Poster Presentation Freshwater Sciences 2023

A mobile app for evaluation of tropical stream integrity: a rapid assessment tool (#673)

Luany L Campos 1 , Matheus M Ratz Scoarize 2 3 4 , Beatriz B Contieri 2 4 5 , Juliano C C Tavares 6 7 , Vivian M Cionek 8 , Linnyer B R Aylon 7 9 , Evanilde Benedito 1 2 4
  1. Department of Biology, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil
  2. Research Nucleus in Limnology, Ichthyology and Aquaculture, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil
  3. Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
  4. Graduate Program in Ecology of Inland Water Ecosystems, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil
  5. Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium
  6. Graduate Program in Computer Science, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil
  7. Manna Team, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil
  8. Universidade do Vale do Itajaí, Balneário Camboriú, Santa Catarina, Brazil
  9. Department of Informatics, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil

Although vital to humanity and countless species, streams are threatened worldwide. They are prone to anthropogenic impacts, but the extent and impacts may differ depending on land use. Many rapid assessment methods (RAM) have been used by the government staff to keep track of the changes in a watershed, identifying impacts and deterioration of streams. However, a digital version of the RAM could allow common people to help monitor the environments, especially a mobile application. Thus, our aims were to i) develop a software application that people could input data about streams in a standardised protocol; ii) test the hypothesis that streams in different land uses differ regarding stream integrity. The application was developed in partnership between biology and informatics laboratories. The RAM used as a model was developed in 2013. A total of 12 streams were assessed using the app in March and April 2022 in Southern Brazil. The streams were grouped into three land uses: urban, rural and protected area (PA). We used an analysis of variance to test our hypothesis, and Kruskal-Wallis to analyse each parameter. Only the group PA differed from urban and rural streams. The urban and rural streams did not differ between themselves in the RAM mean value, nor in many individual parameters. Intriguingly, a few parameters presented better values outside the PA. Based on our results, the anthropogenic impacts in rural streams can be as harmful as in urban ones. Furthermore, the PA were effective in promoting the ecosystem integrity of the analysed stream reaches. We suggest that streams should be monitored continuously using this RAM or an adapted version that can be uploaded to the app. Also, the riparian vegetation should receive special attention in monitoring and restoration projects, as a buffer for the streams.