordering species along a single environmental gradient, extending from cold running waters to warm standing waters, with few exceptions.