title: Uncertainty analysis along the ecological quality status of water bodies: the response of the Posidonia oceanica multivariate index (POMI) in three Mediterranean regions.
abstract: Uncertainty analyses allow the identification and quantification of the factors that contribute to the potential misclassification of the ecological status of water bodies, helping to improve the sampling design used in monitoring. Here we used a Posidonia oceanica multivariate index (POMI) bio-monitoring dataset covering a total of 81 sites distributed throughout 28 water bodies from the coast of Catalonia, Balearic Islands and Croatia to determine the levels of uncertainty associated with each region and how they change according to the quality status of water bodies. Overall, variability among sites (meadows) within water bodies was the factor that generated the greatest risk of misclassification among the three regions, within which the Balearic Islands had the lowest uncertainty, followed by Croatia and Catalonia. When water bodies classified in good/high quality were separated from those in moderate/poor status classes, we found that the latter displayed higher levels of uncertainty than the former.
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CSIC), C/d'Accés a la Cala St., Francesc 14, 17300 Blanes, Girona, Spain. omascaro@ceab.csic.es
authors.forename: Oriol
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Mascaró
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.forename: Núria
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Marbà
authors.forename: Vedran
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nikolić
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Romero
authors.forename: Carlos M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Duarte
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Alcoverro
mesh_terms: D035961:Alismatales / Q000502:physiology*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000737:chemistry*; D019083:Mediterranean Region; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D035501:Uncertainty; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D014873:Water Pollutants