Freshwater macroinvertebrate family abundances in spring and autumn, England, 2002-2019
Cite this dataset as:
Powell, K. (2023). Freshwater macroinvertebrate family abundances in spring and autumn, England, 2002-2019. NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/f6b9b2b3-1ad0-4ac1-a19b-bb340427fbf1
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Contains data supplied by the Environment Agency © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2020. All rights reserved.
This dataset is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence 
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https://doi.org/10.5285/f6b9b2b3-1ad0-4ac1-a19b-bb340427fbf1
This data file contains processed data derived from the Environment Agency's Ecology and Fish Explorer Macroinvertebrate database. The recorded data is the abundance of freshwater macroinvertebrates taken by the Environment Agency (EA).
The data were collected from sites throughout England, between 2002-2019, from March to May, and September to November. Samples were collected using three-minute kick-samples, whereby a net is used to catch invertebrates and debris flowing downstream of an area in a river which is disturbed by a recorder for three minutes. Data before 2002 were excluded as abundance of macroinvertebrates was not recorded widely before this year.
The data were originally collected for the purpose of understanding water quality by the Environment Agency. The original EA data contains raw counts of mixed-taxonomic groupings of invertebrates and some diatoms and other taxa, from rivers in England with multiple sampling methodologies. Here, the derived data has been processed in such a way to combine counts at a single taxonomic level (family) containing only taxonomic groups of interest for the research, and the data are limited to one sampling method.
The data were collected from sites throughout England, between 2002-2019, from March to May, and September to November. Samples were collected using three-minute kick-samples, whereby a net is used to catch invertebrates and debris flowing downstream of an area in a river which is disturbed by a recorder for three minutes. Data before 2002 were excluded as abundance of macroinvertebrates was not recorded widely before this year.
The data were originally collected for the purpose of understanding water quality by the Environment Agency. The original EA data contains raw counts of mixed-taxonomic groupings of invertebrates and some diatoms and other taxa, from rivers in England with multiple sampling methodologies. Here, the derived data has been processed in such a way to combine counts at a single taxonomic level (family) containing only taxonomic groups of interest for the research, and the data are limited to one sampling method.
Publication date: 2023-07-20
View numbers valid from 20 July 2023 Download numbers valid from 20 June 2024 (information prior to this was not collected)
Format
Comma-separated values (CSV)
Spatial information
Study area
Spatial representation type
Tabular (text)
Spatial reference system
OSGB 1936 / British National Grid
Temporal information
Temporal extent
2002-03-01 to 2019-11-30
Provenance & quality
This data has been processed in the following manner:
* Data from all EA sampling regions (Anglian, Midlands, Northeast, Northwest, Southern, Southwest and Thames) have been combined into one data file
* Samples taken outside of the Spring (March-May inclusive) and Autumn (September-November inclusive) were removed
* Data were restricted to three-minute kick samples only (meaning 'dredge' samples were removed)
* All data taken before 2002 were removed
* Only data classified in the following taxa by the EA were retained: Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Hemiptera, Megaloptera, Odonata, Coleoptera, Trichoptera, Turbellaria, Annelida, Crustacea, Diptera and Mollusca
* Total abundance of macroinvertebrates per Sample ID were summed at the family-level within these taxa
* Eleven samples with anomalous abundance counts for a taxonomic group were removed from the data
* The number of sampling occurrences was calculated for each site-season-year combination, and only sites where samples had been taken in both spring and autumn at least once for a minimum of three years in the remaining time series (2002-2019) were retained.
The data have been pooled by family and wider taxonomic groupings.
* Data from all EA sampling regions (Anglian, Midlands, Northeast, Northwest, Southern, Southwest and Thames) have been combined into one data file
* Samples taken outside of the Spring (March-May inclusive) and Autumn (September-November inclusive) were removed
* Data were restricted to three-minute kick samples only (meaning 'dredge' samples were removed)
* All data taken before 2002 were removed
* Only data classified in the following taxa by the EA were retained: Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Hemiptera, Megaloptera, Odonata, Coleoptera, Trichoptera, Turbellaria, Annelida, Crustacea, Diptera and Mollusca
* Total abundance of macroinvertebrates per Sample ID were summed at the family-level within these taxa
* Eleven samples with anomalous abundance counts for a taxonomic group were removed from the data
* The number of sampling occurrences was calculated for each site-season-year combination, and only sites where samples had been taken in both spring and autumn at least once for a minimum of three years in the remaining time series (2002-2019) were retained.
The data have been pooled by family and wider taxonomic groupings.
Licensing and constraints
This dataset is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence
Cite this dataset as:
Powell, K. (2023). Freshwater macroinvertebrate family abundances in spring and autumn, England, 2002-2019. NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/f6b9b2b3-1ad0-4ac1-a19b-bb340427fbf1
Contains data supplied by the Environment Agency © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2020. All rights reserved.
Citations
Powell, K. E., Oliver, T. H., Johns, T., González‐Suárez, M., England, J., & Roy, D. B. (2022). Abundance trends for river macroinvertebrates vary across taxa, trophic group and river typology. In Global Change Biology (Vol. 29, Issue 5, pp. 1282-1295). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16549
Supplemental information
Correspondence/contact details
Powell, K.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Lancaster Environment Centre, Library Avenue, Bailrigg
Lancaster
LA1 4AP
UNITED KINGDOM
enquiries@ceh.ac.uk
Lancaster
LA1 4AP
UNITED KINGDOM
Author
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6089-0872 Other contacts
Rights holders
University of Reading, Environment Agency
Custodian
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
info@eidc.ac.uk
Publisher
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
info@eidc.ac.uk
Additional metadata
Keywords
Last updated
21 March 2025 13:34