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SPEARpesticides

Version: 2019.11

SPEARpesticides is a trait-based bioindicator that estimates exposure and ecological effects of pesticide contamination in small streams on the basis of macroinvertebrate monitoring data (Liess & von der Ohe, 2005).
In this context, the term 'pesticide contamination' refers to the exposure to insecticides or other pesticides with insecticidal activity. So far, the approach has been validated for repeated, short-term pulses of pesticides which are typical for small watercourses in agricultural landscapes with catchment areas up to 30 km². Furthermore it should be noted that SPEARpesticides is calibrated to a specific time period of the year: The strongest ecological effects from pesticide exposure can be expected in the period during and shortly after the application of pesticides (May to mid-July). For the application of SPEARpesticides, we therefore recommend a sampling of the macroinvertebrate community during this period. However, SPEARpesticides can also be used to show long-term changes in the community structure over other periods of the year. In general, the result of SPEARpesticides is largely independent of other abiotic parameters in the stream section under consideration (e.g. nutrients, structural quality, flow velocity, refuge areas) due to the use of ecological traits (Liess et al., 2008, Knillmann et al. 2018, see explanations below).

Input

Monitoring Data

Paste your monitoring data here.
Before first use, please delete the example dataset.

Name1, Name2 and Name3: Sampling names. A sampling can be identified by one name or, optionally, by a combination of maximal three names (e.g. Germany, Leipzig, 2014).
Taxa: Family, genus or species name of the sampled macroinvertebrates.
Abundance: Abundance of macroinvertebrates.

Icon:
[X] Taxa name missing: The name of the taxon is missing, see column 'Taxa'.

Taxa Link

By the table 'Taxa Link', all taxa of the ‘Monitoring Data’ are linked to the entries of the ’Trait Database’ of SPEARpesticides which equals the taxonomy of the 'Operational taxa list’ of the AQEM project (‘Operationelle Taxaliste’, www.freshwaterecology.info). Newly inserted taxa of the 'Monitoring Data’ are automatically linked based on a similarity search.
Links can be adapted manually. Taxa which are not linked will be ignored in the calculation of SPEARpesticides.

Button 'Reset links': After a reset, all user-defined links are deleted and replaced by the default links based on the automatic similarity search (see above).
Button 'Delete taxa not in Monitoring Data': This action deletes all rows with unused taxa, i.e. taxa that are not present in the current ’Monitoring Data’ table.

Icons:
[I] Identified By: Colour-coded information about the quality of the taxa link. Green = The taxon name is perfectly identified and linked to the 'Trait Database'. Orange = Only the first word of the taxon name is identified and the taxon is linked accordingly. Red = The taxon name is NOT identified and the data entry is therefore excluded from the calculation of SPEARpesticides. Blue = The link to the taxon of the 'Trait Database' is set manually by the user.
[X] Not linked: The taxon is not linked, see column 'Taxa of Trait Database'. SPEARpesticides is based on the taxonomy of the 'Operational taxa list' (‘Operationelle Taxaliste’, www.freshwaterecology.info). In case of differing entries, e.g. synonyms, the link cannot always be made automatically.
[L] Taxa not present in Monitoring Data: The taxon is not in the table 'Monitoring Data'. If desired, all unused taxa can be deleted from the table via the button 'Delete taxa not in Monitoring Data'.

Taxa Traits & Classification

With this step, the macroinvertebrate taxa of the ‘Monitoring Data’ are divided into pesticide-vulnerable ‘Species at risk’ and pesticide-invulnerable ‘Species not at risk’ on the basis of their ecological traits. The considered ecological traits include:

