| Title | THE VALIDATION OF COMMON EUROPEAN CLASS BOUNDARIES FOR RIVER BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES TO FACILITATE THE INTERCALIBRATION PROCESS OF THE WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE |
| Abstract | The Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires that all the water bodies in Europe be protected and enhanced to achieve Good Ecological Status by 2015. The intercalibration of the biological monitoring results of Member States has to be carried out in relation to classification tasks to guarantee a common understanding of 'Good Ecological Status' at a European level. An intercalibration exercise was carried out within the framework of different Geographical Intercalibration Groups (GIGs), each composed of a group of countries that share similar river types and have a discrete geographical range. By means of the intercalibration exercise, common European boundaries were proposed for river invertebrate
assessment methods within each GIG. The purpose of this study was to validate the boundaries proposed for the formal intercalibration exercise. A
benchmark data set was used, which comprised data, collected in different European countries that satisfied WFD requirements. The data set included a set of reference sites and provided evidence of a high degree of comparability among countries. The STAR Intercalibration Common Metric index (STAR_ICMi) was calculated for benchmark samples and was selected as the index in which national assessment boundaries were expressed. It was applied for the intercalibration exercise in two GIGs. For the STAR_ICMi, the coefficient of variation was also calculated, demonstrating a comparable variability with indices that are based on species level identification. A fixed percentile of reference samples STAR_ICMi values was selected as the boundary between High and Good status. The range from this fixed percentile to the lowest possible value was divided into four equal parts to obtain the remaining class boundaries. The resulting High/Good and Good/Moderate boundaries were compared to the boundaries proposed by GIGs and proved to be in line with those defined in the intercalibration exercise. Even if, for the intercalibration exercise, some procedures to check the Member States (MS) data sets where put into practice, it is the responsibility of each state to guarantee the WFD compliancy of their reference conditions and methods. Accordingly, the process of validation explained in this article, or similar ones, can be an important step forward and demonstrate the comparability of the actual boundaries. |
| Source | Hydrobiologia (The Hague. Print) 633, pp. 17–31 |
| Keywords | Class boundariesCommon intercalibration metricsReference conditionRiverWFD |
| Journal | Hydrobiologia (The Hague. Print) |
| Editor | Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, Paesi Bassi |
| Year | 2009 |
| Type | Articolo in rivista |
| DOI | 10.1007/s10750-009-9873-y |
| Authors | ERBA S., FURSE M.T., BALESTRINI R., CHRISTODOULIDES A., OFENBOCK T., VAN DE BUND W., WASSON JG., BUFFAGNI A |
| Text | 42345 2009 10.1007/s10750 009 9873 y ISI Web of Science WOS 000268728700003 Class boundaries Common intercalibration metrics Reference condition River WFD THE VALIDATION OF COMMON EUROPEAN CLASS BOUNDARIES FOR RIVER BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES TO FACILITATE THE INTERCALIBRATION PROCESS OF THE WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE ERBA S., FURSE M.T., BALESTRINI R., CHRISTODOULIDES A., OFENBOCK T., VAN DE BUND W., WASSON JG., BUFFAGNI A IRSA U.O.S. Brugherio; CEH, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Dorset DT2, 8ZD, UK; IRSA U.O.S. Brugherio; Water Development Department, 100 110 Kennenty Avenue, Pallouriotissa, 1047 Lefkosia, Cyprus; Department of Hydrobiology, BOKU University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna, 1180 Vienna, Austria; European Commission Joint Research Centre, Via E. Fermi, 2749, 21027 Ispra, VA, Italy; CEMAGREF, 3 bis Quai Chauveau CP 220, 69336 Lyon Cedex 09, France The Water Framework Directive WFD requires that all the water bodies in Europe be protected and enhanced to achieve Good Ecological Status by 2015. The intercalibration of the biological monitoring results of Member States has to be carried out in relation to classification tasks to guarantee a common understanding of Good Ecological Status at a European level. An intercalibration exercise was carried out within the framework of different Geographical Intercalibration Groups GIGs , each composed of a group of countries that share similar river types and have a discrete geographical range. By means of the intercalibration exercise, common European boundaries were proposed for river invertebrate assessment methods within each GIG. The purpose of this study was to validate the boundaries proposed for the formal intercalibration exercise. A benchmark data set was used, which comprised data, collected in different European countries that satisfied WFD requirements. The data set included a set of reference sites and provided evidence of a high degree of comparability among countries. The STAR Intercalibration Common Metric index STAR_ICMi was calculated for benchmark samples and was selected as the index in which national assessment boundaries were expressed. It was applied for the intercalibration exercise in two GIGs. For the STAR_ICMi, the coefficient of variation was also calculated, demonstrating a comparable variability with indices that are based on species level identification. A fixed percentile of reference samples STAR_ICMi values was selected as the boundary between High and Good status. The range from this fixed percentile to the lowest possible value was divided into four equal parts to obtain the remaining class boundaries. The resulting High/Good and Good/Moderate boundaries were compared to the boundaries proposed by GIGs and proved to be in line with those defined in the intercalibration exercise. Even if, for the intercalibration exercise, some procedures to check the Member States MS data sets where put into practice, it is the responsibility of each state to guarantee the WFD compliancy of their reference conditions and methods. Accordingly, the process of validation explained in this article, or similar ones, can be an important step forward and demonstrate the comparability of the actual boundaries. 633 http //www.springerlink.com/content/w8212q3x567319jv/ THE VALIDATION OF COMMON EUROPEAN CLASS BOUNDARIES FOR RIVER BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES TO FACILITATE THE INTERCALIBRATION PROCESS OF THE WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE Erbaetal_benchmark_Hydrobiologia.pdf Articolo in rivista Kluwer Academic Publishers 0018 8158 Hydrobiologia The Hague. Print Hydrobiologia The Hague. Print Hydrobiologia The Hague. Print Hydrobiologia. The Hague. Print Hydrobiologia Dordrecht The Hague. Print Hydrobiologia Boston The Hague. Print Hydrobiologia London The Hague. Print raffaella.balestrini BALESTRINI RAFFAELLA andreastefano.buffagni BUFFAGNI ANDREA STEFANO stefania.erba ERBA STEFANIA TA.P04.016.001 Caratteristiche ecologiche di comunita acquatiche in ambienti fluviali e lagunari TA.P04.032.003 La risposta delle comunita acquatiche bioindicatori e WFD |
