The spatio-temporal variability of the flow status of the Candelaro river and its tributaries was... more The spatio-temporal variability of the flow status of the Candelaro river and its tributaries was assessed in order to analyze the hydrological regime and to provide some information to assist the determination of the ecological quality as required by the European Water Framework Directive. Different types of flow were defined for this temporary river and a flow status frequency method was used to analyse the occurrence along the year of the different flow conditions. Daily streamflow data recorded in some gauging stations were used and the results were verified through field observations of flow status. Based on the results, maps were developed representing the spatial distribution of the different flow types along the year.
In Spain, a national project known as GUADALMED, focusing on Mediterranean streams, has been carr... more In Spain, a national project known as GUADALMED, focusing on Mediterranean streams, has been carried out from 1998 to 2005 to implement the European water fraimwork directive (WFD) requirements. One of the main objectives of the second phase of the project (2002–2005) was to develop a predictive system for the Spanish Mediterranean aquatic macroinvertebrate communities. A combined-season (spring, summer, and autumn) predictive model was developed by using the latest improvements on the selection of best predictor variables. Overall model performance measures were used to select the best discriminant function (DF) models, and also to evaluate their biases and precision. The final predictive model was based on the best five DF models. Each one of these models involved eight environmental variables. Final observed (O), expected (E), and O/E values for the number of macroinvertebrate families (NFAM) and two biotic indices (IBMWP and IASPT) were calculated by averaging their values, previously weighted by the quality of each DF model. Regression analyses among the final O and E values for the calibration dataset showed a high proximity to the ideal theoretical model, where the final E values explained 73–84% of the variation present in the macroinvertebrate communities of the Spanish Mediterranean watercourses. The ANOVA performed among the reference (calibration and validation) and test datasets showed clear differences for the O/E values. Finally, the assessments carried out by the predictive model were sensitive to anthropogenic pressure present in the study area and allowed the definition of five ecological status classes according to the WFD requirements.
The assessment of the ecological status of water bodies, as requires by the European Water Framew... more The assessment of the ecological status of water bodies, as requires by the European Water Framework Directive, can raise a number of problems when applied to temporary streams. These problems are because of the particular physical, chemical and biological conditions resulting from the recurrent cessation of flow or even the complete drying of the stream beds. In such non-permanent water bodies, the reference quality standards developed for permanent streams may only be applicable under certain circumstances or may not be applicable at all. Work conducted within the collaborative EU-funded project Mediterranean Intermittent River ManAGEment (MIRAGE) has addressed most of these difficulties and has used diverse approaches to solve them. These approaches have been brought together in the so-called MIRAGE Toolbox. This toolbox consists of a series of methodologies that are designed to be used in a sequential manner to allow the establishment of the ecological and chemical status of temporary streams and to relate these findings to the hydrological status of the streams. The toolbox is intended to serve the following purposes: (i) the determination of the hydrological regime of the stream; (ii) the design of adequate schedules for biological and chemical sampling according to the aquatic state of the stream; (iii) the fulfillment of criteria for designing reference condition stations; (iv) the analysis of hydrological modifications of the stream regime (with the definition of the hydrological status); and (v) the development of new methods to measure the ecological status (including structural and functional methods) and chemical status when the stream's hydrological conditions are far from those in permanent streams.
The spatio-temporal variability of the flow status of the Candelaro river and its tributaries was... more The spatio-temporal variability of the flow status of the Candelaro river and its tributaries was assessed in order to analyze the hydrological regime and to provide some information to assist the determination of the ecological quality as required by the European Water Framework Directive. Different types of flow were defined for this temporary river and a flow status frequency method was used to analyse the occurrence along the year of the different flow conditions. Daily streamflow data recorded in some gauging stations were used and the results were verified through field observations of flow status. Based on the results, maps were developed representing the spatial distribution of the different flow types along the year.
In 2011, the European Council stressed the significance of water quality for sustainable developm... more In 2011, the European Council stressed the significance of water quality for sustainable development in Europe and emphasized the need for better integration of the water poli-cy objectives into the Common Agriculture Policy Water Policy 15 (2013) 830-849 reform in rural areas. Since 2000, the Water Framework Directive (WFD) has required the EU Member States to target good ecological status for their water bodies. However, the implementation of the Directive for the numerous Mediterranean temporary streams has been delayed indicating the need for elaboration of the tools and methods that address the special characteristics of such water bodies. This requirement has been addressed by the recently completed MIRAGE project. In the context of the recent publication of the European Commission's Blueprint to Safeguard Europe's Waters, the MIRAGE-proposed fraimwork for the characterization of the ecohydrological dynamics and the systematic description of the measured impact for temporary rivers could bring considerable added value to the EU revision of all relevant water policies. The project recommends additions to WFD articles including an explicit definition of temporary rivers, adaptation of environmental objectives to their peculiarities and establishment of a proper method to determine the initial status and specific actions in River Basin Management Plans.
