Ecological evaluation of transitional and coastal waters: A marine benthic macrophytes-based model.

By S. Orfanidis, P. Panayotidis, N. Stamatis. 2001

313 citations recorded by the source corpus.

A model to estimate the ecological status and identify restoration targets of transitional and coastal waters was developed. Marine benthic macrophytic species (seaweeds, seagrasses) were used to indicate shifts in the aquatic ecosystem from the pristine state with late-successional species (Ecological State Group I) to the degraded state with opportunistic (ESG II) species. The first group comprises species with a thick or calcareous thallus, low growth rates and long life cycles (perennials), whereas the second group includes sheet-like and filamentous species with high growth rates and short life cycles (annuals). Seagrasses were included in the first group, whereas Cyanophyceae and species with a coarsely branched thallus were included in the second group. The evaluation of ecological status into five categories from high to bad includes a cross comparison in a matrix of the ESGs and a numerical scoring system (Ecological Evaluation Index). The model could allow comparisons, ranking and setting of priorities at regional and national levels fulfilling the requirements of the EU Water Frame Directive. A successful application of the model was realized in selected lagoons of the Macedonian and Thrace region (North Greece) and in the Saronic Gulf coastal ecosystems (Central Greece).

Subfields: Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law, Oceanography

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/031e09423e6fb4308c42c992a9849862e8a6706a

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In Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

In Oceanography

Citations in the corpus

Classifying Ecological Quality and Integrity of Estuaries (2011, methodology): “Several methods use the ecological or functional groups (see Orfanidis et al., 2001) or the presence of indicator species (opportunistic or sensitive) as a way of detecting disturbances in the studied area.”
Effects of ocean acidification on macroalgal communities (2011, background): “Macroalgal communities are sensitive to anthropogenic disturbances and so are used to assess the status of coastal ecosystems, for example, under the European Water Framework Directive (Orfanidis et al., 2001; Ballesteros et al., 2007).”
Eelgrass as a Bioindicator Under the European Water Framework Directive (2005, background): “An ‘ecological evaluation index’ relating the abundance of opportunistic species to the abundance of late-successional species (Orfanidis et al., 2001, 2003; Panayotidis et al., 2004) and the depth limits of individual macrophyte species (Domin et al., 2004; Kautsky et al., 2004) have recently been…”
Using historical data, expert judgement and multivariate analysis in assessing reference conditions and benthic ecological status, according to the European Water Framework Directive. (2007, methodology): “…(Casazza et al., 2002; Nielsen et al., 2003; Andersen et al., 2004; Bald et al., 2005), phytoplankton (Ifremer, in Vincent et al., 2002; Borja et al., 2004b), or macroalgae (Orfanidis et al., 2001, 2003; Swedish method, in Vincent et al., 2002; Panayotidis et al., 2004; Borja et al., 2004b).”
A synthesis of the biological quality elements for the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive in the Mediterranean ecoregion: The case of Saronikos Gulf (2005, methodology): “Recent research activity on these issues led to the development of new tools and methodologies meeting the requirements of the Directive (Borja et al., 2003; EC, 2003a; Orfanidis et al., 2001, 2003; * Corresponding author.”
Ecological Evaluation Index continuous formula (EEI-c) application: a step forward for functional groups, the formula and reference condition values (2011, unknown): “4) were visited in November 2000 and July 2001 (see ORFANIDIS et al., 2001).”