Final Report Summary - REBECCA (Relationships between ecological and chemical status of surface waters)
The REBECCA project aimed to facilitate the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in the European Union. More specifically, the project objectives were to:
1. establish links between the ecological status of surface waters, their physical and chemical quality elements and the pressures originating from different sources and
2. to develop and evaluate tools that could be used in the classification, conceptualisation of monitoring programs and design of measures by the European Member States, according to WFD requirements.
Firstly, a thorough literature review was elaborated to assess the state of the art. The most important knowledge gaps were therefore identified and analysed and the project scope of works was revised to take into consideration the review findings. In addition, chemical and biological data with significant geographical and temporal coverage were collected in order to analyse the existing relationships and evaluate the potential ecological thresholds which could be used to define different water quality classes. In spite of the efforts to ensure data harmonisation, the heterogeneity of the processed sets remained a source of uncertainty throughout the project.
The data sets were then utilised for the assessment of various ecological and biological issues and to investigate relationships between pressures and biological quality elements. A thorough examination of taxonomic phytoplankton groups in lakes was elaborated, since they formed the most promising indicators of eutrophication. The benthic diatoms were used for similar analyses in rivers. The relationships between different burdens and biological indicators were found to be weaker in rivers in comparison to lakes, since the first were often simultaneously exposed to numerous strains. Therefore, the identification of indicators for combined pressures was also necessary. Moreover, integrated indicators and single metrics were implemented in coastal waters, proving that eutrophic systems had less capacity to counteract strains and thus had lower resilience.
The results on integrated indicators were promising, since they could provide a good insight to ecosystems' functioning and serve as supporting tools for the WFD implementation. However, the attained progress did not yet allow for their direct exploitation and further research was necessary. Nevertheless, all relevant results were communicated to water authorities and policy makers at national and international levels through the implementation of various dissemination activities.
1. establish links between the ecological status of surface waters, their physical and chemical quality elements and the pressures originating from different sources and
2. to develop and evaluate tools that could be used in the classification, conceptualisation of monitoring programs and design of measures by the European Member States, according to WFD requirements.
Firstly, a thorough literature review was elaborated to assess the state of the art. The most important knowledge gaps were therefore identified and analysed and the project scope of works was revised to take into consideration the review findings. In addition, chemical and biological data with significant geographical and temporal coverage were collected in order to analyse the existing relationships and evaluate the potential ecological thresholds which could be used to define different water quality classes. In spite of the efforts to ensure data harmonisation, the heterogeneity of the processed sets remained a source of uncertainty throughout the project.
The data sets were then utilised for the assessment of various ecological and biological issues and to investigate relationships between pressures and biological quality elements. A thorough examination of taxonomic phytoplankton groups in lakes was elaborated, since they formed the most promising indicators of eutrophication. The benthic diatoms were used for similar analyses in rivers. The relationships between different burdens and biological indicators were found to be weaker in rivers in comparison to lakes, since the first were often simultaneously exposed to numerous strains. Therefore, the identification of indicators for combined pressures was also necessary. Moreover, integrated indicators and single metrics were implemented in coastal waters, proving that eutrophic systems had less capacity to counteract strains and thus had lower resilience.
The results on integrated indicators were promising, since they could provide a good insight to ecosystems' functioning and serve as supporting tools for the WFD implementation. However, the attained progress did not yet allow for their direct exploitation and further research was necessary. Nevertheless, all relevant results were communicated to water authorities and policy makers at national and international levels through the implementation of various dissemination activities.