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Comparability of river quality assessment using macrophytes: a multi-step procedure to overcome biogeographical
F C Aguiar1, P Segurado1, G Urbanič2
1Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Centro de Estudos Florestais, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal.
The Science of the Total Environment
|November 19, 2013
Summary
This study introduces a new method for intercalibrating river quality assessments across countries using macrophyte data. The approach harmonizes different national methods, ensuring consistent ecological accuracy for Water Framework Directive (WFD) compliance.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Ecology
- Water Quality Assessment
Background:
- Intercalibrating national river quality methods is challenging without a common metric, especially under the Water Framework Directive (WFD).
- Ecological accuracy in water quality assessment requires harmonized methods for reliable cross-country comparisons.
- The Mediterranean Geographical Intercalibration Group for river macrophytes faced challenges with two distinct assessment methods.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and present a novel methodological approach for intercalibrating national river quality assessment methods.
- To address the lack of a common metric and harmonize existing Water Framework Directive (WFD) assessment methods.
- To provide recommendations for future intercalibration studies focusing on ecological accuracy.
Main Methods:
- Applied a multi-step approach to harmonize boundaries of the Macrophyte Biological Index for Rivers (IBMR) and River Macrophyte Index (RMI) across seven countries.
- Utilized median boundary harmonization for common WFD-assessment methods and regression analysis to relate IBMR and RMI.
- Computed boundary bias and class differences to validate the harmonization approach.
Main Results:
- Harmonization reduced average absolute class differences to 26%, with only 16.4% of classifications differing by half a quality class.
- Regression analysis showed a significant relatedness between RMI and IBMR (R(2)=0.45; p<0.00001), enabling boundary conversion.
- The proposed multi-step intercalibration approach was endorsed by the WFD Regulatory Committee.
Conclusions:
- The developed methodological approach effectively intercalibrates national river quality methods for macrophytes, even with differing indices.
- Harmonization ensures greater ecological accuracy and comparability of water quality assessments across Mediterranean countries.
- This work highlights the importance of establishing common ground for successful international scientific collaboration in water quality monitoring.
