Ecological Quality Assessment of Greek Lowland Rivers with Aquatic Macrophytes in Compliance with the EU Water Framework Directive
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Field Surveys
2.2. Statistical Treatment of Environmental Pressure Data—Identification of the Main Stress Gradient
2.3. Development and Implementation of the IBMRGR Index
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Determination of the Least Disturbed/Unstressed Sites
3.2. Definition of the Ecological Class Boundaries of the IBMRGR
3.3. Ecological Classification of the River Sites
3.4. The Use of the IBMRGR Index for Ecological Classification of Greek Running Waters—Strengths and Potential Caveats
4. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Stressor | Description | |
---|---|---|
Hydromorphological | Channel profile/cross section alteration | Degree of channel profile modification present at the site/cross section alteration |
Channel morphology | Degree of the morphological modification of the channel present at the site | |
Local habitat alteration | Alteration of instream habitats | |
Stream hydrology | Degree of the hydrological alteration present at the site | |
Upstream dams influence | Effect of upstream dams | |
Water abstraction | Effect of water abstraction at the site | |
Dykes (flood protection) | Effect of dykes for flood protection | |
Physicochemical | pH | Sorensen scale |
Conductivity | Conductivity [mS/cm] | |
Ammonium | Ammonia concentration in the water [mg/L NH4+] | |
Nitrate | Nitrate concentration in the water [mg/L NO3−] | |
Total nitrogen | Total Nitrogen [mg/L TN] | |
Total phosphorus | Concentration of total phosphorus in the water [mg/L TP] | |
Orthophosphates | Concentration of Orthophosphates in the water [mg/L PO4 3−] | |
DO | Concentration of dissolved oxygen [mg/L] | |
Land use | Urbanization | Urban and industrial areas in immediate vicinity of site |
Agriculture | Agriculture at the immediate vicinity of site |
Stressor | PC1 | PC2 |
---|---|---|
Channel profile/cross section alteration | 0.882 | −0.082 |
Channel morphology | 0.872 | −0.099 |
Habitat alteration | 0.848 | 0.012 |
Stream hydrology | 0.877 | −0.093 |
Dams influence | −0.137 | 0.35 |
Water abstraction | 0.822 | −0.048 |
Dykes | 0.619 | −0.282 |
DO | −0.436 | −0.225 |
pH | −0.168 | −0.21 |
Electrical conductivity | 0.596 | −0.109 |
Ammonium | 0.407 | 0.799 |
Nitrate | 0.283 | 0.834 |
Phosphate | 0.268 | 0.82 |
Urbanization | 0.325 | 0.167 |
Agriculture | 0.868 | −0.189 |
Type | Ecological Quality Class Boundaries | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
High | Good | Moderate | Poor | Bad | ||||||
MIN | MAX | MIN | MAX | MIN | MAX | MIN | MAX | MIN | MAX | |
R-M1 | >0.705 | 1 | >0.529 | ≤0.705 | >0.352 | ≤0.529 | >0.176 | ≤0.352 | 0 | ≤0.176 |
R-M2 | >0.754 | 1 | >0.567 | ≤0.754 | >0.378 | ≤0.567 | >0.189 | ≤0.378 | 0 | ≤0.189 |
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Stefanidis, K.; Dimitrellos, G.; Sarika, M.; Tsoukalas, D.; Papastergiadou, E. Ecological Quality Assessment of Greek Lowland Rivers with Aquatic Macrophytes in Compliance with the EU Water Framework Directive. Water 2022, 14, 2771. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14182771
Stefanidis K, Dimitrellos G, Sarika M, Tsoukalas D, Papastergiadou E. Ecological Quality Assessment of Greek Lowland Rivers with Aquatic Macrophytes in Compliance with the EU Water Framework Directive. Water. 2022; 14(18):2771. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14182771
Chicago/Turabian StyleStefanidis, Konstantinos, Georgios Dimitrellos, Maria Sarika, Dionysios Tsoukalas, and Eva Papastergiadou. 2022. "Ecological Quality Assessment of Greek Lowland Rivers with Aquatic Macrophytes in Compliance with the EU Water Framework Directive" Water 14, no. 18: 2771. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14182771