Integration of taxonomic distinctness indices into the assessment of headwater streams with a high altitude gradient and low species richness along the upper Han River, China

The multimetric index of biotic integrity (IBI) based on fish assemblages has been widely used to monitor aquatic ecosystem status in headwater streams. However, the application of the IBI has generally been biased by the low number of species and natural altitudinal gradients in these systems. To overcome these limitations, taxonomic distinctness and size-weight-based indices were integrated into our candidate metric pool, and calibration was...