Proceedings of the Second Mediterranean Symposium on Marine
Proceedings of the Second Mediterranean Symposium on Marine
Proceedings of the Second Mediterranean Symposium on Marine
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
RAPID ASSESSMENT OF THE ECOLOGICAL STATUS<br />
OF A GREEK COASTAL AREA BASED ON PHYTOBENTHOS:<br />
PRELIMINARY RESULTS.<br />
Maria SALOMIDI, Maria Ant<strong>on</strong>ietta - PANCUCCI-PAPADOPOULOU, Georges-Angelos ,<br />
HATIRIS and Panayotis PANAYOTIDIS<br />
Nati<strong>on</strong>al Centre for <strong>Marine</strong> Research, P.O. Box 712, 19013 Anavyssos, Attica.<br />
e-mail : msal@ncmr.gr<br />
ABSTRACT<br />
The need to develop rapid bio-assessment techniques for assessing <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> ecological<br />
quality <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> coastal waters is emphasized by both scientists and policy makers. In this study<br />
n<strong>on</strong>-destructive sampling was performed <strong>on</strong> macrophytobenthic populati<strong>on</strong>s <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
upper infralittoral z<strong>on</strong>e at five sites in Rhodes Island (Aegean Sea, Greece), from <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> busy<br />
port <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> town <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> Rhodes to a recreati<strong>on</strong>al beach in Ladik<strong>on</strong> bay. All sites present<br />
various forms and degrees <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> anthropogenic disturbance. Photographic sampling was<br />
performed and <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> Ecological Evaluati<strong>on</strong> Index was applied <strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> quantified visual data<br />
to assess <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> ecological status (in terms <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> WFD) <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> study area. The first results<br />
classified <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> five sites in three different Ecological Status Categories, ranging from Low<br />
at <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> Port <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> Rhodes to High at <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> distant Ladik<strong>on</strong> Bay. All intermediate stati<strong>on</strong>s were<br />
classified as Good. Fur<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r studies in terms <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> seas<strong>on</strong>ality are necessary in order to<br />
c<strong>on</strong>firm <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>se results.<br />
KEY WORDS: phytobenthos, ecological evaluati<strong>on</strong>, rapid assessment, visual sampling<br />
INTRODUCTION<br />
Developing rapid bio-assessment techniques is becoming a major comm<strong>on</strong> goal in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
field <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> marine ecology for several scientific and management purposes (Salomidi,<br />
2003). Fur<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>rmore, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> European Water Policy, as expressed in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> Water Framework<br />
Directive (EEC, 2000), is prompting for an immediate quality classificati<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> all<br />
European coastal waters. In this c<strong>on</strong>cept, we present here <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> appliance <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> a newly<br />
introduced Ecological Evaluati<strong>on</strong> Index <strong>on</strong> marine macrophytobenthic photographic<br />
samples. Although <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> EEI is already known to apply well <strong>on</strong> tangible data (Orfanidis<br />
et al., 2001), this is <strong>on</strong>e <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> first attempts to test whe<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r its combinati<strong>on</strong> with a visual<br />
sampling method could provide us with a rapid assessment tool.<br />
MATERIALS AND METHODS<br />
Visual sampling<br />
Sampling was performed by free diving <strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> upper infralittoral z<strong>on</strong>e (0-50 cm). This<br />
z<strong>on</strong>e is shown to resp<strong>on</strong>d well to <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> various anthropogenic impacts as it is directly<br />
subjected to pressures related to coastal activities. Moreover, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> requirement <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> SCUBA<br />
ACTES DU DEUXIEME SYMPOSIUM MEDITERRANEEN SUR LA VEGETATION MARINE (ATHENES, 12-13 DECEMBRE 2003)<br />
211