Evaluation Score and Interpretation Index for the Ecological Quality of Running Waters in Central and Northern Hellas

Abstract

The present study aims at creating an evaluation system for the quality of running waters, based on the analysis of benthic macroinvertebrate records from Hellenic rivers (473 samples from 8 river basins). The proposed evaluation system (Hellenic Evaluation Score and its Interpretation Index) may be used for waters sampled with the cost effective semi-quantitative sampling method of "3 min kick-sweep" and requires benthic macroinvertebrates to be identified to the taxonomic level of family. Though resulting from a modification of the Spanish score BMWP, it differs from it in the following characteristics: a) it includes the relative abundance of benthic macroinvertebrates and b) it takes into consideration the habitat diversity of the studied site, classifying it as "poor" or "rich", based on some parameters of the System B of the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EU). Its interpretation is also based on a five-scaled classification system, consistent with the provisions of the same Directive.

Distribution, Recent Mortalities and Conservation Measures of Crayfish in Hellenic Fresh Waters

“…Crayfish fishing nevertheless should be carefully controlled and managed in order to keep the fishing pressure as low as possible while people can exploit these valuable animals. Finally, the new Water Framework Directive 2000/60EC requires the use of biota and especially macro-invertebrates in integrated freshwater quality assessment (ARTEMIADOU and LAzARIDOU, 2005). Therefore, the presence of crayfish may be used as a powerful indicator of surface water quality.…”

Ecological Water Quality and Management at a River Basin Level: A Case Study from River Basin Kosynthos in June 2011

“…To assess the ecological quality of each site the Hellenic Evaluation System (HES) (Artemiadou & Lazaridou, 2005) and the European polymetric index STAR ICMi (European Commission 2008/915/EC) were applied to the benthic macroinvertebrate samples.…”

Macroinvertebrates as Indicators of Water Quality in Running Waters: 10 Years of Research in Rivers with Different Degrees of Anthropogenic Impacts

“…Biotic indices are tools for assessing quality based on the different response of organisms to environmental changes (Ministry of Environment, 2005). There are many biotic indices developed for different regions, for instance the TBI (Trent Biotic Index, Woodiwis, 1964), the BMWP (Biological Monitoring Working Party) and the ASPT (Average Score per Taxon) (Armitage et al, 1983;National Water Council, 1981) for the UK, the BBI -Belgian Biotic Index (De Pauw & Vanhooren, 1983;Gabriels et al, 2005) for Belgian rivers, the FBILL (Foix, Besòs i Llobregat, Prat et al, 1999) and the IBMWP (Alba-Tercedor et al, 2002) for Spain, or the HES (Hellenic Evaluation System) (Artemiadou & Lazaridou, 2005) for Greece. Many of these indices have to be adapted when they are used in different regions from where they were developed.…”