title: Assessing the ecological status in the context of the European Water Framework Directive: where do we go now?
abstract: The Water Framework Directive (WFD) is now well established as the key management imperative in river basins across Europe. However, there remain significant concerns with the way WFD is implemented and there is now a need for water managers and scientists to communicate better in order to find solutions to these concerns. To address this, a Science-Policy Interface (SPI) activity was launched in 2010 led by Directorate-General for Research and Innovation and Onema (the French national agency for water and aquatic ecosystems), which provided an interactive forum to connect scientists and WFD end-users. One major aim of the SPI activity was to establish a list of the most crucial research and development needs for enhancing WFD implementation. This paper synthesises the recommendations from this event highlighting 10 priority issues relating to ecological status. For lakes, temporary streams and transitional and coastal waters, WFD implementation still suffers from a lack of WFD-compliant bioassessment methods. For rivers, special attention is required to assess the ecological impacts of hydromorphological alterations on biological communities, notably those affecting river continuity and riparian covering. Spatial extrapolation tools are needed in order to evaluate ecological status for water bodies for which no data are available. The need for more functional bioassessment tools as complements to usual WFD-compliant tools, and to connect clearly good ecological state, biodiversity and ecosystem services when implementing WFD were also identified as crucial issues.
authors.affiliation: Onema (Office National de l'Eau et des Milieux Aquatiques), Direction de l'Action Scientifique et Technique (DAST), 5 square Felix Nadar, 94300 Vincennes, France. Electronic address: yorick.reyjol@onema.fr.
authors.forename: Yorick
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Reyjol
authors.affiliation: Irstea, UR HYAX, Pôle d'études et recherches en Hydroécologie des plans d'eau Onema/Irstea, 3275 route de Cézanne, CS 40061, 13182 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Argillier
authors.affiliation: European Commission, DG Joint Research Centre, Water Resources Unit, via E. Fermi 2749, T.P. 460, I-21027 Ispra, VA, Italy.
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Bonne
authors.affiliation: AZTI-Tecnalia, Marine Research Division, Herrera Kaia, Portualdea s/n, 20110 Pasaia, Spain.
authors.forename: Angel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Borja
authors.affiliation: DELTARES, Department of Freshwater Ecology and Water Quality, P.O. Box 177, 2600 MH Delft, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Anthonie D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Buijse
authors.affiliation: European Commission, DG Joint Research Centre, Water Resources Unit, via E. Fermi 2749, T.P. 460, I-21027 Ispra, VA, Italy.
authors.forename: Ana Cristina
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Cardoso
authors.affiliation: Irstea, UR HYAX, Pôle d'études et recherches en Hydroécologie des plans d'eau Onema/Irstea, 3275 route de Cézanne, CS 40061, 13182 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Daufresne
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kernan
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Resources, Environment and Landscape, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Maria Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.affiliation: European Commission, DG Joint Research Centre, Water Resources Unit, via E. Fermi 2749, T.P. 460, I-21027 Ispra, VA, Italy.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Poikane
authors.affiliation: Grup de Recerca F.E.M. (Freshwater Ecology and Management), Dept. Ecologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Narcís
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Prat
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), Gaustadalleen 21, 0349 Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Anne-Lyche
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Solheim
authors.affiliation: Agence de l'eau Rhône, Méditerranée Corse, 2-4 allée de Lodz, 69363 Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stroffek
authors.affiliation: Université de Lorraine, Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire des Environnements Continentaux (LIEC), CNRS UMR 7360, rue du Général Delestraint, 57070 Metz, France.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Usseglio-Polatera
authors.affiliation: UR MALY, Pôle d'études et recherches en Hydroécologie des cours d'eau, Irstea centre de Lyon-Villeurbanne, 5 rue de la Doua, CS70077, 69626 Villeurbanne Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Bertrand
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Villeneuve
authors.affiliation: European Commission, DG Joint Research Centre, Water Resources Unit, via E. Fermi 2749, T.P. 460, I-21027 Ispra, VA, Italy.
authors.forename: Wouter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: van de Bund
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000379:methods; D004463:Ecology; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D058735:Environmental Policy; D005060:Europe; D014876:Water Pollution
keywords: Aquatic ecosystems; Bioassessment; Science-policy interface; State-of-the-art; WFD