I made a protocol for karst rivers in Croatia based on 10 years investigations. I took qualitative and quantitative samples on five stations along river watercourse (upstream, middstream and downstream part) at four seasons per year together with physical and chemical analyses.

I think 10 years may not be sufficient time to develop a protocol

Good question, and probably depends on the extent of the region, existing data availability, and support. I guess you can check out some of the main programs. Maybe you can estimate how long it would take from these long-term programs?

AURIVAS: http://ausrivas.ewater.com.au/

US EPA River and Streams Assessment: http://water.epa.gov/type/rsl/monitoring/riverssurvey/

RIVPACS: http://www.ceh.ac.uk/products/software/rivpacs.html

Our karst rivers are very stable ecosystems based on 60 years long monitoring of physicochemical and sanitary control of these rivers. So, 10 years period is long enough to estimate protocol on biological basis, for example on macroinvertebrates.

Thanks Kelly. links really helped. although I use to visit some of those sites. But, Can you please elaborate your suggestion a bit more. And thanks to you too Biljana.

You are welcome.

I am assuming you want to assess river health for a region (inferred from your reference to Barbour et al). In that light I was suggesting you could delve into the main methods (RBPs and O/E methods references above) and the studies that have used these techniques to estimate a time frame. Some of the studies use existing data sets (from previous surveys) whereas others are collecting the data themselves. Some programs are developing their own IBIs and O/Es; some use already developed ones. Some programs (e.g, the US EPA) have been going on for a couple of decades so you might be able to find an answer for temporal consistency (if that is your question). @Biljana - nice data set, I wish I had some like that!

Thanks Kelly ! I want to congratulate you for "Evaluation of single- and multi-metric benthic macroinvertebrate indicators of catchment disturbance over time at the Fort Benning Military Installation, Georgia, USA (2006) Kelly O. Maloney and Jack W. Feminella", the article is really beautiful.