I like your question. I think the use of bio-indicator is a cheap alternative to avoid using any advanced tests. So, those species has to be sensitive to the disturbances you are interested in, commonly found, and they should be easy and cheap to detect.

For example, if heavy metal contamination is what you are interested in. You would pick some species that are common, sensitive to heavy metal and easy to detect.

Yes, you would nee to determine the keystone species

Dear Tathiana,

For my modest opinion priority should pay for study mainly community reactions but one should differ the natural and man-caused hazards. Both are important. Preferable are indicators of permanent contamination. Bioindication is normally indirect method of evaluation/ Even agent hardly to identify. So, indication is useful not only in contamination case but eg. in bioogeographical zonation (partitioning) of the areas. I think that communities can be useful even in checking of tendencies of evolution, eruption, climate changes etc. I'm attaching one of the best books on the problem (my mind) that describe a lot of possible indication directions connected with water basins... Enjoy it.

If you will need i have several publications in practical use of protists and invertebrates as indicators for evaluation state of freshwater rivers and lakes/ Now I'm working on the article of indication by freshwater communities on building of small HPS on the small river of the Carpathians' mountains. Even prepare it for Acta Limnologica Brasiliensia.

Andrey

Tathiana Bagatini Andrey Kovalchuk Andrew Paul McKenzie Pegman Can Zhou In my point of view, here, at the National Institute of Amazonian Research - INPA, I understand that we have many possibilities to understand the bioindicators species:

1) Bioindicators are a great way to understand what happened or what is happening with the environment;

2) Species that live in eutrophized (anthropic polluted) environments, like lakes, for example, are good to indicate what may be happening with a "clean" environment;

3) Species that exist in "clean" places, and doesn't happen on polluted places indicates a good environment's health status;

and many other ways to use it.

There is a job from my department that may be interesting for you.

https://bdtd.inpa.gov.br/handle/tede/2575

https://bdtd.inpa.gov.br/bitstream/tede/2575/5/Tese_Fabiane.Ferreira.de.Almeida.pdf

Maybe the following publication might be useful to find criteria for bioindicator species, though it refers to ground beetles

Koivula M. J. (2011): Useful model organisms, indicators, or both? Ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae) reflecting environmental conditions. In: Kotze D. J., Assmann T., Noordijk J., Turin H., Vermeulen R. (eds.): Carabid Beetles as Bioindicators: Biogeographical, Ecological and Environmental Studies. ZooKeys, 100, 287 - 317

Thank you all for the very useful answers! I´ll check on the references you send. My focus is terrestrial vertebrates in the riparian vegetation around HE dam, but for sure the fresh water organisms will have lots theoretical model contributions, and will be of immediate use for my fellows focusing on water organisms.