Obtaining RIVPACS Software

The RIVPACS III+ software offers site-specific predictions of the macroinvertebrate fauna to be expected in the absence of major environmental stress at UK river sites. The expected fauna is derived from RIVPACS III+ using a small suite of environmental characteristics for the site. The observed fauna is determined using standard sampling protocols. The comparison between the observed and the expected fauna provides the basis on which a site can be assessed.

RIVPACS III+ is very versatile and can offer faunal predictions at the "species" level, at "family" level or customised to suit the taxonomic requirements of a particular laboratory. The predictions, which are based on probabilities of capture, can be made for individual seasons (spring, summer or autumn), pairs of seasons or all three seasons combined. There is a further option for predicting the log categories of abundance of the fauna at "family" level for individual seasons.

For national surveys in the UK, government agencies use the Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP) score system, which is based on a subset of 82 "families" and derived biological indices, to determine the biological condition of test sites. Standard RIVPACS sampling at test sites provides information on the observed BMWP families and values of the BMWP indices whilst RIVPACS III+ predictions generate the expected BMWP families and the expected biological indices. The software then derives Observed/Expected (O/E) ratios for the relevant indices, from which quality grades are derived for each test site. RIVPACS III+ also offers important new procedures for detecting statistically significant temporal and spatial changes in the biological quality of sites. This enables river managers to implement measures to prevent or reverse the loss of biodiversity.

Finally, RIVPACS III+ includes a reference site classification system. There are 35 classification groups in the Great Britain module and 11 classification groups in the Northern Ireland module. The position of independent sites of reference standard within the existing reference site classification can be determined using faunal data collected using standard RIVPACS protocols. This has potential value when evaluating new sites for nature conservation.

A DOS version of RIVPACS III+ (Release 2.2, Commercial and Educational Version) is available from CEH.

For further details please contact: Cynthia Davies.