DEMNA-DNE : Occurrences of benthic macroinvertebrates in running waters of Wallonia, Belgium

"DEMNA: Occurrences of macroinvertebrates in running waters of Wallonia" is an occurrence-only dataset created by the Hydrobiology unit of the Direction de la Nature et de l’Eau [Département de l'Étude du Milieu Naturel et Agricole (SPW-DEMNA-DNE)]. The data come from an ongoing network for the monitoring of the biological quality of running waters in Wallonia maintained under the Water Framework Directive of European Union (Directive 2000/60/CE) (European Council, 2000). The current monitoring network is composed of more than 400 sites, distributed among all streams (brooks to largest rivers/canals) from the hydrographic districts of the Meuse, the Scheldt, the Rhine and the Seine in Wallonia. Macroinvertebrates are one of the 4 indicator groups used to assess the biological quality with macrophytes, diatoms, and fishes. The macroinvertebrate occurrences are obtained by the analysis of standardized IBGN/IBGA samplings, done according a methodology derived from T90-350 (2004) French standard (see Vanden Bossche & Usseglio-Polatera, 2005 in Hydrobiologia, 551: 253-271). Some taxa encountered during the monitoring are not included into this GBIF dataset (when identification level is particularly imprecise, i.e. higher than family E.G: 'poriferans', 'Bryozoa', etc...). More information and macroinvertebrate samples are available upon request addressed to the DEMNA.