5. Conclusions
Although our reference sites were not truly undisturbed but rather were the least disturbed, the results indicated that the general ecological status of ecoregion I1 was “fair” and ecoregion I2 was “poor”, both lower than “good.” Therefore, our study demonstrated an urgent need for an appropriate management and restoration policy in the Taihu Basin. Moreover, to attain a better ecological status, differences among ecoregions should be consid-ered when developing management measures in the basin. The MMIs constructed for the two ecoregions successfullyreflected the structure and characteristics of regional benthic macroinverte-brates and can be used as assessment tools in ecological biomonitoring and management of the Taihu basin.