A simple fish-based approach to assess the ecological quality of freshwater reservoirs in Central Europe

0483163 - BC 2018 RIV FR eng J - Článek v odborném periodiku
Blabolil, Petr - Říha, Milan - Ricard, Daniel - Peterka, Jiří - Prchalová, Marie - Vašek, Mojmír - Čech, Martin - Frouzová, Jaroslava - Jůza, Tomáš - Muška, Milan - Tušer, Michal - Draštík, Vladislav - Sajdlová, Zuzana - Šmejkal, Marek - Vejřík, Lukáš - Matěna, Josef - Boukal, D.S. - Ritterbusch, D. - Kubečka, Jan
A simple fish-based approach to assess the ecological quality of freshwater reservoirs in Central Europe.
Knowledge and Management of Aquatic Ecosystems. Roč. 418, November (2017), č. článku 53. ISSN 1961-9502. E-ISSN 1961-9502
Grant CEP: GA MŠMT(CZ) EE2.3.20.0204; GA ČR(CZ) GA15-01625S; GA MŠMT(CZ) LM2015075; GA MŠMT(CZ) EE2.3.30.0032
Institucionální podpora: RVO:60077344
Klíčová slova: artificial lakes * fish indicators * eutrophication * gillnets * index sensitivity
Obor OECD: Marine biology, freshwater biology, limnology
Impakt faktor: 1.525, rok: 2017

The assessment of ecological quality in freshwater ecosystems is a key issue in many countries, but conditions for the development of assessment methodologies are often country-specific. This study proposes a simple methodology for the assessment of the ecological potential of reservoirs based on fish communities using a dataset covering major environmental and pressure gradients in reservoirs in the Czech Republic. Fish data obtained by gillnet sampling were correlated with a proxy of eutrophication as a key indicator of anthropogenic pressure for selecting appropriate fish-based indicators, establishing scoring criteria and developing the index of ecological quality. Expert judgement was also used to select potential fish indicators. Nine indicators were selected for the final fish-based index, fulfilling the criteria required by the Water Framework Directive. Two steps were used to validate the fish-based index quantification of its inter annual stability and sensitivity analysis of individual indicators. Finally, the index was compared to a previously developed general index for Central and Western Europe. Our study demonstrates that a combination of expert judgement and strict validation methods can result in an informative assessment of the ecological conditions, which can help identify conservation and restoration priorities.
Trvalý link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0278563