Sensitivity: (Relative) Physiological sensitivity of a taxon to organic pollutants including pesticides. Values are standardized by the toxicological sensitivity of Daphnia magna. Coding: Less sensitive than Daphnia magna < 0 < more sensitive than Daphnia magna (for more details see Von der Ohe & Liess (2004)). By default, a pesticide-vulnerable taxon requires a ,Sensitivity value’ of > -0.36. This threshold can be changed under ‘Advanced settings’ (see below).
Generation: Generation time of a taxon. Unit: Years per generation. By default, a pesticide-vulnerable taxon requires a ‘Generation time’ of > 0.5 years (this threshold can be changed under ‘Advanced settings’, see below).
Refuge: Dependence of a taxon on refuge areas and its ability to migrate from them if such areas are present in upper stream sections. This newly integrated ecological trait minimizes the positive impact of refuge areas in the upper stream sections of sampling sites. Refuge areas are defined as (i) forested or grassland stream sections with presumably little or no influence of pesticides, (ii) with minimum dimensions of 100 m in width and 300 m in length, (iii) which were at least twice as long as any agricultural stream section in the further upstream and (iv) exhibited a maximal distance to the sampling site of 10 km upstream. Coding: 1: No refuge taxa, 0: Refuge taxa. For further information see Knillmann et al. (2018).
Exposed: Potential exposure of a taxon to pesticides in the aquatic environment (0 = exposure is not given, e.g. in case of early emergence or high migration ability, 1 = exposure during the main application period of pesticides is likely).

The table ‘Taxa Traits & Classification’ lists trait values and the corresponding 'SPEARclass' of linked taxa. Trait values can be edited.

Button 'Reset trait values': After a reset, user-defined trait values are deleted and replaced by the default trait values from the table 'Trait Database' (see below).
Button 'Delete taxa not in Taxa Link': This action deletes all rows with unused taxa, i.e. taxa that are not present in the current 'Monitoring Data’ table.

Taxa: Linked taxa names of the 'Trait Database' (see below).
Sensitivity, Generation, Refuge and Exposed: Trait values used for the calculation of the 'SPEARclass' per taxon. The classification of the trait values is colour-coded: Green = trait value indicating pesticide vulnerability; Gray = trait value indicating pesticide invulnerability.
SPEARclass: Final classification of taxa into pesticide-vulnerable ‘Species at risk’ (SPEARclass = 1) and pesticide-invulnerable ‘Species not at risk’ (SPEARclass = 0).
A taxon is classified as a ‘Species at risk’ (SPEARclass = 1) if all four traits are indicating pesticide vulnerability (colour-coded in green). Taxa are excluded from the calculation of SPEARpesticides when the SPEARclass is undefined.

Icons:
[S] Source: Colour-coded source of trait values. Green = Trait values are taken from the 'Trait Database'. Blue = Trait values are set manually by the user.
[X] Trait values missing: Taxon is excluded from the calculation of SPEARpesticides due to missing trait values. Preset trait values are based on the current state of research.
[L] Taxon is not linked: The taxon is not linked. If desired, all taxa that are not in the table 'Taxa Link' can be deleted via the button 'Delete taxa not in Taxa Link'.

Results

The calculation of SPEARpesticides is performed with the following two steps. First, the summed abundance of pesticide-vulnerable ‘Species at risk’ (SPEARclass = 1) is divided by the summed abundance of all taxa. By this, a value between 0 and 1 is obtained, which decreases with increasing pesticide pressure. Previous to the summation the abundance of taxa is log(4×+1)-transformed to decrease the influence of populations with mass developments. Secondly, the so determined ratio is normalized. A reference value of SPEARpesticides of 0.27 is assumed for the normalization, which is based on an evaluation of Germany-wide invertebrate data, including stream sites without the influence of pesticide pressure. For more details on the calculation see Liess & von der Ohe (2005), Liess et al. (2008), Knillmann et al. (2018).
Based on the values of SPEARpesticides five classes of ‘Environmental quality’can be derived (EQpesticides). EQpesticides only serves as an interpretation aid of SPEARpesticides and refers to the ecological status classes according to the WFD. Classes of EQpesticides are:

EQpesticides SPEARpesticides
High (I) >= 0.98
Good (II) >= 0.76
Moderate (III) >= 0.55
Poor (IV) >= 0.34
Bad (V) < 0.34

Effect & Exposure Estimates

This table shows the calculated effect and exposure estimates for all macroinvertebrate samplings. To export the table, right click on the table and choose 'Export CSV' from the context menu.

