Proceedings of the Second Mediterranean Symposium on Marine

PHYTOBENTHOS AS QUALITY ELEMENT FOR THE EVALUATION
OF THE ECOLOGICAL STATUS: A CASE STUDY OF THE
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WATER FRAME DIRECTIVE (2000/60/EC)
IN THE MEDITERRANEAN ECOREGION
Panayotis PANAYOTIDIS., Barbara MONTESANTO and Sotiris ORFANIDIS
Hellenic Center for Marine Research, Institute <strong>of</strong> Oceanography, POB 712, Anavissos 19013, GREECE
ABSTRACT
A qualitative and quantitative study <strong>of</strong> macroalgae communities <strong>of</strong> three major taxonomic
groups (Chlorophyceae, Phaeophyceae and Rhodophyceae) has been carried out at <strong>the</strong>
upper infarlittoral zone <strong>of</strong> metropolitan coastal area <strong>of</strong> A<strong>the</strong>ns. The aim <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> study was
<strong>the</strong> estimation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ecological status, using <strong>the</strong> Ecological Evaluation Index (EEI) an
original biotic index based on phytobenthos. Samples were taken from 6 stations and a
list <strong>of</strong> 60 taxa was dressed. The Diversity, Evenness and Similarity Index were calculated
and compared with <strong>the</strong> EEI. Based on <strong>the</strong> calculated indexes <strong>the</strong> sampling stations were
ranged in classes <strong>of</strong> ecological status from “Low” to “High”, in terms <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Water
Framework Directive 2000/60/EC.
KEY WORDS: Phytobenthos, Ecological Status, WFD, phytobenthos, Aegean Sea, Greece
INTRODUCTION
The phytobenthos is mentioned in <strong>the</strong> Framework Directive for <strong>the</strong> Water Policy (WFD,
2000/60/EC) as one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> three quality elements, proposed for <strong>the</strong> classification <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
Ecological Status (ES) <strong>of</strong> coastal and transitional waters (<strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r two quality elements
are zoobenthos and phytoplancton). The term “classes <strong>of</strong> Ecological Status” is used in
<strong>the</strong> text <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> WFD in order to describe <strong>the</strong> degree <strong>of</strong> human impact on <strong>the</strong> biological
communities living in a water body. Five classes <strong>of</strong> quality (high, good, moderate, low
and bad) are foreseen, <strong>the</strong> high class reflecting <strong>the</strong> undisturbed or “reference” conditions
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ecosystem (EC, 2000).
The present paper is a case study <strong>of</strong> implementation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> WFD in <strong>the</strong> <strong>Mediterranean</strong>,
one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> eco-regions <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> European coastline. The paper aims to demonstrate that
several ecological indexes based on <strong>the</strong> composition and abundance <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> hard bottom
phytobenthos in <strong>the</strong> upper infralittoral zone could give good tools for <strong>the</strong> rapid
assessment <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> ecological quality <strong>of</strong> coastal waters.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Six sampling stations were studied at <strong>the</strong> upper infralittoral zone on <strong>the</strong> marine front <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
metropolitan area <strong>of</strong> A<strong>the</strong>ns (coasts <strong>of</strong> Attika in Saronikos and S. Evoikos gulfs, Fig. 1).
ACTES DU DEUXIEME SYMPOSIUM MEDITERRANEEN SUR LA VEGETATION MARINE (ATHENES, 12-13 DECEMBRE 2003)
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