Transitional and coastal waters ecological status assessment: advances and challenges resulting from implementing the European Water Framework Directive

The derivation, performance, sensitivity and inherent uncertainty of ecological quality indicators have become major topics in developing tools for the management of marine, transitional and coastal waters. In reviewing the advances in these waters, related to an ecological status assessment, we show the future challenges to be addressed within the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). Using new analyses carried out under the research project ‘Water Bodies in Europe: Integrative Systems to Assess Ecological status and Recovery’, we provide a complete set of assessments for the biological quality elements (BQEs) (phytoplankton, macroalgae-seagrasses, macroinvertebrates and fish) to be assessed, as well as the validation of existing indicators and multimetric indices and, in some cases, the development of new assessment indices. We show that these indices respond differently to different human pressures and they each have challenges in defining reference conditions against which future changes are judged. In investigating good ecological potential, as the response to heavily modified water bodies, we show that there are flaws in the Directive, not least in its definitions. Our analyses have also focussed on uncertainty in using the indices and we emphasise the problems of defining ecological class boundaries based on indices which themselves may be combined indices (multimetrics). The analysis shows that some of those multimetrics are redundant and/or are inter-correlated and thus may reduce the sensitivity in defining ecological class boundaries. If this is related to the drivers-pressures-state change-impacts-response approach then there are lessons for management measures aimed at achieving good ecological status and even the potential for legal challenges to decisions based on uncertain indices under the WFD. Hence, we conclude the continued need for advances in assessing pressures and gradients, and defining reference conditions for state change, index development, impact assessment and the validation of indices for each BQE.     

The suitability of the marine biotic index (AMBI) to new impact sources along European coasts

In recent years, several benthic biotic indices have been proposed to be used as ecological indicators in estuarine and coastal waters. One such indicator, the AZTI Marine Biotic Index (AMBI), was designed to establish the ecological quality of European coasts. The index examined the response of soft-bottom benthic communities to natural and man-induced disturbances in coastal and estuarine environments. It has been successfully applied to different geographical areas and under different impact sources, with increasing user numbers in European marine waters (Baltic, North Sea, Atlantic and Mediterranean). The AMBI has been used also for the determination of the ecological quality status (EcoQ) within the context of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD).In this contribution, 38 different applications including six new case studies (hypoxia processes, sand extraction, oil platform impacts, engineering works, dredging and fish aquaculture) are presented. The results show the response of the benthic communities to different disturbance sources in a simple way. Those communities act as ecological indicators of the ‘health’ of the system, indicating clearly the gradient associated with the disturbance.     

Application of signal detection theory approach for setting thresholds in benthic quality assessments

The European Marine Strategy Framework Directive requires EU Member States to prepare national strategies and manage their seas to achieve good environmental status (GES) by 2020. There are many multimetric indices proposed as indicators of the ecological quality of the benthic environment. Their functionality and utility are extensively discussed in the literature. Different frameworks are suggested for comparative assessments of indicators with no agreement on a standardized way of selecting the most appropriate one. In the current study, we apply signal detection theory (SDT) to evaluate the specificity and sensitivity of the Benthic Quality Index (BQI), its response to the eutrophication pressure, and its performance under the effects of estuarine water outflow. The BQI showed acceptable response to total nitrogen, total phosphorus and chlorophyll-a concentrations in the study area. Based on the results, we suggest using SDT for setting GES thresholds in a standardized way. This aids a robust assessment of the environmental status and supports differentiation between the quality classes.     

Relocation of dredged material in estuaries under the aspect of the Water Framework Directive—A comparison of benthic quality indicators at dumping areas in the Elbe estuary

