Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Biologia https://doi.org/10.1007/s11756-021-00992-7 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Comparative analysis of biotic indices for assessment of water quality of Balaban Stream in West Anatolia, Turkey Alperen Ertaş 1  · Bülent Yorulmaz 2  · Atakan Sukatar 1 Received: 18 July 2021 / Accepted: 30 November 2021 © Institute of Zoology, Slovak Academy of Sciences 2021 Abstract Drinking water basins are freshwater resources that need to be protected and sustained of water quality. However, these areas are lately facing pressures such as agricultural, industrial and urbanization activities. This study was carried out to determine water quality of Balaban Stream and to compare the performance of the indices. Five sampling stations were determined and the samplings were carried out seasonally. Biotic and diversity indices based on benthic macroinvertebrates have been applied using Asterics software. By using UPGMA analysis, the similarities between the stations were clustered based on benthic macroinvertebrates. Pearson’s based correlations were applied to the indices in order to determine the proper biotic indices. A total of 62 taxa which belong to Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera, Diptera, Odonata, Coleoptera, Arhynchobdellida, Haplotaxida, Basommatophora and Amphipoda were detected. The most dominant group between the benthic macroinvertebrates (51 taxa) was found among Insecta. The 4 th and 5 th stations were the most similar according to the benthic macroinvertebrates assemblages. As a result of this research, the water quality of Balaban Stream was determined as unpolluted-slightly polluted. BMWP- O, BMWP- S, BMWP- H, ASPT- O, ASPT- H and ASPT- C indices were more proper than SI, FBI and BBI indices to determine the water quality of Balaban stream. Keywords Biological indicators · Benthic macroinvertebrates · Ecological quality · Biomonitoring Introduction Freshwater resources continuously decrease almost all over the world due to the increasing anthropogenic activities. For this reason the assessment of biological quality of freshwa- ter ecosystems has become increasingly important (Aazami et al. 2020; Ertaş et al. 2020; Sukatar et al. 2020; Arimoro and Keke 2021; Ertaş and Yorulmaz 2021; Yorulmaz and Ertaş 2021). The Water Framework Directive (WFD) which is the top priority legal regulation of the protection of water sources has become an important turning point for Euro- pean Union (EU) water policy. The main purpose of the directive is to protect and improve the biological status of freshwater and marine ecosystems (European Commission 2000). Therefore, WFD has proposed a biological monitor- ing approach based on bioindicator organisms (European Commission 2000). Biomonitoring studies have been carried out on freshwa- ter ecosystems in Turkey for about 20 years by using ben- thic macroinvertebrates together with physical and chemi- cal parameters (Uyanık et al. 2005; Duran 2006; Duran and Suiçmez 2007; Kalyoncu et al. 2008a; Zeybek et al. 2012; Gültekin et al. 2017; Kalyoncu and Salur 2018; Divrik et al. 2021; Ertaş et al. 2021a, b). Many biotic indices have been constituted based on benthic macroinvertebrates to assess water quality (Kolk- witz and Marsson 1902; De Pauw and Vanhooren 1983; Hilsenhof 1988; Metcalfe 1989; Capitulo et al. 2001). A number of researchers have used biotic indices to determine water quality of freshwater ecosystems in Turkey (Dügel and Kazanci 2004; Duran 2006; Sukatar et al. 2006; Kaly- oncu et al. 2008b; Çamur-Elipek et al. 2010; Taşdemir et al. 2010; Duran and Akyıldız 2011; Zeybek et al. 2012; Başören and Kazancı 2016; Zeybek 2017; Serdar and Verep 2018; Akay and Dalkıran 2020; Ertaş et al. 2020; Akyildiz and Duran 2021; Ertaş et al. 2021a, b; Ertaş and Yorulmaz 2021; * Alperen Ertaş alperenertas@hotmail.com 1 Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, Ege University, Bornova, 35100 İzmir, Turkey 2 Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, Kötekli, Muğla, Turkey