ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil Advance Access originally published online on September 9, 2008
ICES Journal of Marine Science: Journal du Conseil 2008 65(8):1492-1497; doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsn146
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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]
Descriptors from Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile meadows in coastal waters of Valencia, Spain, in the context of the EU Water Framework Directive
1 Department of Marine Sciences and Applied Biology, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain
2 Centro de Investigación Marina de Santa Pola, Torre d’Enmig s/n, Cabo de Santa Pola, Alicante, Spain
Correspondence to Y. Fernández-Torquemada: tel: +34 965903400 ext. 2916; fax: +34 965909897; e-mail: yolanda.fernandez{at}ua.es
Fernández-Torquemada, Y., Díaz-Valdés, M., Colilla, F., Luna, B., Sánchez-Lizaso, J. L., and Ramos-Esplá, A. A. 2008. Descriptors from Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile meadows in coastal waters of Valencia, Spain, in the context of the EU Water Framework Directive. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 65: 1492–1497.Evaluations are provided of 21 descriptors of Posidonia oceanica meadows along the coast of Valencia, Spain, with a view to using these in implementing the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). The descriptors selected are known to respond to a variety of anthropogenic disturbances. Data were collected at 17 locations during three consecutive years. A principal components analysis was used to classify the ecological status of each locality according to five classes as prescribed by the WFD. To identify the descriptors that contributed most to similarity among localities within each class and to dissimilarity between adjacent classes, a similarity percentage analysis was performed. We also correlated the descriptors with an independent set of indicators for various types of anthropogenic pressures on the water bodies associated with the different localities. The descriptors providing the most consistent information on status as well as demonstrating a significant relationship with estimated pressures were: shoot density, shoot foliar surface, dead-matte cover, meadow cover, herbivore pressure, rhizome baring/burial, foliar necrosis, percentage of plagiotropic rhizomes, and leaf-epiphyte biomass.
Keywords: biological quality element, descriptors, Posidonia oceanica, seagrass, Water Framework Directive
Received 7 December 2007; accepted 8 June 2008; advance access publication 9 September 2008.