In the context of the requirements of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) numerous benthic indices have been proposed recently to assess the ecological quality of marine and transitional waters. In several studies these metrics were applied to coastal and estuarine environments under diverse anthropogenic pressures. Although currently the dumping of dredged material is one of the most prominent human impacts that modify estuaries, the performance of benthic indices to detect effects of dredged sediment relocation has not yet been tested explicitly. Hence we examined a selection of common metrics (species richness, Shannon diversity, AMBI, M-AMBI, W-value, BO2A) at 11 dumping and 11 nearby reference areas in the highly modified Elbe estuary (Germany), where permanent dredging is necessary to maintain the depth of the navigation channel. In order to cover the entire estuary, the study area spanned over the whole salinity gradient from limnic to euhaline. Additionally, we investigated changes in benthic communities due to dredged material placement. All indices, except the W-value, were suitable to differentiate between dumping and reference areas and showed significantly better index values exclusively at reference areas. The applicability of AMBI and M-AMBI was restricted in the limnic stretch due to the more frequent occurrence of freshwater species there. The W-value and BO2A were non-satisfactory in the case of azoic sediment, and in most cases these two indices indicated much better ecological status classifications than the other indices tested. Furthermore, the BO2A had restricted applicability with increasing salinity. At eight of eleven sites the benthic communities differed significantly between dumping and reference areas. Our findings show that the power of conventional benthic indices to detect physical disturbances like the dumping of dredged sediment varies greatly. Having this in mind, we suggest to choose carefully the benthic indices for ecological quality assessments according to the WFD in estuaries in order to avoid misclassifications. Such errors may lead to unnecessarily expensive remediation activities or, in the opposite case, to inactivity although actions were necessary. Furthermore, in order to better meet the WFD requirements we suggest that, regarding frequency and volume, dumping should be adapted as far as possible to the natural processes of sediment movement.     

A comparative approach of assessing ecological status in two coastal areas of Eastern Mediterranean

This work presents an assessment of the ecological quality status of two marine coastal areas in the Aegean Sea (Greece, Eastern Mediterranean) based on the benthic macroinvertebrate quality element. S. Evvoikos and Thessaloniki gulfs, two coastal areas subjected to slight and heavier anthropogenic pressures, were selected to test the biotic index Bentix developed for the assessment of the ecological status. Other ecological indicators, such as the Shannon diversity index (H′), the species richness (S) and the AMBI biotic index were also applied and evaluated comparatively. Faunistic data were also used to interpret results. The resulting classification was validated with the use of physicochemical parameters and pressure information. This work also provides an insight into the structure of the Bentix classification scheme within the scope of its use in Water Framework Directive (WFD) implementation.     

Changing approaches to monitoring during the period of the ‘Use of Algae for Monitoring Rivers’ symposia

The literature on monitoring rivers using benthic algal communities is reviewed, especially that for Europe during the past 20 years. In particular, papers in a series of symposia at approximately 3-year intervals are considered to assess the extent to which aims and methods have shifted. A variety of methods were being tested in the early 1990s, and some put to practical use. However, the requirements of the EU Urban Waste Water Directive in 1991 have gradually narrowed procedures in most countries outside Scandinavia to the use of indices based on benthic diatoms to monitoring nutrients, especially phosphate. Most countries in Europe now adopt one of a few indices. The same indices are being used to deal with the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive introduced in 2000 to achieve good ecological status by 2015. It is argued, however, that features of upland river sites require the development of revised indices for this purpose. Features of many sites include highly variable nutrient concentrations and ratios, and the greater importance of organic phosphate. Two possible approaches are suggested to developing a revised index. One is a diatom index which incorporates information about the environmental features important here. The other is to use an index which incorporates data on genera from all algal phyla, with emphasis on those which are long-lived.     

Detecting benthic community differences: Influence of statistical index and season

An accurate assessment of estuarine condition is critical to determining whether there has been a change from baseline or ‘natural’ conditions; benthic communities are routinely used as an ecological endpoint to make this assessment. We addressed two issues, which arise when attempting to detect differences between benthic communities. The first is the varying sensitivity of metrics, e.g. one metric may not be able to detect differences between two communities where another metric can. The second is the influence of season on the detection of differences between benthic communities from different estuarine systems. In this study, benthic communities taken from depositional sites were sampled in three seasons, at three sites within two relatively pristine estuaries located in southern Massachusetts, USA. Statistical comparisons of benthic community data from the two estuaries were made using three common metrics: species richness, Shannon diversity and Bray–Curtis similarity indices. Significant community differences were found depending upon the index. The Bray–Curtis index, using permutation testing, was the only metric that detected differences between estuaries despite disparate seasonal sampling. This suggests that researchers do not need to be overly constrained to sampling in the same season when testing for differences in benthic communities between estuaries. Additionally, we propose an analytical method to identify anthropogenically impacted estuarine systems.     

