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

Sugar Creek Tipton Hwy 130 (TMDL#9)

Analysis Summary for Series #2707

Benthic Macroinvertebrate Index of Biotic Integrity (BMIBI)

Metric Name Value Score
MH Total Taxa 39 9.19
SH Total Taxa 12.33 7.36
MH EPT Taxa 13 6.52
SH EPT Taxa 7 6.17
MH Sensitive Taxa 2 2.24
SH Ephem % 5.64 0.72
SH EPT % 30.53 3.2
SH Chiron % 58.66 4.18
SH Scraper % 0.62 0.14
SH Top3Dom % 73.82 5.34
SH Dom FFG % 72.59 4.57
MHBI 5.88 4.15
*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 7/31/2023
Sampling Series Series #2707
Drainage Area (mi2) 25.322
Log(DA) 1.403498004452
Calculation Last Updated 7/22/2025 3:39:15 PM
Sampling Gear ArtSub
BMIBI Score
45
Warm Water
Fair
Series Analysis Notes

Art Subs #1 & #2 each had one buried plate. Art Sub #3 had four buried plates. Art Sub #3 and #4 were combined, although #4 had no buried plates it was located in a lower than desired velocity setting.

BMIBI Score Explained

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

Sites that score between 31 - 55 are considered fair. Total taxa richness and EPT (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera) taxa richness are noticeably reduced from optimum levels; sensitive species and habitat specialists are rare; EPT taxa are still dominant in abundance; however, the most-sensitive EPT taxa have been replaced by ept taxa that are more tolerant of organic enrichment; the community is not well-balanced; a few taxa clearly dominate in abundance, collector-gatherers or collector-filterers often comprise more than 50% of the community.

This location has been classified as a survey site. Survey sites are compared to reference sites within the same ecoregion. A reference site represents natural stream qualities that are least disturbed by human activities within the watershed. Reference sites are grouped by ecoregion to establish a benchmark against which these survey streams are compared.

EcoRegion Comparison

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

Rolling Loess Prairies

This site is in the Rolling Loess Prairies ecoregion.

Ecoregion Map
Max 86
75th Percentile 70
Median 62
25th Percentile 54
Min 20
This Session's Score 45
Total Reference Site Samples 120
Mean 61.41
Standard Deviation 10.8