Unraveling the performance of the benthic index AMBI in a subtropical bay: The effects of data transformations and exclusion of low-reliability sites

We investigated the relationship between the AMBI index and different contamination proxies in an urbanized bay in South America (SE Brazil), and the effect of (a) abundance data transformation and (b) exclusion of low-reliability sites (high SD; low N) on the index' performance. Poor ecologica...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine pollution bulletin 2018-01, Vol.126, p.438-448
Main Authors: Checon, Helio H., Corte, Guilherme N., Muniz, Pablo, Brauko, Kalina M., Di Domenico, Maikon, Bícego, Marcia C., Siegle, Eduardo, Figueira, Rubens C.L., Amaral, A. Cecília Z.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Araçá Bay
Coastal management
Coastal zone management
Coasts
Contaminants
Contamination
Data
Ecological effects
Fluid dynamics
Fluid flow
Fluid mechanics
Hydrocarbons
Hydrodynamics
Macrofauna
Marine pollution
Mud
Reliability
Species
Species classification
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Summary:We investigated the relationship between the AMBI index and different contamination proxies in an urbanized bay in South America (SE Brazil), and the effect of (a) abundance data transformation and (b) exclusion of low-reliability sites (high SD; low N) on the index' performance. Poor ecological quality and opportunistic species were related to an increase in contaminants concentrations and mud content. Good ecological status and sensitive species (EG I) were mainly related to increased hydrodynamics. Data transformation caused minimal changes to the overall relationships, but exclusion of low-reliability sites improved the relationship between ecological groups and contamination proxies. Our results show that AMBI is robust in detecting effects of different contaminants in the area and reinforce the importance of the index as a tool for coastal management, but local joint efforts are needed to improve and adjust local species classification in ecological groups to improve the index' performance. •AMBI is widely applied but underused in South American waters.•Index performance and the effect of data pre-treatment were evaluated in a subtropical bay.•AMBI was positively correlated with contaminants and negatively with hydrodynamics.•Different data transformation had little improvement on the relationship.•AMBI use is encouraged but efforts are needed to adapt ecological groups classification.
ISSN:0025-326X
1879-3363
DOI:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.11.059