Historical distribution of freshwater fishes and the reference conditions concept in a large Mediterranean basin

The European Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD) defines the ecological status of aquatic systems as the deviation between their present biological state and that which would be expected in the absence of any major human disturbance, referred to by the WFD as the ‘reference condition’ (RC). I...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ramos Merchante, Adrián, Sáez Gómez, Pedro, Prenda Marín, José
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Huelva (UHU)
Repositorio:Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ariasmontano.uhu.es:10272/19351
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10272/19351
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:River
Reservoir
Stream
Ecological status
Water Framework 46 Directive
Fish
Agriculture
Alien species
Impoundment
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spelling Historical distribution of freshwater fishes and the reference conditions concept in a large Mediterranean basinRamos Merchante, AdriánSáez Gómez, PedroPrenda Marín, JoséRiverReservoirStreamEcological statusWater Framework 46 DirectiveFishAgricultureAlien speciesImpoundmentThe European Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD) defines the ecological status of aquatic systems as the deviation between their present biological state and that which would be expected in the absence of any major human disturbance, referred to by the WFD as the ‘reference condition’ (RC). It assumes that their biotic composition should remain balanced and constant over time. This study tested both assumptions against an analysis of the historical distribution of the fish fauna in a large and highly disturbed Mediterranean basin. If fish communities change substantially over time, it will mean that the validity of the RC concept comes into question. Using presence/absence data for historical native fish fauna from the Guadalquivir Basin, distribution changes among sub‐basins were quantified by mapping between the nineteenth century and today. The range of two native species (Anguilla anguilla and Salmo trutta) has changed significantly. In addition, the diadromous species assemblage has almost become locally extinct, with the exception of the eel. Finally, most Guadalquivir sub‐basins (94.7%) have suffered major changes in the composition of their fish communities, either by losing native species or by adding new non‐native species. These results render the definition of any RC unlikely. In Mediterranean areas, the WFD objective of ‘good ecological status’ recovery based on the integrity of aquatic communities is a theoretical rather than a real goal. Nonetheless, the WFD provides an ecological guiding principle that can also be transferred to the conservation of freshwater ecosystems. As an alternative to the RC concept in Mediterranean lotic ecosystems, specific multimetric indices can be used, based on expert criteria, the metrics of which can also relate to the conservation value of water bodies, and not only to their ecological status.Wiley20212021-01-0120212021-01-01journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501AMhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_ab4af688f83e57aainfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10272/19351reponame:Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelvainstname:Universidad de Huelva (UHU)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 Españahttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:ariasmontano.uhu.es:10272/193512026-06-02T14:58:11Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Historical distribution of freshwater fishes and the reference conditions concept in a large Mediterranean basin
title Historical distribution of freshwater fishes and the reference conditions concept in a large Mediterranean basin
spellingShingle Historical distribution of freshwater fishes and the reference conditions concept in a large Mediterranean basin
Ramos Merchante, Adrián
River
Reservoir
Stream
Ecological status
Water Framework 46 Directive
Fish
Agriculture
Alien species
Impoundment
title_short Historical distribution of freshwater fishes and the reference conditions concept in a large Mediterranean basin
title_full Historical distribution of freshwater fishes and the reference conditions concept in a large Mediterranean basin
title_fullStr Historical distribution of freshwater fishes and the reference conditions concept in a large Mediterranean basin
title_full_unstemmed Historical distribution of freshwater fishes and the reference conditions concept in a large Mediterranean basin
title_sort Historical distribution of freshwater fishes and the reference conditions concept in a large Mediterranean basin
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Ramos Merchante, Adrián
Sáez Gómez, Pedro
Prenda Marín, José
author Ramos Merchante, Adrián
author_facet Ramos Merchante, Adrián
Sáez Gómez, Pedro
Prenda Marín, José
author_role author
author2 Sáez Gómez, Pedro
Prenda Marín, José
author2_role author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv River
Reservoir
Stream
Ecological status
Water Framework 46 Directive
Fish
Agriculture
Alien species
Impoundment
topic River
Reservoir
Stream
Ecological status
Water Framework 46 Directive
Fish
Agriculture
Alien species
Impoundment
description The European Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC (WFD) defines the ecological status of aquatic systems as the deviation between their present biological state and that which would be expected in the absence of any major human disturbance, referred to by the WFD as the ‘reference condition’ (RC). It assumes that their biotic composition should remain balanced and constant over time. This study tested both assumptions against an analysis of the historical distribution of the fish fauna in a large and highly disturbed Mediterranean basin. If fish communities change substantially over time, it will mean that the validity of the RC concept comes into question. Using presence/absence data for historical native fish fauna from the Guadalquivir Basin, distribution changes among sub‐basins were quantified by mapping between the nineteenth century and today. The range of two native species (Anguilla anguilla and Salmo trutta) has changed significantly. In addition, the diadromous species assemblage has almost become locally extinct, with the exception of the eel. Finally, most Guadalquivir sub‐basins (94.7%) have suffered major changes in the composition of their fish communities, either by losing native species or by adding new non‐native species. These results render the definition of any RC unlikely. In Mediterranean areas, the WFD objective of ‘good ecological status’ recovery based on the integrity of aquatic communities is a theoretical rather than a real goal. Nonetheless, the WFD provides an ecological guiding principle that can also be transferred to the conservation of freshwater ecosystems. As an alternative to the RC concept in Mediterranean lotic ecosystems, specific multimetric indices can be used, based on expert criteria, the metrics of which can also relate to the conservation value of water bodies, and not only to their ecological status.
publishDate 2021
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2021
2021-01-01
2021
2021-01-01
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
AM
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_ab4af688f83e57aa
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10272/19351
url http://hdl.handle.net/10272/19351
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 España
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 España
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
instname:Universidad de Huelva (UHU)
instname_str Universidad de Huelva (UHU)
reponame_str Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
collection Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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