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ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil Advance Access originally published online on August 1, 2008
ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil 2008 65(8):1442-1448; doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsn123
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© 2008 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. Published by Oxford Journals. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

This article appears in the following ICES Journal of Marine Science issue: Marine Environmental Indicators: Utility in Meeting Regulatory Needs [View the issue table of contents]

Applicability of the trophic index TRIX in two transitional ecosystems: the Mar Menor lagoon (Spain) and the Mondego estuary (Portugal)

Fuensanta Salas1, Heliana Teixeira2, Concepción Marcos1, João Carlos Marques2 and Angel Pérez-Ruzafa1

1 Department of Ecology and Hydrology, Faculty of Biology, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
2 IMAR, Institute of Marine Research, c/o Department of Zoology, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra, 3004-517 Coimbra, Portugal

Correspondence to F. Salas: tel: +34 968364326; fax: +34 968363963; e-mail: fuenmar{at}um.es

Salas, F., Teixeira, H., Marcos, C., Marques, J. C., and Pérez-Ruzafa, A. 2008. Applicability of the trophic index TRIX in two transitional ecosystems: the Mar Menor lagoon (Spain) and the Mondego estuary (Portugal). – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 65: 1442–1448.

Ecological indicators are commonly used to provide synoptic information about the state of ecosystems. Their main attribute is that they combine a range of environmental factors in a single value, which is thought useful for management and for making ecological-quality concepts easily understandable by the general public. In some European countries, the trophic state of marine and coastal waters is characterized using the trophic index TRIX. We used TRIX in the studies of the Mar Menor coastal lagoon (southeast Spain) and the Mondego estuary (northwest Portugal). These areas are under environmental stress, and eutrophication processes have been monitored in recent years. The results demonstrate the inefficacy of TRIX as a trustworthy tool to classify eutrophication status in estuarine waters. The causes of the malfunction of the index are discussed, and we suggest that, if the index is to be applied over wide areas, the classification criteria will have to be adapted to specific environments.

Keywords: ecological indicators, eutrophication, trophic index

Received 23 November 2007; accepted 15 May 2008; advance access publication 1 August 2008.


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