Iowa DNR
BioNet
River & Stream Biological Monitoring
Fish and Benthic Macroinvertebrate Surveys
Physical Habitat Assessments

Waterman Creek Sutherland

Analysis Summary for Series #2078

Benthic Macroinvertebrate Index of Biotic Integrity (BMIBI)

Metric Name Value Score
MH Total Taxa 34 6.54
SH Total Taxa 11.33 4.99
MH EPT Taxa 12 4.47
SH EPT Taxa 8 5.44
MH Sensitive Taxa 5 4.55
SH Ephem % 77.46 9.91
SH EPT % 88.81 9.3
SH Chiron % 7.81 9.31
SH Scraper % 1.24 0.28
SH Top3Dom % 72.65 4.34
SH Dom FFG % 85.85 2.36
MHBI 4.96 7.56
*Mouse-over metric for full name
**Final IBI is sum of scores multiplied by 0.8333

Analysis Factors

Factor Value
BMIBI Type Warm Water
Sample Date 8/29/2017
Sampling Series Series #2078
Drainage Area (mi2) 125.074
Log(DA) 2.09716703926907
Calculation Last Updated 7/22/2025 3:37:21 PM
Sampling Gear Hess
BMIBI Score
58
Warm Water
Good

BMIBI Score Explained

This site was analyzed using the BMIBI-Warm Water assessment methodology.

Sites that score between 56 - 75 are considered good. A slight reduction in number (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera) of taxa; however, good numbers of taxa are present, including several sensitive species, EPT taxa are fairly diverse and dominate the community. The most sensitive taxa and some habitat specialists may not be present and/or are reduced in abundance. The community is balanced, with no taxon excessively dominating in abundance. One functional feeding group, often collector filterers or collector gatherers, may be somewhat dominant.

This location has been classified as a Reference Site. Reference sites represent natural stream qualities that are least disturbed by human activities within the watershed. These sites are then grouped by ecoregion to establish a benchmark against which other streams in the same ecoregion are compared.

EcoRegion Comparison

Scores for a sampling session are compared against reference sites within the same ecoregion:

Northwest Iowa Loess Prairies

This site is in the Northwest Iowa Loess Prairies ecoregion.

Ecoregion Map
Max 88
75th Percentile 58
Median 51
25th Percentile 45
Min 10
This Session's Score 58
Total Reference Site Samples 45
Mean 50.91
Standard Deviation 13.26