Comparison of two indices based on macrophyte assemblages to assess the ecological status of coastal waters in the transition between the Atlantic and Mediterranean eco-regions

Several indices based on the composition and abundance of aquatic flora have been developed to assess the ecological status of coastal waters along the European coasts in the context of the Water Framework Directive. This directive pointed out the intercalibration of indices based on the same biological element within an eco-region to ensure the consistency and comparability among them. For a better management of coastal areas in the transition zone between two eco-regions, the comparison of indices developed for each eco-region may also be necessary. The aim of this work was to compare two indices based on macrophytes that have been proposed for two different and adjoining eco-regions: the RSL (Reduced Species List) in the Atlantic eco-region and the CARLIT (Cartography of littoral and upper sublittoral communities) in the Mediterranean. These indices were applied in 14 sites in the transition between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, where a wide range of anthropogenic pressures can be found, from high (Algeciras Bay) to almost negligible ("El Estrecho" Natural Park). Overall, both indices were sensitive to anthropogenic pressures and suitable to assess the ecological status. The comparison between indices suggested a bias in the assessment of the ecological status between good and high classes due to a different definition of high ecological status class between RSL and CARLIT. In addition, the most important disagreements between indices were found in the most degraded localities. The results showed, however, a high comparability between RSL and CARLIT despite their marked conceptual and methodological differences.     

Methodological considerations on the coastal and transitional benthic indicators proposed for the Water Framework Directive

A large data set from the coastal environment of the Mediterranean across benthic enrichment gradients was used to test the performance of various indices as indicators of the seabed environmental conditions. Comparisons involved samples sieved through different mesh sizes, taken in different seasons and taken with different samplers. Most indices were found not to be affected by sieve mesh size, they showed some variations with sampling season and they varied considerably with sampler (sampling size) used, but also they were found to be significantly intercorrelated. Among the indicators tested, the Benthic Quality Index at the family level (BQI-family) was found to be the least sensitive in changes in the sampling configuration; it is highly correlated with all the other indicators and needs less time and taxonomic expertise. Our results indicate that there is a need for standardization of the methodology used during sampling for the Water Framework Directive, since the sampling configuration (and the indicator used) may to a large extend determine the results of the Ecological Status (ES) analysis.     

不同底栖生物指数在福建省近岸海域的适用性

将3个底栖生物指数AZTI海洋生物指数(AMBI)、多毛类机会种和端足目动物指数(BOPA)、底栖动物多毛类和端足目指数(BPA)和Shannon多样性指数(H)应用于福建省近岸海域4个典型海湾和1个河口的生态质量评价,评估这4个指数在研究区的适用性.结果表明: 4个指数的评价结果差异较大,评价等级完全相同的站位仅有4个,占总评价站数的8.7%;AMBI将76.1%的站位评价为等级“良”,BOPA将89.1%的站位评价为等级“优”,BPA和H的评价结果等级梯度变化明显;对于海湾,BOPA、BPA和AMBI与营养盐因子活性磷酸盐(DIP)和无机氮(DIN)无显著相关性,不能响应研究区的富营养化压力;而H与DIN呈显著负相关.对于河口,BOPA、BPA和AMBI与DIP和DIN均呈显著正相关,且随着与入海口距离的减小,7个断面生态质量评价等级没有明显变化,不能识别河口高强度的富营养化压力,评价结果偏高;而H与DIN呈显著负相关,且随着与入海口距离的减小,7个断面生态质量评价等级呈现提高的趋势.总体上,BOPA、BPA和AMBI在福建近岸海域的适用性较低,而H更合适该研究区,能够响应研究区主要的环境压力.     

Implications of global change for the maintenance of water quality and ecological integrity in the context of current water laws and environmental policies

