Applying rapid bioassessment and the reference condition approach to determine the impacts of golf course construction and operation on benthic macroinvertebrate communities in Precambrian Shield streams

Variety of summary indices for benthic macroinvertebrates (BMI), substrate, and water chemistry parameters were used to discriminate between 4 land-use categories of forest, clear-cut, turf establishment, and golf course operation. Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) was used to distinguish important benthic indices, substrate, and water chemistry variables. Water chemistry parameters resulted in having greater power at discriminating between the land uses compared to benthic indices and substrate, suggesting water chemistry analysis should accompany golf course bioassessments. This is contrary to the belief that biology is all that is required for an insightful assessment because of its intrinsic value. In addition, Jaccard, chi-square, Bray-Curtis on abundances, and Bray-Curtis on benthic indices distances were evaluated to determine the best distance measure to summarize BMI community data in bioassessments. Overall, Bray-Curtis distance measure on benthic indices scored highest against 5 criteria. Using a multivariate reference-condition approach for test-site assessment, BMI community structure was different at test sites between and among the 4 land-use categories suggesting differences in land management practices, e.g. lime and fertilizer application. Results from correlating River Bank Quality Index (RBQI) with benthic indices and water chemistry parameters suggested that riparian buffer strips could be a useful golf course best management practice on the Precambrian Shield to reduce stream enrichment.