• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.269-287
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• 2023

The genus-level biotic index of benthic macroinvertebrates (Benthic Macroinvertebrates Genus Index, BMGI) was developed and applicated based on the data collected from 13,347 sampling units of 814 sites from 2010 to 2021 in Korea. Tolerant values of 274 indicator taxa were established by analyzing the relationship between the relative frequency and abundance of indicator taxa and the water quality index considering biochemical oxygen demand (BOD₅), total suspended solids (TSS), and total phosphorus (T-P). BMGI showed a slightly higher correlation with water quality than the species-level biotic index (Benthic Macroinvertebrates Index, BMI) that was developed and applied in Korea. Although the BMGI does not contain species-level information, the reason why BMGI shows higher applicability than BMI seems to be due to the increase in the number of indicator taxa and the decrease in the misidentification of immature aquatic insects. The coefficient of determination in multiple regression with BOD₅, TSS, and TP for BMGI was 0.62 in the long-term averaged data of 814 sites, and the standardized coefficient of BOD₅ was -0.46, TSS was -0.17 and T-P was -0.21, respectively. As a result of the evaluation by BMGI, of the 814 sites, 38% were in good, 25% in fair, and 37% in poor condition.