There is both a fundamental and applied need to define expectations of changes in aquatic ecosystems due to global changes. It is clear that programs using biological indicators and reference-based comparisons as the foundation for assessments are likely to make increasingly erroneous decisions if the impacts of global change are ignored. Global changes influence all aspects of water resource management decisions based on comparisons to reference conditions with impacts making it increasingly problematic to find an “undisturbed” water body to define acceptable conditions of ecological integrity. Using a more objective scale for characterizing reference conditions that is anchored in expectations for what would be attainable under undisturbed conditions, such as the Biological Condition Gradient (BCG) is one approach that maintains consistent definitions for ecosystem conditions. In addition, protection of reference stations and of unique or undisturbed aquatic resources is imperative, though the scope of protection options is limited. Projections indicate that encroaching land use will affect 36–48% of current reference surface waters by the year 2100. The interpretation of biological indicators is also at risk from global changes. Distinguishing taxonomic attributes based on temperature or hydrologic preferences can be used to enhance the ability to make inferences about global change effects compared to other stressors. Difficulties arise in categorizing unique indicators of global changes, because of similarities in some of the temperature and hydrologic effects resulting from climate change, land use changes, and water removal. In the quest for biological indicators that might be uniquely sensitive to one global stressor as an aid in recognizing probable causes of ecosystem damage, the potential similarities in indicator responses among global and landscape-scale changes needs to be recognized as a limiting factor. Many aspects of global changes are not tractable at the local to regional scales at which water quality regulations are typically managed. Our ability to implement water policies through bioassessment will require a shift in the scale of assessment, planning, and adaptations in order to fulfill our ultimate regulatory goals of preserving good water quality and ecological integrity. Providing clear expectations of effects due to global change for key species and communities in freshwater ecosystems will help water quality programs achieve their goals under changing environmental conditions.     

Development of an estuarine climate change monitoring program

Numerous coastal and estuarine management programs around the world are developing strategies for climate change and priorities for climate change adaptation. A multi-state work group collaborated with scientists, researchers, resource managers and non-governmental organizations to develop a monitoring program that would provide warning of climate change impacts to the Long Island Sound estuarine and coastal ecosystems. The goal of this program was to facilitate timely management decisions and adaptation responses to climate change impacts. A novel approach is described for strategic planning that combines available regional-scale predictions and climate drivers (top down) with local monitoring information (bottom up) to identify candidate sentinels of climate change. Using this approach, 37 candidate sentinels of climate change were identified as well as a suite of core abiotic parameters that are drivers of environmental change. A process for prioritizing sentinels was developed and identified six of high priority for inclusion in pilot-scale monitoring programs. A monitoring strategy and an online sentinel data clearinghouse were developed. The work and processes presented here are meant to serve as a guide to other coastal and estuarine management programs seeking to establish a targeted monitoring program for climate change and to provide a set of “lessons learned.”     

Diversity of European seagrass indicators: patterns within and across regions

Seagrasses are key components of coastal marine ecosystems and many monitoring programmes worldwide assess seagrass health and apply seagrasses as indicators of environmental status. This study aims at identifying the diversity and characteristics of seagrass indicators in use within and across European ecoregions in order to provide an overview of seagrass monitoring effort in Europe. We identified 49 seagrass indicators used in 42 monitoring programmes and including a total of 51 metrics. The seagrass metrics represented 6 broad categories covering different seagrass organizational levels and spatial scales. The large diversity is particularly striking considering that the pan-European Water Framework Directive sets common demands for the presence and abundance of seagrasses and related disturbance-sensitive species. The diversity of indicators reduces the possibility to provide pan-European overviews of the status of seagrass ecosystems. The diversity can be partially justified by differences in species, differences in habitat conditions and associated communities but also seems to be determined by tradition. Within each European region, we strongly encourage the evaluation of seagrass indicator–pressure responses and quantification of the uncertainty of classification associated to the indicator in order to identify the most effective seagrass indicators for assessing ecological quality of coastal and transitional water bodies.     

Long-term monitoring studies as a powerful tool in marine ecosystem research

The EU-funded research project WISER (“Water bodies in Europe: Integrative Systems to assess Ecological status and Recovery”) developed new assessment methods required by the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) for lakes, coastal and transitional waters. WISER also addressed the recovery of biotic assemblages from degradation. The results are summarised in five key messages, supported by papers in this special issue and by WISER results published elsewhere: (1) Response to stress differs between organism groups, water types and stressors; a conceptual model is proposed summarising how the individual organism groups respond to different types of degradation in rivers, lakes, transitional and coastal waters. (2) The sources of uncertainty differ between BQEs and water types, leading to methodological suggestions on how to design WFD sampling programmes. (3) Results from about 300 current assessment methods indicate geographical variations in metrics but assessments are comparable at an aggregated level (“ecological status”). (4) Scale and time matter; restoration requires action at (sub)-basin levels and recovery may require decades. (5) Long-term trends require consideration; the effects of both degradation and restoration at the water body or river basin scales is increasingly superimposed by multiple stressors acting at large scales, in particular by climate change.     

