Development of a benthic macroinvertebrate multimetric index (MMI) for Neotropical Savanna headwater streams

•We tested four macroinvertebrate multimetric indices (MMIs) for the Cerrado biome.•We used a statistical criterion for identifying least- and most-disturbed sites.•The best-performing MMI had landscape-adjusted and PCA-selected metrics.•Our MMI is sensitive to anthropogenic pressures at local- and catchment-scales.