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MED-GIG: Mediterranean Coastal

Gianna Casazza Italy , APAT – Agency for Environmental Protection and Technical Services. MED-GIG: Mediterranean Coastal. Member States : France Greece Italy Spain Cyprus Malta Slovenia Croatia. I MedGIG: February 7-8, 2005 JRC, Ispra . II MedGIG: September 21-23, 2005

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MED-GIG: Mediterranean Coastal

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  1. Gianna Casazza Italy, APAT – Agency for Environmental Protection and Technical Services MED-GIG: Mediterranean Coastal Member States: France Greece Italy Spain Cyprus Malta Slovenia Croatia

  2. I MedGIG: February 7-8, 2005 JRC, Ispra II MedGIG: September 21-23, 2005 Mallorca (Spain) III MedGIG : February 27–March 1st, 2006 Sète (France) MEETINGS

  3. Phytoplankton subgroup – Summary Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Spain (Catalunya, Balearic islands, Valencia) and JRC

  4. Metric • chl ‘a’ as an indicator of biomass • Possibility of using indicator species? Ruled out • use log [chl ‘a’], given the type of distribution of chl data (in order to approximate a normal distribution and proceed with the statistical analysis) • Future research: consider functional groups and check their % variation in abundance across a gradient of pressure and/or vs. chl data (i.e. phyto in lakes)

  5. 2. Reference Conditions • ‘A given species responds in the same way in different areas to the same pressure’ (benthic macroinvertebrates – A. Borja) • For phyplankton, the same pressure (e.g. nutrient inputs in coastal waters) does not elicit the same response in terms of chl ‘a’ concentration in different coastal water systems • Need to differentiate water types and set different thresholds • salinity (37.5 PSU) • East/West Rhone • clustering based on w depth, salinity, temperature, pH • East/West Mediterranean • Vertical stability (density gradient) of the water column is the chosen criterion

  6. Vertical Density Gradient N Adriatic System Tyrrhenian System

  7. 3. Boundary setting procedure • No clear relationship could be established between chl a and pressures – cannot use boundary setting protocol and check for discontinuities. • In order to set the potential H/G boundary, use the 90th percentile value of high status sites for a given water type. • G/M boundary? H/G Boundary

  8. 4. Future work? March – mid April: set types Mid April – end of May: H/G boundary setting The subgroup strongly recommends the continuation of the IC exercise!

  9. CONCLUSIONS • High participation of countries to the exercise • - Large amount of data • - Need to define types, relevant to phytoplankton issues (different • from those previously defined for IC). Vertical stability is a relevant • parameter that needs to be considered • - Monitoring stations are located at different distances from the coast- • comparability issues • - No harmonized monitoring strategies • Difficulty in establishing a relationship between pressures and • phytoplankton biomass indicator

  10. C.S.I.C. C.E.A.B. Generalitat de Catalunya Departament de Medi Ambient i Habitatge Agència Catalana de l’Aigua Macroalgae subgroup Greece, Hellenic Centerof Marine Research Catalonia, (Spain), C.E.A.B. - C.S.I.C.

  11. Aim of the exercise: compare methods • Greek method • EEI: Ecological Evaluation Index based on Ecological State Group • Catalan method • Benthos: Multivariate methods • Carlit: Littoral community cartography

  12. The habitat in Catalonia The Cystoseira mediterranea community and the degradation series High quality Low quality

  13. The habitat inGreece The Cystoseira crinita community and the degradation series

  14. Intercalibration procedure • Application of EEI on Greek and Catalan sites • Application of BENTHOS/CARLIT on Greek and Catalan sites • Comparison of the results Metrics Abundance of species in a sample (coverage, also biomass) Relative abundance of communities on the coastline

  15. Conclusions (1) Full agreement on: - indicator species and communities to be used; - how species are replaced, along water quality gradients (continuum) the Reference Condition sites Agreement on the indicators of High ecological status and of Bad ecological status.

  16. Conclusions (2) • IC has been performed for all boundaries. Some differences among species thriving in Moderate to Poor environmental quality sites. • Main disagreement between EEI and CARLIT/BENTHOS from Moderate to lower quality status classes has been identified. • Slight changes in the methods to overcome these problems will be done to obtain a better agreement between both methodologies.

  17. Conclusions (3) • IC will be finished in the next 2 months by correcting weight of some species in the EEI method (e.g. Corallina elongata, Cystoseira compressa, some Ceramiales) to obtain closer agreement between the 2 methods. • Try to involve other countries to test the methods in their water bodies. - Views of other Mediterranean phycologists, not present until now in the IC, on the methods developed by Greece and Catalonia; in particular French and Italians. - Diffusion of the EEI and BENTHOS/CARLIT methodologies among Mediterranean phycologists to test these methods in other regions.

  18. Recomendations • Studies on the processes that drive the structural changes of communities, when subjected to water pollution, is an important topic of research to be financially supported.