Review and evaluation of estuarine biotic indices to assess benthic condition

Recently there has been a growing interest and need for sound and robust ecological indices to evaluate ecosystem status and condition, mainly under the scope of the Water Framework Directive implementation. Although the conceptual basis for each index may rely on different assumptions and parameters, they share a common goal: to provide a useful tool that can be used in assessing the system's health and that could be applied in decision making. This paper focuses mainly on benthic community-based, biotic indices. We supply a general overview of several indices premises and assumptions as well as their main advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, an illustrative example is provided of a straightforward application of benthic index of biotic integrity and benthic condition index. As a reference, their performance is compared to the Portuguese-benthic assessment tool. Limitations of the tested indices are discussed in context of the Mondego estuary (Portugal) case study.     

Evaluating the performance of benthic multi-metric indices across broad-scale environmental gradients

The usefulness of benthic multi-metric indices when assessing seafloor integrity across broad environmental gradients should be deliberated, as their lack of transparency might hide important sources of variation and fail to identify environmental change. This study compares the performance of two multi-metric indices; the Benthic Quality Index (BQI) and the Brackish water Benthic Index (BBI) between three sub-basins in the Baltic Sea. Both indices reflect the salinity-driven gradient in macroinvertebrate diversity and composition as well as changes in bottom water oxygen concentrations. The relative contribution of predictor variables for explaining index variation does, however, differ between sub-basins, resulting in the indices representing different aspects of the benthic community along the environmental gradient. This context-dependency is caused by inherent differences in benthic community characteristics between the sub-basins of the Baltic Sea, and how the communities are portrayed by the indices. An increased transparency of the importance of the different predictors for directing index values is needed for coherent classifications over broad environmental gradients, such as those occurring in large estuarine water bodies. Use of a weight of evidence table to combine multiple indicators would preserve transparency and be more likely to provide a robust assessment method that would detect seafloor degradation at an early stage.     

Integrated ecosystem health assessment based on eco-exergy theory: A case study of the Jiangsu coastal area

The main objective of ecosystem health management is to preserve the capacity of ecosystems to respond to disturbances and future changes. We proposed a set of ecological indicators for coastal ecosystem health assessment using physical stressors such as total suspended matter, chemical stressors including nutrients and heavy metal pollutants, community structure metrics including species richness, diversity and evenness, and ecosystem level eco-exergy indicators. The results of our case study indicate that the health status of the Jiangsu coastal ecosystem is limited by environmental stressors and factors that affect the community species diversity. The health status of nektonic and benthic communities is reflected by water quality and sediment physicochemical properties, respectively. The results of our case study demonstrate that the integrated ecological health indicator system can provide a comprehensive assessment that corresponds with the current health of coastal ecosystems and a reliable theoretical basis for regional coastal management.     

Characterizing the role benthos plays in large coastal seas and estuaries: A modular approach

Ecologists studying coastal and estuarine benthic communities have long taken a macroecological view, by relating benthic community patterns to environmental factors across several spatial scales. Although many general ecological patterns have been established, often a significant amount of the spatial and temporal variation in soft-sediment communities within and among systems remains unexplained. Here we propose a framework that may aid in unraveling the complex influence of environmental factors associated with the different components of coastal systems (i.e. the terrestrial and benthic landscapes, and the hydrological seascape) on benthic communities, and use this information to assess the role played by benthos in coastal ecosystems. A primary component of the approach is the recognition of system modules (e.g. marshes, dendritic systems, tidal rivers, enclosed basins, open bays, lagoons). The modules may differentially interact with key forcing functions (e.g. temperature, salinity, currents) that influence system processes and in turn benthic responses and functions. Modules may also constrain benthic characteristics and related processes within certain ecological boundaries and help explain their overall spatio-temporal variation. We present an example of how benthic community characteristics are related to the modular structure of 14 coastal seas and estuaries, and show that benthic functional group composition is significantly related to the modular structure of these systems. We also propose a framework for exploring the role of benthic communities in coastal systems using this modular approach and offer predictions of how benthic communities may vary depending on the modular composition and characteristics of a coastal system.