Many biotic integrity indices are not able to isolate community effects due to pesticide exposure as the communities also respond to other anthropogenic and natural stressors. A macroinvertebrate trait bioindicator system that is pesticide specific was therefore developed to overcome these challenges. This system, called SPEAR (SPEcies At Risk), was applied in South Africa as an indicator to link known pesticide catchment usage to changes in the macroinvertebrate community, especially when analytical methods are inconclusive. In addition, the SPEARsalinity index within the SPEAR suite of tools was also evaluated for its effectiveness in South Africa. The results indicated that all of the sites have either been exposed to the same pesticide pressure or not been exposed to pesticides as the SPEAR results were similar when compared to the pesticide intensity. The interaction with other factors like nutrients or salinity was likely a factor that confounded the SPEARpesticides indicator.
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机译：由于社区也对其他人为和自然压力源做出反应，因此许多生物完整性指数无法确定由于农药暴露而造成的社区影响。因此，开发了专门针对农药的大型无脊椎动物性状生物指示剂系统来克服这些挑战。该系统称为SPEAR（SPEcies At Risk），在南非被用作指示剂，用于将已知的农药流域使用与大型无脊椎动物群落的变化联系起来，特别是在分析方法尚无定论的情况下。此外，还评估了SPEAR工具套件中的SPEARsalinity指数在南非的有效性。结果表明，所有地点要么都暴露于相同的农药压力下，要么没有暴露于农药，因为与农药强度相比，SPEAR结果相似。与其他因素（如营养素或盐分）的相互作用可能是混淆SPEARpesticides指标的因素。
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