scholarly journals Benthic Diatoms in River Biomonitoring—Present and Future Perspectives within the Water Framework Directive

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 478
Author(s):  
Andreas Masouras ◽  
Ioannis Karaouzas ◽  
Elias Dimitriou ◽  
George Tsirtsis ◽  
Evangelia Smeti

The European Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD) has been implemented over the past 20 years, using physicochemical, biological and hydromorphological elements to assess the ecological status of surface waters. Benthic diatoms (i.e., phytobenthos) are one of the most common biological quality elements (BQEs) used in surface water monitoring and are particularly successful in detecting eutrophication, organic pollution and acidification. Herein, we reviewed their implementation in river biomonitoring for the purposes of the WFD, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages over other BQEs, and we discuss recent advances that could be applied in future biomonitoring. Until now, phytobenthos have been intercalibrated by the vast majority (26 out of 28) of EU Member States (MS) in 54% of the total water bodies assessed and was the most commonly used BQE after benthic invertebrates (85% of water bodies), followed by fish (53%), macrophytes (27%) and phytoplankton (4%). To meet the WFD demands, numerous taxonomy-based quality indices have been developed among MS, presenting, however, uncertainties possibly related to species biogeography. Recent development of different types of quality indices (trait-based, DNA sequencing and predictive modeling) could provide more accurate results in biomonitoring, but should be validated and intercalibrated among MS before their wide application in water quality assessments.

Author(s):  
Alexandr Anatoljevich Volkov ◽  
Larisa Anatoljevna Kovaljova ◽  
Tatjana Timofeevna Troshina ◽  
Zhanara Omirbekovna Mazhibaeva ◽  
Dmitrij Valerjevich Pilin ◽  
...  

The article deals with carrying out DNA barcoding of aquatic invertebrates of Kazakhstan to identify their taxonomic status as organic pollution indicators. 33 species of the Balkhash-Alakol basin and the Zhayik river were analyzed. 21 species correlate (95-100%) with previously published sequences of invertebrates with well-known classifications in the GenBank and BOLD databases. The taxonomic discrepancy in morphometric and genetic parameters in certain species has been revealed. The discrepancy may be caused by the morphological identity in chironomids at a larval stage. The phylogenetic trees of the investigated species within the families Chironomidae and Moinidae have been indicated. Chironomids are represented by ten clades of different types of genetic polymorphism of DNA gene. Genetic links of Moinidae are detected in four groups including a cryptic species from Lake Alakol. It has been stated that in distribution of cryptic taxons in Moina family factors of salinity and depth of the lake are important, as well as differences in depth. Molecular DNA-barcoding of invertebrates of Kazakhstan should be continued with covering a greater number of species and several replications, with qualified primary fixation of subjects of research and a sufficient number of samples. Authenticity of composition defining, species abundance, species characteristics of aquatic invertebrates from the water bodies of poorly explored arid regions is necessary for using them as indicators of the ecological status of water bodies.


Author(s):  
Giancarlo Bellissimo ◽  
Benedetto Sirchia ◽  
Vincenzo Ruvolo

In the frame of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD, 2000/60/EC), a macroalgae based index (CARLIT) was applied along the Sicilian coastal water bodies (WBs) in order to assess for the first time their ecological status and collect accurate information on the distribution and abundance of shallow-water communities, especially of those most sensitive. The ecological quality ratio values, sensu WFD, showed “high”/“good” levels in all WBs with lushy forests of Cystoseira amentacea except two with “moderate” level due to the presence of stress-tolerant species related to local factors.


Water Policy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan Liefferink ◽  
Morten Graversgaard ◽  
Helle Ørsted Nielsen ◽  
Daan Boezeman ◽  
Ann Crabbé ◽  
...  

Abstract Realising the goals of the European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive is difficult. The differentiation of water policies according to local conditions enjoys increasing attention and may be necessary to achieve good ecological status in all European waters. This paper seeks to explore to what extent and how local water quality determines the degree of coercion, i.e. the extent to which differentiated policies are voluntary or rather imposed upon policy addressees, of spatially differentiated water policies. It does so on the basis of seven cases in five EU Member States. For highly polluted waters, spatially differentiated policies tend either to make the use of authoritative policy instruments, i.e. coercion by way of formal regulation, or to rely on the threat to introduce such regulation. For preventing the deterioration of relatively ‘clean’ waters, voluntary instruments based on information and persuasion dominate, often supported by subsidies and/or the direct input of public resources. In relation to the spatial differentiation of water policies, issues of data demand, equality and legitimacy have to be taken into account.


Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1572
Author(s):  
Cacciatore ◽  
Bonometto ◽  
Paganini ◽  
Sfriso ◽  
Novello ◽  
...  

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires Member States to assess the ecological status of water bodies and provide an estimation of the classification confidence and precision. This study tackles the issue of the uncertainty in the classification, due to the spatial variability within each water body, proposing an analysis of the reliability of classification, using the results of macrophyte WFD monitoring in the Venice Lagoon as case study. The level of classification confidence, assessed for each water body, was also used as reference to optimize the sampling effort for the subsequent monitorings. The ecological status of macrophytes was calculated by the Macrophyte Quality Index at 114 stations located in 11 water bodies. At water body scale, the level of classification confidence ranges from 54% to 100%. After application of the multi-approach (inferential statistics, spatial analyses, and expert judgment), the optimization of the sampling effort resulted in a reduction of the number of stations from 114 to 84. The decrease of sampling effort was validated by assessing the reliability of classification after the optimization process (54–99%) and by spatial interpolation of data (Kernel standard error of 22.75%). The multi-approach proposed in this study could be easily applied to any other water body and biological quality element.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ave Ansper ◽  
Krista Alikas

The European Parliament and The Council of the European Union have established the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) for all European Union member states to achieve, at least, “good” ecological status of all water bodies larger than 50 hectares in Europe. The MultiSpectral Instrument onboard European Space Agency satellite Sentinel-2 has suitable 10, 20, 60 m spatial resolution to monitor most of the Estonian lakes as required by the Water Framework Directive. The study aims to analyze the suitability of Sentinel-2 MultiSpectral Instrument data to monitor water quality in inland waters. This consists of testing various atmospheric correction processors to remove the influence of atmosphere and comparing and developing chlorophyll a algorithms to estimate the ecological status of water in Estonian lakes. This study shows that the Sentinel-2 MultiSpectral Instrument is suitable for estimating chlorophyll a in water bodies and tracking the spatial and temporal dynamics in the lakes. However, atmospheric corrections are sensitive to surrounding land and often fail in narrow and small lakes. Due to that, deriving satellite-based chlorophyll a is not possible in every case, but initial results show the Sentinel-2 MultiSpectral Instrument could still provide complementary information to in situ data to support Water Framework Directive monitoring requirements.


Purpose. To analyze the relationship between the ecological status of water bodies and the size of the tax rate for groundwater extraction. Methods. A complex of general scientific methods of research was used. In particular, a comparative analysis of the level of tax rates for the extraction of groundwater in the EU member states. Results. A comparative analysis of the level of tax rates for groundwater extraction in the EU member states has been made.The issue of allocating state income from rent payments for groundwater extraction has been investigated. It has been established that the cost of rent payments from groundwater extraction is usually attributed to: general taxation (Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany), water resources management (France), fund for the protection and restoration of groundwater (Belgium, Germany), expenditure on water resources (provinces in the Netherlands, Australia).The modern ecological status of water objects of EU countries has been studied. It has been established that rent payments for groundwater extraction in the EU member states vary considerably. The smallest are observed in the post-Soviet area (Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania). The highest tax, among the countries under study, in Denmark. Denmark is leading the quality indicators of underground and surface waters. 70-90% of water bodies in Denmark have a good ecological status.Conclusions.It has been practically proved that the high tax rate for the extraction of groundwater does not solve environmental problems. The experience of European countries shows that the improvement of the ecological status of water objects is possible by budget allocations from the extraction of groundwater to the management and protection of water resources.


Author(s):  
Giancarlo Bellissimo ◽  
Benedetto Sirchia ◽  
Vincenzo Ruvolo

The present paper aims to assess for the first time the ecological status of the Sicilian water bodies using the PREI (Posidonia oceanica Rapid Easy Index) method according to the Water Framework Directive (WFD, 2000/60/EC) requirements. The PREI is based on five metrics: shoot density, shoot leaf surface area, E/L ratio, depth of lower limit, and type of this lower limit. Monitoring of the 29 P. oceanica meadows allowed to classify the 20 WBs of Sicilian coasts in the first two levels of status: 10 as “high” and 10 as “good” with the PREI values ranged between 0,551 and 1.


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