Benthic algal assessment of ecological status in European lakes and rivers: Challenges and opportunities

This opinion paper introduces a special series of articles dedicated to freshwater benthic algae and their use in assessments and monitoring. This special series was inspired by talks presented at the 9th International Congress on the Use of Algae for Monitoring Rivers and Comparable Habitats (Trento, Italy, 2015), the latest of a series of meetings started in 1991. We believe that applied-ecology studies during the whole period covered by these meetings clearly show that monitoring and assessment makes sense only if these are embedded within a broader process of management. In this paper, we will first provide a brief overview of phytobenthos methods in Europe. Then, we will turn toward the 'dark side' of phytobenthos and describe four particular problems for phytobenthos assessment in the European Union: (1) reliance on a single group of algae (mostly diatoms) to the exclusion of other groups; (2) relatively low adoption of benthic algae for ecological assessments in lakes; (3) absence of measures of abundances; (4) the approaches used to define boundaries between ecological classes. Lastly, we describe three general challenges of phytobenthos assessment: use of phytobenthos as a diagnostic and communication tool and linking phytobenthos assessment to the provision of ecosystem services. The papers in the special series allow a comparison with the situation and approaches in the USA, present new methods for the assessment of ecological status and acidification, provide tools for an improved management of petrifying springs and headwaters, discuss the potential of genetic fingerprinting for ecological assessments, assess the utility of beta diversity, ecological metabarcoding and guilds, and report on the impacts of herbicides and on invasive algal species

POIKANE Sandra;  KELLY Martyn;  CANTONATI Marco; 

2016-12-15

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

JRC99194

0048-9697,   

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969716302388,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC99194,   

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.02.027,