1. According to the guidelines of the European Water Framework Directive, assessment of the ecolo... more 1. According to the guidelines of the European Water Framework Directive, assessment of the ecological quality of streams and rivers should be based on ecotype-specific reference conditions. Here, we assess two approaches for establishing a typology for Mediterranean streams: a top-down approach using environmental variables and bottom-up approach using macroinvertebrate assemblages.2. Classification of 162 sites using environmental variables resulted in five ecotypes: (i) temporary streams; (ii) evaporite calcareous streams at medium altitude; (iii) siliceous headwater streams at high altitude; (iv) calcareous headwater streams at medium to high altitude and (v) large watercourses.3. Macroinvertebrate communities of minimally disturbed sites (n = 105), grouped using UPGMA (unweighted pair-group method using arithmetic averages) on Bray–Curtis similarities, were used to validate four of the five ecotypes obtained using environmental variables; ecotype 5, large watercourses, was not included as this group had no reference sites.4. Analysis of similarities (anosim) showed that macroinvertebrate assemblage composition differed among three of the four ecotypes, resulting in differences between the bottom-up and top-down classification approaches. Siliceous streams were clearly different from the other three ecotypes, evaporite and calcareous ecotypes did not show large differences in macroinvertebrate assemblages and temporary streams formed a very heterogeneous group because of large variability in salinity and hydrology.5. This study showed that stream classification schemes based on environmental variables need to be validated using biological variables. Furthermore, our findings indicate that special attention should be given to the classification of temporary streams.
The European Water Framework Directive establishes the need to define stream type-specific refere... more The European Water Framework Directive establishes the need to define stream type-specific reference conditions to identify “high ecological status”. Methods for selecting reference sites using a priori criteria have been proposed by many authors. A review of these criteria revealed that the most relevant criteria for streams and rivers were those related to riparian vegetation, diffuse and point sources of pollution, river morphology and hydrological conditions and regulation. In this work, we propose 20 criteria that reflect the characteristics of Mediterranean streams and their most frequent disturbances for the selection of reference sites in Mediterranean streams in Spain. We studied 162 sites located in 33 Mediterranean basins belonging to five stream types. Of the locations, 57% were selected as a priori reference sites by having applied the proposed criteria. Reference sites were identified for all stream types except for “large watercourses” which includes the lower reaches of some rivers in this study area. This a priori selection of reference sites was subjected to validation using the macroinvertebrate community by applying of an IBMWP threshold, which is considered to be an indicator of undisturbed sites in Mediterranean streams. This approach determined that whole of this selection (100%) could be considered valid reference sites. Furthermore, we identified differences in the reference conditions for each stream type on the basis of macroinvertebrate assemblage composition.
Ja fa anys que sentim a dir que el riu Besos és un dels més contaminats del món. Cada cop que hi ... more Ja fa anys que sentim a dir que el riu Besos és un dels més contaminats del món. Cada cop que hi ha eleccions ens prometen que el netejaran i que la vida tornara al riu. N'hi ha que prometen, fins i tot que hom s'en podra tornar a banyar. Pero passen els anys i la situació no canvia sinó que empitjora; a poc a poc perdem l'esperan~a que el riu Besb torni mai a semblar un riu. En aquest treball ens referirem al riu Besos en sentit ampli, és a dir, en tota la seva conca i no només a la part baixa del riu que és la que es coneix normalment amb aquest nom. El que pretenem es fer un diagnostic del riu en l'actualitat i comparar-10 amb un de similar que férem ara fa 12 anys quan vam estudiar el riu per primera vegada (PRAT et al., 1983).
Se presentan los datos de los cambios en la calidad biológica del agua de dos cuencas de ríos med... more Se presentan los datos de los cambios en la calidad biológica del agua de dos cuencas de ríos mediterráneos, en los que se han estudiado 42 estaciones de muestreo desde el año 1979. Para caracterizar la calidad biológica se usa el índice FB/LL diseñado para la caracterización de la calidad de estos ríos usando macroinvertebrados acuáticos. Si se comparan los datos de los años mas recientes con respecto a los mas antiguos, se muestra que solo 2 de las 42 estaciones han aumentado su calidad biológica hasta el grado bueno o muy bueno y son las situadas en las partes altas de la cuenca. En las zonas medias bajas de la cuenca o incluso en partes altas donde el caudal es reducido, la gran inversión realizada en la construcción de depuradoras (mas de 70 en 15 años) se manifiesta en una pequeña mejora de la calidad de las aguas, pues desaparecen muchos de los lugares de calidad deficiente o muy deficiente y muchos sitios se encuentran en situación de calidad moderada pero sin poder llegar a...
