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Tributary of Stour River

This stream is a small tributary of the Stour River and drains the eastern side of Mount Barrosa.

The sampling site is just upstream of the confluence with the Stour River and is monitored for Aquatic Ecosystem Health as part of Environment Canterbury's State of the Environment (SOE) monitoring programme. The site is on private land and is accessed off Ashburton Gorge Road.

The stream is a mix of pools, runs and riffles/chutes, and the stream bed is dominated by coarse bed substrates, such as gravel, cobbles and boulders. Whilst dominated by coarse substrates there is often noticeable fine sediment deposition observed. Algal mats and filamentous algae are also often relatively common at this site and this could be exacerbating the deposition of fine sediments.

Ecology
Ecological data for this site

This dashboard shows information on macroinvertebrate data collected by regional councils and unitary authorities.  Select an indicator to see the available historical results.

Select a time period

  • 10 years
  • 15 years

Macroinvertebrates

MCI
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State

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Attribute Band
Trend
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Sample history at this site

Showing:
MCI samples for Tributary of Stour River
MCI score

What is this graph showing me?

This graph is displaying MCI scores over the selected time period.  You can adjust this period by changing the dropdowns.  These records for the basis for the state and trends displayed on the dashboard.

Find out about how State and Trend are calculated.

What do the attribute band icons mean?

The bands for MCI are as outlined in the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020

A
Macroinvertebrate community indicative of pristine conditions with almost no organic pollution or nutrient enrichment.
B
Macroinvertebrate community indicative of mild organic pollution or nutrient enrichment. Largely composed of taxa sensitive to organic pollution/nutrient enrichment.
National bottom line: MCI score 90
C
Macroinvertebrate community indicative of moderate organic pollution or nutrient enrichment. There is a mix of taxa sensitive and insensitive to organic pollution/nutrient enrichment.
D
Macroinvertebrate community indicative of severe organic pollution or nutrient enrichment. Communities are largely composed of taxa insensitive to inorganic pollution/nutrient enrichment.
QMCI
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State

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Attribute Band
Trend
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Sample history at this site

Showing:
QMCI samples for Tributary of Stour River
QMCI score

What is this graph showing me?

This graph is displaying QMCI scores over the selected time period.  You can adjust this period by changing the dropdowns.  These records for the basis for the state and trends displayed on the dashboard.

Find out about how State and Trend are calculated.

What do the attribute band icons mean?

The bands for QMCI are as outlined in the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020

A
Macroinvertebrate community indicative of pristine conditions with almost no organic pollution or nutrient enrichment.
B
Macroinvertebrate community indicative of mild organic pollution or nutrient enrichment. Largely composed of taxa sensitive to organic pollution/nutrient enrichment.
C
Macroinvertebrate community indicative of moderate organic pollution or nutrient enrichment. There is a mix of taxa sensitive and insensitive to organic pollution/nutrient enrichment.
National bottom line: QMCI score 4.5
D
Macroinvertebrate community indicative of severe organic pollution or nutrient enrichment. Communities are largely composed of taxa insensitive to inorganic pollution/nutrient enrichment.
ASPM
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State

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Attribute Band
Trend
{{trendMsg(ASPM)}}

Sample history at this site

Showing:
ASPM samples for Tributary of Stour River
ASPM score

What is this graph showing me?

This graph is displaying ASPM scores over the selected time period.  You can adjust this period by changing the dropdowns.  These records for the basis for the state and trends displayed on the dashboard.

Find out about how State and Trend are calculated.

What do the attribute band icons mean?

The bands for ASPM are as outlined in the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020

A
Macroinvertebrate communities have high ecological integrity, similar to that expected in reference conditions.
B
Macroinvertebrate communities have mild-to moderate loss of ecological integrity.
C
Macroinvertebrate communities have moderate-to-severe loss of ecological integrity.
National bottom line: ASPM score 0.3
D
Macroinvertebrate communities have severe loss of ecological integrity.
  • Taxonomic richness

    The median of the last 5 years of data

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    Taxonomic richness is the number of different taxa present in an ecological community identified to the best possible level.

    Taxa richness history at this site

    Showing:
    Taxa richness for Tributary of Stour River
    Number of taxa

    What is this graph showing me?

    This graph is displaying Taxonomic richness over the selected time period.  You can adjust this period by changing the dropdowns.  These records for the basis for the state displayed on the dashboard.

  • Percent EPT richness

    The median of the last 5 years of data

    {{medianValue("PercentageEPTTaxa")}}
    EPT are macroinvertebrates that are sensitive to water pollution. These are Ephemeroptera (mayfly), Plecoptera (stonefly) and Trichoptera (caddisfly).

    EPT history at this site

    Showing:
    Percent EPT richness for Tributary of Stour River
    EPT %

    What is this graph showing me?

    This graph is displaying percent EPT taxa over the selected time period.  You can adjust this period by changing the dropdowns.  These records for the basis for the state displayed on the dashboard.

Can I trust this data?

The Cawthron Institute has worked alongside regional councils to verify the processes and methods used for macroinvertebrate data collection, processing of the data in the laboratory, quality control in the field and laboratory and the statistical analysis and interpretation of the results presented.

For more details on each tick, see our 'Can I Trust this Data?' Factsheet.

Can I trust the data for this site?
Data Collection

Macroinvertebrates are sampled at this site as part of council's stream health monitoring programme.

Sampling - Frequency

Macroinvertebrate sampling is done annually or more frequently at this site.  Annual sampling provides enough data points for state and trend analyses to be calculated with sufficient statistical power for trend detection.

Sampling - Protocols

This site is a hard-bottomed site and appropriate sampling protocols have been applied.  Data shown here have been collected using current best-practice based on Stark et al. (2001).

Sampling - Habitat

Macroinvertebrate sampling is done in all meso-habitats (i.e., pool, run and riffle), rather than just in riffle habitat, as Stark et al. (2001) suggest. All-habitat sampling provides a more comprehensive description than riffle-only sampling of the invertebrate community at a stream site. However, comparisons made between macroinvertebrate data collected in all habitat and data collected in just riffle habitat need to be treated with caution.

Sampling - Stand-down period

This council does not collect any macroinvertebrate samples for up to two weeks after a flood greater than three times the median flow as recommended by Stark et al. (2001). Therefore, data collected at this site is following best practice.

Processing - Protocol

Samples at this site have been processed following protocol P2 which is recommended by Stark et al. (2001). However, the individual count number has been reduced from 200 to 100 (with a scan for rare taxa).  Data processed at this site are therefore not following best practice and conclusions based on this data need to be treated with caution.

Quality Control - Field

Data collected at this site had some form of field quality control done.

Quality Control - Lab

Data processed at this site has had one of the three Laboratory Quality Control Protocols (i.e., QC1, QC2,Q C3) applied. Data shown here is more robust than data with no laboratory QC applied.

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