European aquatic ecological assessment methods: A critical review of their sensitivity to key pressures.

ABSTRACT: The European Union has embarked on a policy which aims to achieve good ecological status in all surface waters (i.e. rivers, lakes, transitional and coastal waters). In theory, ecological status assessment methods should address the effects of all relevant human pressures. In this study, we analyze the degree to which methods European countries use to assess ecological status tackle various pressures affecting European waters. Nutrient pollution is by far the best-covered pressure for all four water categories. Out of total of 423 assessment methods, 370 assess eutrophication and pressure-specific relationships have been demonstrated for 212 of these. "General degradation" is addressed by 238 methods, mostly validated by relationships to combined pressure indices. Other major pressures hav

SUBMITTER: Poikane S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7456781 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature