Efficacy of adapted estuarine fish-based multimetric indices as tools for evaluating ecological status of the marine environment.
The assessment of ecological status of marine fish communities required by the marine strategy framework directive (MSFD) emphasises the need for fish-based ecological indices in marine waters. In this study we adapt five estuarine multimetric indices to the marine environment and apply them in three types of substrates, analysing the metrics responsible for the obtained patterns of ecological status. The results show inefficiency of the community degradation index (CDI) and the biological health index (BHI) in ecological status assessment and disagreement between the estuarine biotic integrity index (EBI), the estuarine fish community index (EFCI) and the transitional fish classification index (TFCI). Analysis of individual metrics suggests lack of representativeness and consideration for the particularities of each substrate's typical fish communities. None of the tested indices were efficient on the marine environment, urging the need for new marine indices that account for differences between types of substrate and depth.
Henriques
Sofia
S
Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, Instituto de Oceanografia, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal. snpires@fc.ul.pt
Pais
Miguel Pessanha
MP
Costa
Maria José
MJ
Cabral
Henrique
H
D000818:Animals; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005399:Fishes / Q000502:physiology*; D005618:Fresh Water; D008954:Models, Biological; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D011157:Population Dynamics; D045483:Rivers; D012623:Seawater