Sammanfattning

Despite improvements in wastewater treatment systems, the impact of anthropogenic nutrient sources remains a key issue for the management of European lakes. The Water Framework Directive (WFD) provides a mechanism through which progress can be made on this issue. The Directive requires a classification of the ecological status of phytoplankton, which includes an assessment of taxonomic composition. In this paper, we present a composition metric, the plankton trophic index, that was developed in the WISER EU FP7 project and demonstrate how it has been used to compare national phytoplankton classification systems in Northern and Central Europe. The metric was derived from summer phytoplankton data summarised by genus from 1,795 lakes, covering 20 European countries. We show that it is significantly related to total phosphorus concentrations, but that it is also sensitive to alkalinity, lake size and climatic variables. Through the use of country-specific reference values for the index, we demonstrate that it is significantly related to other national phytoplankton assessment systems and illustrate for a single European (intercalibration) lake type how it was used to intercalibrate WFD boundaries from different countries.

Nyckelord

Phytoplankton; Eutrophication; Europe; Water Framework Directive; Trophic index; Intercalibration; Classification; Indicator taxa

Publicerad i

Hydrobiologia
2013, Volym: 704, nummer: 1, sidor: 75-95
Utgivare: SPRINGER

SLU författare

• Drakare, Stina

  • Institutionen för vatten och miljö, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

Associerade SLU-program

Sjöar och vattendrag
Övergödning


Globala målen

SDG6 Säkerställa tillgången till och en hållbar förvaltning av vatten och sanitet för alla


UKÄ forskningsämne

Ekologi
Miljövetenskap
Botanik


Publikationens identifierare

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-012-1390-8

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/41245