| Updated in 4/9/2019 6:19:09 PM |
Viewed: 300 times |
(Journal Article) |
Marine pollution bulletin 58 (11): 1727-33 (2009)
Assessment of the ecological status of Mediterranean French coastal waters as required by the Water Framework Directive using the Posidonia oceanica Rapid Easy Index: PREI.
Sylvie Gobert
,
Stéphane Sartoretto
,
Valérie Rico-Raimondino
,
Bruno Andral
,
Aurelia Chery
,
Pierre Lejeune
,
Pierre Boissery
ABSTRACT
This paper describes the PREI (Posidonia oceanica Rapid Easy Index), a method used to assess the ecological status of seawater along Mediterranean French coasts. The PREI was drawn up according to the requirements of the Water Framework Directive (WFD 2000/60/EC) and was tested on 24 and 18 stations in PACA (Provence-Alpes-Côtes d'Azur) and Corsica, respectively. The PREI is based on five metrics: shoot density, shoot leaf surface area, E/L ratio (epiphytic biomass/leaf biomass), depth of lower limit, and type of this lower limit. The 42 studied stations were classified in the first four levels of status: high, good, moderate and poor. The PREI values ranged between 0.280 and 0.847; this classification is in accordance with our field knowledge and with our knowledge of the literature. The PREI was validated regarding human pressure levels (r(2)=0.74). (http://eurex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2000:327:0001:0072:EN:PDF).