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Article title: Development and testing of an index of biological integrity based on submersed and floating vegetation and its application to assessreclamation wetlands in Alberta’s oil sands area, Canada
Journal name: Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
Author names: Rebecca C. Rooney[1], Suzanne E. Bayley
Affiliation: B217 Biological Sciences Bldg, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada, T6G 2E9
Corresponding Author’s Contact Info: E-mail: , Phone: (780) 492-4615, Fax: (780) 492-9234.
Appendix 1 Definitions of candidate metrics calculated from the submersed and floating vegetation.
Metric / DefinitionFLT_S / Richness of floating species
SAV_S / Richness of submersed aquatic species
TOT_S / Richness of floating and submersed aquatic species
H' / Shannon entropy = -∑ (p ln p) for each species at the pond level
H'_ED / The "true diversity" according to the Shannon entropy index (weighs species according to their frequencies)
S_Quad / The number of species observed in all quadrats summed together
Hmax / ln(S) within each pond, where S is the sum of species used to calculate H'
EH / H' / Hmax; the evenness of plant species abundances within the pond
G_Simp / Gini-Simpson diversity index: 1 - (Sum of squares of species frequencies)
G_Simp_ED / The "true diversity" according to the Gini-Simpson index
No._Rare_taxa / Number of regionally rare taxaa: Ruppiacirrhosa, Utricularia minor, Potamogetonfoliosus, P. natans, and P. obtusifolius
%_Rare_taxa / Percent of total species richness comprised of regionally rare species
%C_Rare_taxa / Relative abundance of regionally rare species
%_Common_taxa / Percent of total species richness comprised of common species
%C_Common_taxa / Relative abundance of common species
H'_ED/G_Simp_ED / A measure of dominance
FQAIb / R/SQRT(N), where R is Sum_C and N is the number of native vascular plant species
Sum_C / Sum of coefficients of conservatism values on a presence/absence basis
Med_C / Median coefficient of conservatism value
Mean_C / Mean coefficient of conservatism value
%C_Annual / Relative abundance of annual vascular plants
%C_Perennial / Relative abundance of perennial vascular plants
%C_Non-native / Relative abundance of non-native plants
%C_Native / Relative abundance native plants
%C_Carnivorous / Relative abundance of carnivorous plants
%C_Halophyte / Relative abundance of salt tolerant plants: R. cirrhosa, Z. palustris, S. pectinata, Chara spp.
%C_Alkali / Relative abundance of alkali-loving plants: P. alpinus, P. foliosus, P. zosteriformis, S. pectinata, Z. palustris, Chara spp.
%C_Monocots / Relative abundance of monocots
%C_Dicots / Relative abundance of dicots
%C_Float_Leaf / Percent cover of floating leafed plants
%C_Sparse_Leaf / Relative abundance of sparse leaved submersed plants: R. cirrhosa, Z. palustris, P. natans, P. nodosus, P. alpinus, Ranunculus spp.
%_Annual / Percent of TOT_S comprised of annual species
%_Perennial / Percent of TOT_S comprised of perennials
%_Non-native / Percent of TOT_S comprised of non-native plants
%_Native / Percent of TOT_S comprised of native plant species
%_Carnivorous / Percent of TOT_S comprised of carnivorous plants
%_Halophyte / Percent of TOT_S comprised of salt tolerant species
%_Alkali / Percent of TOT_S comprised of alkali-loving plants
%_Monocots / Percent of TOT_S comprised of monocots
%_Dicots / Percent of TOT_S comprised of dicots
%_Float_Leaf / Percent of TOT_S comprised of floating leafed plants
%_Sparse_Leaf / Percent of TOT_S comprised of sparse leaved submersed species
P-A_Rcirrhosac / Presence/absence of R. cirrhosa (a disturbed community)
P-A_aqua_moss / Presence/absence of aquatic moss (a reference community)
P-A_Cdemersum / Presence/absence of C. demersum (a reference community)
P-A_Chara / Presence/absence of Chara spp. (a disturbed community)
%C_Umacrorhiza / Relative abundance of U. macrorhiza (a reference community)
%C_Cdemersum / Relative abundance of C. demersum
%C_Chara / Relative abundance of Chara spp.
%C_Myriophyllum / Relative abundance of Myriophyllum spp. (a disturbed community)
%C_Ppusillus / Relative abundance of P. pusillus (a disturbed community)
%C_Potamogetons / Relative abundance of Potamogeton spp. (a disturbed community)
%_Umacrorhiza / Percent of TOT_S comprised of U. macrorhiza
%_C.demersum / Percent of TOT_S comprised of C. demersum
%_Chara / Percent of TOT_S comprised of Chara spp.
%_Myriophyllum / Percent of TOT_S comprised of Myriophyllum spp.
%_Ppusillus / Percent of TOT_S comprised of P. pusillus
%_Potamogetons / Percent of TOT_S comprised of Potamogeton spp.
Med_SAV_Dens / Median SAV biomass rating calculated from the 10 quadrats
Overall_SAV_Dens / Estimate of overall SAV biomass rating
a Rarity is as defined by Kershaw et al. (2001)
b FQAI is following the method described in (Forrest 2010)
c contribution of species to reference versus degraded communities is derived from Rooney and Bayley(2011)
References
Kershaw L., Gould J., Johnson D.L. and Lancaster J. (eds.) 2001. Rare vascular plants of Alberta. University of Alberta Press / Canadian Forest Service, Edmonton, Alberta.
Forrest A. 2010. Created stormwater wetlands as wetland compensation and a floristic quality approach to wetland condition assessment in central Alberta, University of Alberta: Edmonton, AB.
Rooney R.C. and Bayley S.E. 2011. Setting reclamation targets and evaluating progress: submersed aquatic vegetation in natural and post-oil sands mining wetlands in Alberta, Canada. Ecological Engineering 37: 569-579.
[1] Corresponding Author