The potential of four benthic indices (AMBI/M-AMBI, BENTIX, BITS) was assessed in Italian coastal transitional ecosystems. The community composition showed a strong dominance of lagoonal, tolerant species, and out of more of 400 species found, only about 40 taxa were dominant. The full agreement of the four indices on an undegraded (Good or better) or degraded (Moderate or worse) status occurred only in 32.3% of stations. This study evidenced that BENTIX is inappropriate for eutrophic Adriatic lagoons, and that in such environments M-AMBI classification is actually too much dependent on diversity and richness, and seems unable to capture some peculiarities of benthic assemblages in transitional waters. AMBI and BITS gave similar classifications despite the different level of taxonomic identification needed. The unmodified use of these indices might impair accurate assessment of ecological quality status and decision-making on the managers’ point of view.

Towards the application of the Water Framework Directive in Italy: assessing the potential of benthic tools in Adriatic coastal transitional ecosystems.

MUNARI, Cristina;MISTRI, Michele
2010

Abstract

The potential of four benthic indices (AMBI/M-AMBI, BENTIX, BITS) was assessed in Italian coastal transitional ecosystems. The community composition showed a strong dominance of lagoonal, tolerant species, and out of more of 400 species found, only about 40 taxa were dominant. The full agreement of the four indices on an undegraded (Good or better) or degraded (Moderate or worse) status occurred only in 32.3% of stations. This study evidenced that BENTIX is inappropriate for eutrophic Adriatic lagoons, and that in such environments M-AMBI classification is actually too much dependent on diversity and richness, and seems unable to capture some peculiarities of benthic assemblages in transitional waters. AMBI and BITS gave similar classifications despite the different level of taxonomic identification needed. The unmodified use of these indices might impair accurate assessment of ecological quality status and decision-making on the managers’ point of view.
2010
Munari, Cristina; Mistri, Michele
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11392/1383655
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 48
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 39
social impact