ABSTRACT
The perturbation of river systems, whether it be by pollution, catchment changes, or some form of flow regulation, can result in both subtle and dramatic changes in the biota. It is, or should be, the job of a water resource manager to arrange that supply of water to consumers has the minimum of adverse effects on the natural environment. To serve this end, a wide range of techniques involving the use of macroinvertebrates have been used to assess the effects of perturbations. The River Invertebrate Prediction and Classification System (RIVPACS) is a computer-based classification and prediction technique which uses environmental data to classify sites and predict the probability of capture of faunal taxa at unsampled sites. The system is based on macroinvertebrate data (more than 600 taxa identified) collected from 370 unpolluted sites on 61 rivers throughout Great Britain. Preliminary results showing the application of RIVPACS for the analysis of the upland data are presented by Armitage.