Name1, Name2 and Name3: Names of the samplings.
SPEARpesticides: SPEARpesticides of the samplings, normalized to reference conditions (see explanations above).
EQpesticides: The environmental quality of samplings with respect to pesticide contamination. EQpesticides only serves as an interpretation aid of SPEARpesticides and refers to the ecological status classes according to the WFD: ‘high’, ‘good’, ‘moderate’, ‘poor’ and ‘bad’.
TUestimated: The estimated exposure to pesticides given in Toxic Units (TU). The TU of a sampling reflects the highest log-transformed ratio of a measured pesticide concentration to the the acute 48h-LC50 of Daphnia magna within a sampling. The actual calculation of TUestimated is based on Knillmann et al. (2018), who identified the linear relationship between SPEARpesticides and pesticide pressure given in TU. The regression equation is: SPEARpesticides = 0.1288 - 0.2118 * TU. Based on this, TUestimated can be calculated as follows: TUestimated = (0.1288 - SPEARpesticides) / 0.2118.

Effect Plot

This plot shows the values of SPEARpesticides for the macroinvertebrate samplings, normalized to reference conditions (see explanations above).

Effect Distribution Plot

The environmental impact of pesticide contamination is given as the distribution of EQpesticides for all macroinvertebrate samplings. The classes of EQpesticides only serve as an interpretation aid of SPEARpesticides and refer to the concept of the ecological status classes according to the WFD: ‘high’, ‘good’, ‘moderate’, ‘poor’ and ‘bad’.

Advanced Settings

Trait Thresholds

Thresholds for the SPEARpesticides classification of taxa (see above).
Please check and adjust.

Classificationsensitivity:
if (traitsensitivity >= THRESHOLDsensitivity) then 1 else 0

Classificationgeneration time:
if (traitgeneration time >= THRESHOLDgeneration time) then 1 else 0

Trait Database

Default trait values for the calculation of SPEARpesticides. These values will be used for the calculation of SPEARpesticides of linked taxa unless user-defined values are set in the table ’Taxa Traits & Classification’.

Group, Family, Genus, Taxa: Group, family, genus and species name according to the 'Operational taxa list' of the AQEM project (‘Operationelle Taxaliste’, www.freshwaterecology.info).
Rank: Rank of the taxonomic hierarchy.
Sensitivity: (Relative) Physiological sensitivity of a taxon to organic pollutants including pesticides. Values are standardized by the toxicological sensitivity of Daphnia magna. Coding: Less sensitive than Daphnia magna < 0 < more sensitive than Daphnia magna (for more details see Von der Ohe & Liess, 2004). By default, a pesticide-vulnerable taxon requires a ,Sensitivity value’ of > -0.36. This threshold can be changed under ‘Advanced settings’ (see below).
Generation: Generation time of a taxon. Unit: Years per generation. By default, a pesticide-vulnerable taxon requires a ‘Generation time’ of > 0.5 years (this threshold can be changed under ‘Advanced settings’, see below).
Refuge: Dependence of a taxon on refuge areas and its ability to migrate from them if such areas are present in upper stream sections. This newly integrated ecological trait minimizes the positive impact of refuge areas in the upper stream sections of sampling sites. Refuge areas are defined as (i) forested or grassland stream sections with presumably little or no influence of pesticides, (ii) with minimum dimensions of 100 m in width and 300 m in length, (iii) which were at least twice as long as any agricultural stream section in the further upstream and (iv) exhibited a maximal distance to the sampling site of 10 km upstream. Coding: 1: No refuge taxa, 0: Refuge taxa. For further information see Knillmann et al. (2018).
Exposed: Potential exposure of a taxon to pesticides in the aquatic environment (0 = exposure is not given, e.g. in case of early emergence or high migration ability, 1 = exposure during the main application period of pesticides is likely).

References

Knillmann S, Orlinskiy P, Kaske O, Foit K, Liess M, 2018. Indication of pesticide effects and recolonization in streams. Science of the Total Environment. 630, pp. 1619–1627.
Liess M, von der Ohe PC, 2005. Analyzing effects of pesticides on invertebrate communities in streams. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. 24, pp. 954–965.
Liess M, Schäfer R, Schriever C, 2008. The footprint of pesticide stress in communities - species traits reveal community effects of toxicants. Science of the Total Environment. 406, pp. 484–490.
Schäfer R, von der Ohe PC, Rasmussen J, Kefford B, Beketov M, Schulz R, Liess M, 2012. Thresholds for the effects of pesticides on invertebrate communities and leaf breakdown in stream ecosystems. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. 46, 5134–5142.
Von der Ohe PC, Liess M, 2004. Relative sensitivity distribution of aquatic invertebrates to organic and metal compounds. Environmental toxicology and chemistry, 23, pp. 150-6.