About freshwaterecology.info
The freshwaterecology.info database contains taxonomic and ecological information and is a "living document". It was first set up for the purposes of the EU funded AQEM project (www.aqem.de), which aimed at the development and testing of an integrated assessment system for the ecological quality of rivers throughout Europe using benthic macro-invertebrates. The eight project member countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden) developed a multimetric assessment system for different stream types, which is applicable through a computer software (AQEM assessment software, to be downloaded at www.aqem.de). As the assessment system requires ecological information on the taxa it was essential to gather information on both, taxa occurrence within the partner countries and ecological information on these taxa for a consistent and reliable database.
The steps towards the autecological database were
- Selection of experts for the individual taxagroups: acknowledged and approved national and European experts were selected for checking the taxalist regarding species validity, species nomenclature and synonymy (see taxonomic experts).
- Selection of responsible persons for the national checklists: from each partner country one person was selected responsible for gathering the national distribution data of the species; in cases of restricted information availability, only operational taxalists were integrated into the database (see country checklists).
- Compiling the database: the data were compiled into a MS Access database, using the proofed structure of the Austrian computer software ECOPROF (www.ecoprof.at).
- Compiling the autecological information: as a first base ecological classifications from the Fauna Aquatica Austriaca, the Bavarian List and other national existing lists were used; these classifications were amended by some ecological classifications for selected species by project partners and experts.
- The autecological data were number coded using a 10 point or single appointment measurement (depending on the autecological parameter).
In the succeeding EU funded STAR project (www.eu-star.at) that aimed for the standardisation of river classifications, the AQEM macro-invertebrate taxa and autecology database was extended with national checklists from Denmark, France, Great Britain, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia. Furthermore, additional ecological parameters were included.
The database is now further improved within the EU funded project Euro-limpacs (www.eurolimpacs.ucl.ac.uk). The project deals with the evaluation of impacts of Climate Change on European freshwater ecosystems.
Steps within Euro-limpacs
The focus within Euro-limpacs is to compile information on parameters, which are of relevance for assessing the impact of climate change on freshwater inhabiting organisms. These cover data on coregional distribution (e.g., taxa in high mountain areas may be particularly sensitive), life cycle parameters (e.g., increased water temperature may particularly effect species hatching in spring), temperature preferences and current preferences (e.g., current resistance might be important, if discharge patterns will change in future).
Steps taken so far:
- Extension of the national checklists for macro-invertebrates: for the countries Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Norway, Romania, Spain, Switzerland and Ukraine specific taxagroups were added.
- Extension of the ecological parameters: parameters that might be sensitive to direct or indirect impacts of climate change were/are added to the database. This information was compiled for selected invertebrate groups, starting with Trichoptera (caddisflies) and Plecoptera (stoneflies). Now new: Ephemeroptera (mayflies) and Chironomidae (non-biting midges) data are also available.
- Extension of the database with fish data: country and catchment distribution of fish as well as ecological parameter orginating from the FAME project were added.
- Extension of the database with diatom data: taxa names originating from OMNIDIA, as well as ecological parameters from different sources were added.
Version 3.2
In version 3.2 presented here (launched online on August 11th 2008), all macro-invertebrate organism groups, fish and diatoms are included. The following table summarises the availability of data for each organism group.
| Macro-invertebrates | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parameter | Icon | Trichoptera | Plecoptera | Ephemeroptera | Chironomidae | Remaining taxagroups |
| Taxalist per country | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | |
| Occurrence per ecoregion (including endemism) | yes | yes | yes | yes | no
|
|
| Other occurrence related parameters
(4 parameters) |
yes | yes | yes | no | no | |
| Region preference parameters
(3 parameters) |
yes | yes | yes | yes
(2 parameters) |
stream zonation preference | |
| Habitat preference parameters
(9 parameters) |
yes | yes
(6 parameters) |
yes | yes
(5 parameters) |
current preference | |
| Sabrobic preference parameters
(5 parameters) |
yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | |
| Life parameters
(15 parameters) |
yes | yes
(13 parameters) |
yes | yes
(4 parameters) |
feeding type, locomotion type | |
| Parameter | Icon | Fish | ||||
| Taxalist per country | yes | |||||
| Occurrence per catchment region | yes | |||||
| Habitat preference parameters | yes (5 parameters) | |||||
| Life parameters | yes (15 parameters) | |||||
| Parameter | Icon | Diatoms | ||||
| Taxalist | yes | |||||
| Trophic preference parameters |  |
yes (14 parameters) | ||||
| Pollution preference parameters |  |
yes (8 parameters) | ||||
| Saprobic preference parameters |  |
yes (7 parameters) | ||||
| Habitat preference parameters | yes (10 parameters) | |||||
| Life parameters |  |
yes (1 parameter) | ||||
| Parameter | Icon | Macrophytes | ||||
| Taxalist | coming soon | |||||
| Ecological parameters | coming soon | |||||
At present, there are two levels of accesss:
- without login: for the different taxagroups the taxalists (including distribution of taxa in European countries for macro-invertebrates and fish) can be queried.
- with login: all available ecological parameters can be queried (presently available: Trichoptera, Plecoptera, fish and diatoms; presently under construction: Chironomidae and Ephemeroptera).
If you want to become a testing member please contact Daniel Hering (daniel.hering@uni-due.de) and Astrid Schmidt-Kloiber (astrid.schmidt-kloiber@boku.ac.at) for your personal login.
Please consult Terms of use (citation) and Experts for details about usage requirements and responsible persons.
For detailed query explanations see How to use the database.
Announcement of the freshwaterecology.info related book series
It is planned to release the data presented on this website within a book series "Distribution and Ecological Preferences
of European Freshwater Organisms" published by Pensoft Publishers 
.
The first Volume on Trichoptera will be available in autumn this year, followed by Ephemeroptera and Plecoptera. All information and details about the book purchase will be presented here soon.