Abstract Uganda does not have a biomonitoring system for assessing the water quality of its rivers basing on benthic macroinvertebrates. An alternative system has been suggested in Tanzania. Differences in characteristics between Tanzania and Uganda may contribute to differences in the physical and chemical characteristics of rivers between the two countries, resulting in variations in macroinvertebrate assemblages and sensitivity levels in relation to disturbance. River Mpanga lies along the equator in western Uganda and shows heterogeneity of impacted and non-impacted sites along its course. The disturbance gradient of River Mpanga was determined using habitat integrity scores. The ability of the Tanzania River Scoring System (TARISS) to distinguish test from reference sites using macroinvertebrate assemblages was validated. Both qualitative and quantitative data were obtained through purposive sampling in both the wet and dry seasons. Macroinvertebrates were sampled following a slightly modified TARISS protocol. Canonical analysis of principle coordinates (CAP) showed that macroinvertebrate assemblages vary along a disturbance gradient, grouping test sites distinct from reference sites. Of the TARISS metrics, average score per taxon was able to distinguish between test and reference sites (p = .009) among the TARISS metrics. Five taxa not included in TARISS were found in river Mpanga and were assigned sensitivity scores based on CAP predictive model in PERMANOVA. It was concluded that TARISS could be reliable for eastern African river systems but should be updated and/or modified by users in different regions to include missing taxa.

中文翻译：

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坦桑尼亚河流评分系统 (TARISS) 水质大型无脊椎动物指数的可靠性：乌干达姆潘加河系统的案例研究

摘要 乌干达没有用于评估其基于底栖大型无脊椎动物的河流水质的生物监测系统。坦桑尼亚提出了一种替代系统。坦桑尼亚和乌干达之间特征的差异可能导致两国河流物理和化学特征的差异，从而导致大型无脊椎动物组合和干扰敏感性水平的差异。Mpanga 河位于乌干达西部的赤道沿岸，沿途显示受影响和未受影响地点的异质性。姆潘加河的干扰梯度是使用栖息地完整性评分确定的。验证了坦桑尼亚河流评分系统 (TARISS) 使用大型无脊椎动物组合区分测试和参考地点的能力。定性和定量数据都是通过在雨季和旱季有目的的抽样获得的。大型无脊椎动物的采样遵循稍微修改的 TARISS 协议。主坐标 (CAP) 的规范分析表明，大型无脊椎动物组合沿扰动梯度变化，将测试地点与参考地点不同。在 TARISS 指标中，每个分类单元的平均得分能够区分 TARISS 指标中的测试和参考站点 (p = .009)。在 Mpanga 河中发现了五个未包含在 TARISS 中的分类群，并根据 PERMANOVA 中的 CAP 预测模型分配了敏感性评分。得出的结论是，TARISS 对东非河流系统来说是可靠的，但应由不同地区的用户更新和/或修改以包括缺失的分类群。