Step-by-step calculation and spreadsheet tools for predicting stressor levels that extirpate genera and species

In 2011, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) released a field-based method for estimating the extirpation of freshwater aquatic benthic invertebrates by ionic mixtures dominated by HCO₃^- , SO₄^2- , and Ca²⁺ measured as specific conductivity (SC). The estimate of extirpation was SC at the 95^th centile (XC95) of a weighted cumulative frequency distribution (CFD) of a genus or species over a range of SC. A CFD of XC95 values was used to predict the SC at which 5% of genera were likely to be extirpated. Because there are many uses for XC95 values and many data sets that could be analyzed using this method, we laid out a step-by-step method for calculating XC95 values and the stressor level that predicts a 5% extirpation of genera (HC05). Although the calculations can be done with a handheld calculator, we developed 2 downloadable Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet calculation tools that are easy to use to calculate XC95 values, to plot a taxon's XC95 cumulative frequency distribution with increasing SC, and to plot probabilities of observing a taxon at a particular SC. They also plot cumulative frequency distributions of XC95 values and calculate HC05 values. In addition to the tools, we share an example and the output of XC95 values for 176 distinct aquatic benthic invertebrates in Appalachia, in West Virginia, USA. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2018;14:174-180. © 2017 SETAC.