1 - The biological elements, proposed by the WFD as quality elements for the classification of ecological status of the transitional waters are: composition, abundance and biomass of phytoplankton; composition and abundance of other aquatic flora (i.e. macroalgae and angiosperms); composition and abundance of benthic invertebrate fauna; composition and abundance of fish fauna. 2 - Although the directive proposed these biological elements, it doesn’t provide clear indication on the “biocriteria” to achieve. WFD suggested that ecosystem health should be defined by comparison to reference conditions. 3 - Recently, there has been a growing interest and need for sound and robust ecological indices to evaluate transitional ecosystem status and condition, mainly under the scope of the Water Framework Directive implementation. 4 - A good biotic index should reflect the biological integrity; respond to environmental stresses in monotonic way; be measurable with low error; be cost-effective; be not invasive (i.e. the measure methods do not significantly disturb or alter habitats and biota). 5 - Several indices have been developed for environmental quality assessment using macrobenthic assemblages, ranging from the comparison of a single metric to complex multivariate analyses. Some indices were developed for fish assemblages and for macrophytes, but only few indices were proposed considering the phytoplankton. 6 - In this report, we shown and compare several biotic indices used for evaluating ecological status of transitional water ecosystems using the five biological quality elements.

Biotic indices for ecological status of transitional water ecosystems

PONTI, MASSIMO;
2009

Abstract

1 - The biological elements, proposed by the WFD as quality elements for the classification of ecological status of the transitional waters are: composition, abundance and biomass of phytoplankton; composition and abundance of other aquatic flora (i.e. macroalgae and angiosperms); composition and abundance of benthic invertebrate fauna; composition and abundance of fish fauna. 2 - Although the directive proposed these biological elements, it doesn’t provide clear indication on the “biocriteria” to achieve. WFD suggested that ecosystem health should be defined by comparison to reference conditions. 3 - Recently, there has been a growing interest and need for sound and robust ecological indices to evaluate transitional ecosystem status and condition, mainly under the scope of the Water Framework Directive implementation. 4 - A good biotic index should reflect the biological integrity; respond to environmental stresses in monotonic way; be measurable with low error; be cost-effective; be not invasive (i.e. the measure methods do not significantly disturb or alter habitats and biota). 5 - Several indices have been developed for environmental quality assessment using macrobenthic assemblages, ranging from the comparison of a single metric to complex multivariate analyses. Some indices were developed for fish assemblages and for macrophytes, but only few indices were proposed considering the phytoplankton. 6 - In this report, we shown and compare several biotic indices used for evaluating ecological status of transitional water ecosystems using the five biological quality elements.
2009
Ponti, M; Vadrucci, M.R.; Orfanidis, S.; Pinna, M.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/569002
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