Ecological indices tracking distinct impacts along disturbance-recovery gradients in a temperate NE Atlantic Estuary – Guidance on reference values |
| |
| Authors: | Heliana Teixeira Fuensanta Salas João M Neto Joana Patrício Rute Pinto Helena Veríssimo José A García-Charton Concepción Marcos Angél Pérez-Ruzafa João C Marques |
| |
| Institution: | 1. IMAR – Institute of Marine Research, University of Coimbra, 3004-517 Coimbra, Portugal;2. Department of Hydrology and Ecology, Faculty of Biology, University of Murcia, Spain |
| |
| Abstract: | Results gathered from a monitoring programme on the Mondego Estuary (Western Coast of Portugal) were compliant with findings drawn from other studies, which pointed out that unstable environments, namely estuarine systems, constitute a great challenge for the use of environmental tools such as ecological indices. The Margalef Index, the Shannon–Wiener Index and AMBI were proposed to evaluate the ecological status of benthic communities in the scope of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) in Portugal and other European member states. In this system these indices were not equally effective in tracking changes in benthic communities that expressed obvious responses to anthropogenic disturbances (eutrophic situations and severe physical disturbance) and to subsequent impacts' cessation. Natural variability played an important role on the indices' response, with estuarine gradient and habitat heterogeneity affecting the ranges of values obtained, and with extreme climate events slowing down the ongoing recovery process. Nonetheless, both natural and anthropogenic variability during the study period could be satisfactorily detected if we accounted for the information provided by all three indices. Based on the whole range of variation observed (a) as a response to different kinds of impacts, and (b) along recovery gradients, as well as accounting for the natural driving forces acting upon estuarine benthic invertebrate communities, we propose a set of reference values for these three indices. This proposal aims at contributing to the implementation of classification tools within the scope of the European WFD. |
| |
| Keywords: | estuary benthic invertebrates eutrophication physical disturbance ecological indicators reference values |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
