Crustaceans as indicators of biotic integrity of a coastal estuarine area of Santa Catarina, Brazil

Abstract

Numerous methods are used to calculate indices of biotic integrity (IBI) in different regions of the world. The objective of this study was to determine the variation of the environmental quality of a coastal estuary of Santa Catarina State, based on the IBI calculation, using the data of the area’s crustacean community as parameters. The data were collected by several authors for the period 2000 to 2005 and compared with the data obtained in this study for the years 2012 to 2013, using the same methods of the previous collections. To calculate the IBI, 14 attributes inherent to local crustaceans were chosen and four categories of biotic integrity (very poor, poor, regular and good) were defined. The values of IBI were calculated for each period and classified into different categories to distinguish their temporal variations. The values obtained ranged over the sample period, being higher in 2000 2001, resulting in an value equivalent to the regular category, changing to poor in 2001 2003, regular between 2003-2004, poor between 2004-2005 and regressing to the regular category in 2012-2013. The values of IBI found for the "Saco da Fazenda" region reflect the instability of the area, which is characteristic of estuarine environments when evaluated on time scales.