  19. Intercalibrating for the BQE Posidonia oceanica Report of the subgroup meeting Sète 27 February – 1st March 2006 Participants: France Italy Malta Spain (Catalunya and Valencia)

  20. How things are…

  21. Comparison among classification systems

  22. Potential sources of disagreement: • Different metrics • Reference conditions • Boundaries definition • Statistical approach

  23. Solutions: • Different metrics: nothing we can do • Reference conditions • Boundaries definition • Statistical approach

  24. Solutions: • Different metrics • Reference conditions: reference conditions should be defined at subecoregional level • Boundaries definition • Statistical approach

  25. Solutions: • Different metrics • Reference conditions • Boundaries definition: agreeement, through a joint exercise, on the good/moderate boundary (EQR=0.55) • Statistical approach

  26. Solutions: • Different metrics • Reference conditions • Boundaries definition • Statistical approach: different statistical approaches do not seem to affect substantially the agreement among methods

  27. Conclusions and recomendations (1) • Intended work before the end of this phase • Further comparisons of data to be made by Italy • Attempts to further examine the pressure effects on the QE

  28. Conclusions and recomendations (2) Standardisation The group suggest to initiate standardisation process on two methods commonly used by all participants: shoot density shoot size

  29. Conclusions and recomendations (3) Prospect for a continuation The group feels that, with the current situation, the best effort has been made. Continuation and improvement will be only possible if at least one of the following conditions is met: - enlargement and improvement of national databases - incorporation of other MSs, not present until now in the process, widening the geographical range of the group - performing specific field work, collaborative among participants

  30. Benthic Invertebrates subgroup Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Spain (Catalunia)

  31. WFD requirements: - composition - abundance Normative Definitions: sensitive & tolerant species Macroinvertebrates available data: - species (composition & abundance) - ecological characteristics of species 3 classification systems proposed: combine species (comp.& abun.) with ecological evaluation assigned to species Bentix (Simboura & Zenetos, 2002) AMBI (Borja et al, 2000) BQI (Rosenberg et al, 2004) • At the moment AMBI and Bentix are being applied within each MS • BQI (Swedish, Baltic Sea) is not suitable for Med data • Major debate: assignement of the species to the ecological categories; species lists are being discussed

  32. BENTIX High Good Moderate Poor Bad AMBI E-Platja de Sant Simó E-Platja de Levant I-Cesenatico I-Castagneto I-Marinella

  33. Benthic macroinvertebrates multivariate analysis all Mediterranean data

  34. CONCLUSION and FUTURE • Intended work before the end of this phase of IC (June 2006) • For some Countries, set specific reference values for the ecoregion/habitat and test again AMBI with factor analysis method. • All countries will compare the results of all methods again. • Conclusions of this first phase of IC • The full IC exercise cannot be finalized up to June 2006 due to: • lack of sufficient data set; • difficulty of data comparability; • lack of agreement concerning Reference Conditions and Boundary Setting Protocol.

  35. Recomendations for the continuation of IC • - Consider different sub-regions in the Mediterranean eco-region • Within each typology we need to consider differences in the reference values for different habitats (e.g. muddy/sandy bottoms). • Collecting new data with standardized methods in similar habitats. • we suggest to continue the IC exercise for at least two years.

  36. Prospect for a continuation of IC • - Some countries (e.g. Italy) need to collect additional data, to further test the methods already used for IC, identify Reference Conditions and apply the Boundary Setting Protocol. • Other countries’ participation: • - France is presently starting collecting data. • - Slovenia will be able to produce data and join the IC exercise in the next future. • - Croatia is willing to participate to the MED-GIG benthic subgroup.

  37. Transitional waters 3 main TW types were identified: running TW: deltas, river mouths non –tidal (< 50 cm) lentic: lagunes tidal (> 50 cm) - some classification systems are being developed for some BQE MED-GIG intercalibration register did not included enough TW sites/data to start IC Work within the MED scientific community and administrations is proceeding Possibilities to address TW issues: after June 2006 (end of present IC exercise)

  38. First Mediterranean TW expert meeting: Sète, March 1st, 2006 • A final document, with future Agenda for Med TW implementation, was signed by participants. Main points: • formalisation of the TW expert working group • re-evaluation of the proposed Typology and its final definition • organisation of the existing data on hydro-geomorphological features of Mediterranean TW into an homogenous Mediterranean data-base • selection of type-specific ecosystems to be included into the official IC register • for the IC exercise • establishment of a working group for planning and organising pilot actions focused on the most effective accomplishment of the IC exercise

  39. Final subgroups work (until June 2006) PHYTOPLANKTON 1 commom metric tentative data analysis on 2 main water types (vertical stability) establish H/G boundary ANGIOSPERMS: P. oceanica special case:1 species many methods different metrics Agreements: - different RC (sub-ecoregional) - EQR for G/M Some data refinement MACROINVERTEBR 3 classification methods Problems: data lack & comparability Tentative RC: Eastern Western MACROALGAE 2 classification methods IC: ok Agreement on: - RC - species ecological values Refinements for G/M boundary

  40. Future of IC exercise (after June 2006) • Based on result obtained (in 1 year): • - select priorities • - proposal • needs • - possible schedule (?) MACROALGAE Include other countries & data Method standardization ANGIOSPERMS P. oceanica Standard method Increase data Joint field work MACROINVERT 2 years More data Standards need PHYTOPLANKTON 1 year, at least More work to proceed according to WFD

  41. GENERAL • Lots of work in 1 year • Needs & importance of meetings • Many progress & changes from starting: i.e. Types • Needs for future implementation • Funds…..? It would be important to fully complete IC, in order to be able to programme the monitoring strategy accordingly, in the best possible way. The monitoring network will be based on classification tools and IC

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