We review progress toward developing a data-analysis system using invertebrate species lists in wetland evaluation procedures. Species lists for Mollusca, Carabidae (Coleoptera), Empidoidea and Syrphidae (Diptera), derived from samples collected at six stations along a transect established at a site on the floodplain of the River Loire (France) provide the raw data. An initial analysis using a traditional ordination method (Correspondence Analysis) is carried out. A data base was established for the 118 mollusc, carabid and syrphid species recorded, and each species was then treated not as a simple integer, but as an amalgam of digitised attributes deemed responsive to wetland conditions, in a correspondence analysis on instrumental variables. Despite the generalized nature of the attributes as defined for this example, the approach demonstrates a marked increase in interpretability of the output of analysis, in respect of the relation between the species and the floodplain environment. It also highlights the value of use of data pertaining to more than one taxonomic group and of selecting these taxonomic groups on the basis of complementarity of their ‘bioindicator' potential.