Comparison of BMWP, ASPT and biodiversity indexes in order to assessment of temporal rivers quality (case study: Kheiroud-kenar River)

The present study aimed to compare the efficiency of BMWP, ASPT and diversity indices in environmental monitoring of temporal rivers. For this purpose, four sampling stations were selected along the Kheiroudkenar River and macroinvertebrates were sampled monthly with three replicates (from July 2012 to November 2013). BMWP and ASPT were calculated using the specific scores of each family. Our results showed that with the exception of the station close to the Najar-deh village, with a BMWP score of 64.2 indicating fair water quality, other stations in the river had good water quality. The calculated scores for ASPT index also showed similar results. However, the Shannon-Wiener index predicted moderately-polluted state for the stations 1, 3 and 4 and heavily polluted state for the station 2. There was a positive correlation between BMWP and ASPT. In general, according to seasonality, habitats conditions and fluctuations in physicochemical parameters of this temporal river, macroinvertebrates composition at the studied sites demonstrated higher reliability as a biological index.