Description

The Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) is a valuable multi-metric approach to assess the integrity of fish assemblages in aquatic ecosystems. The purpose of the estuarine IBI monitoring program at Kouchibouguac National Park is to use this index in order to evaluate the condition of selected rivers and estuaries within coastal ecosystems. The methods for this biennial measure involve beach seining in shallow nearshore waters at 20 stations, once a month from May to October. This monthly sampling is required so as to maximize detection of the various species in fish communities and account for variable phenology due to their reproductive cycles. All organisms caught in the beach seine are counted and identified to the species level. These records are supplemented with water quality parameters and eelgrass (Zostera marina) habitat data. Eelgrass is an important and representative component of undisturbed coastal Northumberland Strait estuaries therefore we plan to integrate the state of this resource to our program in the near future.

Resources

Name	Format	Description	Link
Estuarine Index of Biotic Integrity - Kouchibouguac - Data	CSV		https://open.canada.ca/data/dataset/417ab00e-070f-4647-81f8-434048eab3cb/resource/2a0d5d2e-4dd9-4786-81ce-dc3a241dab37/download/kouchibouguac_np_estuarine_ibi_1996-2021_data.csv
Estuarine Index of Biotic Integrity - Kouchibouguac	CSV		https://open.canada.ca/data/dataset/417ab00e-070f-4647-81f8-434048eab3cb/resource/fbc719e6-b4f9-4fce-a1f7-c018700b5f5c/download/kouchibouguac_np_estuarine_ibi_1996-2021_metadata.csv

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