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

Gobert, Sylvie; Sartoretto, Stéphane; Rico-Raimondino, Valérie; Andral, Bruno; Chery, Aurélia; Lejeune, Pierre; Boissery, Pierre

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

2009

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 (r²= 0.74). (http://eurex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2000:327:0001:0072:EN:PDF)

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Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (Communauté française de Belgique) - F.R.S.-FNRS

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