title: Critical appraisal on the identification of Reference Conditions for the evaluation of ecological quality status along the Emilia-Romagna coast (Italy) using M-AMBI.
abstract: According to the European Water Framework Directive, the ecological status (ES) of a water body is determined by comparing observation data with undisturbed Reference Conditions (RCs). Defining RCs is crucial when evaluating the ES of a water body as it strongly affects the final outcome of any index application. Identifying RCs by observing real sites is not feasible in many marine environments, such as the Emilia-Romagna coast (Italy, N-Adriatic Sea). We used a statistical approach on a large dataset to derive RCs for the application of the benthic index M-AMBI in this area. We then applied M-AMBI to samples collected along a gradient of presumed environmental disturbance. The results put 14.8% of the Emilia-Romagna samples in "High" ES, 60.2% in "Good", 23.0% in "Moderate" and 2.0% in "Poor", showing a spatial gradient of improving quality. These results are in agreement with the extensive ecological knowledge available for this area.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e dell' Ambiente, University of Pavia, Via S. Epifanio 14, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Paganelli
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Forni
authors.forename: Agnese
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marchini
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mazziotti
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Occhipinti-Ambrogi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D007558:Italy; D008386:Marine Biology / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000592:standards
chemical_list: D014873:Water Pollutants