ESMI: a macrophyte index for assessing the ecological status of lakes
Open Access
- 18 May 2014
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
- Vol. 186 (9), 5501-5517
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-014-3799-1
Abstract
The paper introduces the Ecological State Macrophyte Index (ESMI), a method compliant with the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) for assessing the ecological status of lakes based on macrophytes. A description of the elaboration of macrophyte metrics, relevant reference conditions and a classification system for two types of high-alkalinity lowland lakes (stratified and polymictic), and a customised field survey procedure based on belt transects are presented. The ESMI evaluates two aspects of macrophyte community: taxonomic composition (index of evenness J) and abundance (colonisation index Z), which are combined into one multimetric. ESMI values range from 0 to 1, where 1 denotes pristine conditions and 0, highly degraded habitats. The high/good class boundary (H/G) was set at the first quartile of ESMI values of reference lakes. For the other classes, boundaries were set by dividing the range of ESMI values between the H/G boundary and the minimum value recorded in the dataset in a logarithmic scale into four. The ESMI correlated best with water transparency (Pearson’s R = 0.62 in stratified lakes and 0.79 in polymictic ones), whereas the correlations with phosphorus and nitrogen concentrations were somewhat weaker (R = −0.48 to −0.57). Based on the results of international intercalibration, the original class boundaries were modified (merged for stratified and polymictic lakes, the good/moderate boundary tightened to approximately 20 %), to make ESMI-based assessment results comparable with the outcomes of other European methods.Keywords
This publication has 41 references indexed in Scilit:
- Indicator value of lotic water mites (Acari: Hydrachnidia) and their use in macroinvertebrate-based indices for water quality assessment purposesKnowledge & Management of Aquatic Ecosystems, 2013
- A comparison of two methods for surveying aquatic macrophyte communities in boreal lakes: Implications for bioassessmentAquatic Botany, 2013
- Submerged macrophytes as indicators of the ecological quality of lakesFreshwater Biology, 2010
- The Relation between Evenness and DiversityDiversity, 2010
- Using aquatic macrophyte community indices to define the ecological status of European lakesAquatic Ecology, 2008
- The influence of water transparency on the distribution and abundance of macrophytes among lakes of the Mackenzie Delta, Western Canadian ArcticFreshwater Biology, 2002
- Trophic structure, species richness and biodiversity in Danish lakes: changes along a phosphorus gradientFreshwater Biology, 2000
- Depth limits and minimum light requirements of freshwater macrophytesFreshwater Biology, 1997
- Evaluating the predictive power of regression modelsCanadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 1996
- Littoral slope as a predictor of the maximum biomass of submerged macrophyte communities1,1Limnology and Oceanography, 1986