Effect of sediment quality on benthic macroinvertebrate communities in streams in the north of France

The Nord/Pas-de-Calais region located in the North of France has been submitted, for several decades, to important pollution due to intensive industrialization. The present study reports on the effects of the metal and organic content of sediments in different streams on the benthic fauna, using multivariate analyses (PCA, CA, co-inertia analysis). Benthic macroinvertebrate communities present different assemblages along the Canal à Grand Gabarit and the river Aa, both in its natural and in its canalized stretches. These differences are more specifically due to anthropic factors such as the regulation of waterways and urban and industrial contamination. Co-inertia analysis enables to bring to the light the existence of a significant co-structure between environmental and faunistic data. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.