de Paz L, Patrício J, Marques J C, Borja A, Laborda A J
Department of Biodiversity and Environmental Management, Zoology Area, University of Leon, Campus de Vegazana, 24125 León, Spain.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2008 Jul;56(7):1275-83. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2008.04.027. Epub 2008 May 27.
The implementation of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires evaluation of the ecological status (ES) of benthic communities in coastal and transitional water systems, and the intercalibration of assessment methodologies therefore becomes a research challenge. Our aim was to test the suitability of applying the M-AMBI index to assess the status of the Eo estuary (northern coast of Spain). Our results showed that M-AMBI was influenced by the natural variability of benthic communities, and presented an apparent dependence on habitat characteristics. Consequently, the definition of homogeneous areas in transitional water systems should be based on the salinity gradient combined with other factors. To achieve an accurate ES assessment, habitat-specific reference conditions should then be defined prior to the application of M-AMBI; this necessitates dividing an estuary into several sections, which may be classified as different ESs. From this perspective, a novel approach to integrate habitat heterogeneity in a global ES assessment was tested.
欧洲水框架指令（WFD）的实施要求对沿海和过渡性水系统中底栖生物群落的生态状况（ES）进行评估，因此评估方法的相互校准成为一项研究挑战。我们的目标是测试应用M-AMBI指数评估埃奥河口（西班牙北部海岸）状况的适用性。我们的结果表明，M-AMBI受底栖生物群落自然变异性的影响，并且明显依赖于栖息地特征。因此，过渡性水系统中同质区域的定义应基于盐度梯度并结合其他因素。为了实现准确的生态状况评估，应在应用M-AMBI之前定义特定栖息地的参考条件；这需要将河口划分为几个部分，这些部分可归类为不同的生态状况。从这个角度出发，测试了一种在全球生态状况评估中整合栖息地异质性的新方法。