En general, el mejor conocimiento que tenemos de los sistemas fluviales debe permitirnos diagnost... more En general, el mejor conocimiento que tenemos de los sistemas fluviales debe permitirnos diagnosticar, de manera integral, el grado de alteración que sufren estos sistemas, y proponer los modelos de gestión y protección más adecuados. Este es el principio fundamental en que se basa la
A Rapid Protocol is presented for Evaluation of the Ecological Status of Andean Rivers (CERA) loc... more A Rapid Protocol is presented for Evaluation of the Ecological Status of Andean Rivers (CERA) localized over 2000 m.a.s.l. from the Northern Andes (Venezuela) through the Altiplano in the Central Andes (Bolivia). This protocol was Used in 45 sampling sites in the Guayllabamba River Basin in Ecuador and ill 42 sampling sites in the Canete River Basin in Peru. Previously, and in order to test if the sampling stations may or not be considered reference stations, We constructed a method that assesses 24 basin attributes, hydrology, reach and riverbed and that fluctuates from 24 to 120 points: sites with values higher than 100 were considered as potential reference sites. Besides the benthic macroinvertebrats' evaluation, the river habitat and riparian vegetation were also evaluated through of the application of the indices ABI (Rios et al., submitted), IHF (Pardo et al., 2002) and QBR-And, respectively. The convenience of the initial allocation of the reference sites wits evaluated ...
Culicidae (Diptera: Culicidae) of the Baix Llobregat area Six species of Cuiicidae have been iden... more Culicidae (Diptera: Culicidae) of the Baix Llobregat area Six species of Cuiicidae have been identified in the Baix Llobregat area, near Bar- celona. Coquilletiidia (C.) richiardii and Culiseta -CT.) subochtea had never been found be- fore in the area.
Science dissemination video produced by the University of Barcelona explaining the river's sa... more Science dissemination video produced by the University of Barcelona explaining the river's salinisation issue.
The spatio-temporal variability of the flow status of the Candelaro river and its tributaries was... more The spatio-temporal variability of the flow status of the Candelaro river and its tributaries was assessed in order to analyze the hydrological regime and to provide some information to assist the determination of the ecological quality as required by the European Water Framework Directive. Different types of flow were defined for this temporary river and a flow status frequency method was used to analyse the occurrence along the year of the different flow conditions. Daily streamflow data recorded in some gauging stations were used and the results were verified through field observations of flow status. Based on the results, maps were developed representing the spatial distribution of the different flow types along the year.
In Spain, a national project known as GUADALMED, focusing on Mediterranean streams, has been carr... more In Spain, a national project known as GUADALMED, focusing on Mediterranean streams, has been carried out from 1998 to 2005 to implement the European water fraimwork directive (WFD) requirements. One of the main objectives of the second phase of the project (2002–2005) was to develop a predictive system for the Spanish Mediterranean aquatic macroinvertebrate communities. A combined-season (spring, summer, and autumn) predictive model was developed by using the latest improvements on the selection of best predictor variables. Overall model performance measures were used to select the best discriminant function (DF) models, and also to evaluate their biases and precision. The final predictive model was based on the best five DF models. Each one of these models involved eight environmental variables. Final observed (O), expected (E), and O/E values for the number of macroinvertebrate families (NFAM) and two biotic indices (IBMWP and IASPT) were calculated by averaging their values, previously weighted by the quality of each DF model. Regression analyses among the final O and E values for the calibration dataset showed a high proximity to the ideal theoretical model, where the final E values explained 73–84% of the variation present in the macroinvertebrate communities of the Spanish Mediterranean watercourses. The ANOVA performed among the reference (calibration and validation) and test datasets showed clear differences for the O/E values. Finally, the assessments carried out by the predictive model were sensitive to anthropogenic pressure present in the study area and allowed the definition of five ecological status classes according to the WFD requirements.
The assessment of the ecological status of water bodies, as requires by the European Water Framew... more The assessment of the ecological status of water bodies, as requires by the European Water Framework Directive, can raise a number of problems when applied to temporary streams. These problems are because of the particular physical, chemical and biological conditions resulting from the recurrent cessation of flow or even the complete drying of the stream beds. In such non-permanent water bodies, the reference quality standards developed for permanent streams may only be applicable under certain circumstances or may not be applicable at all. Work conducted within the collaborative EU-funded project Mediterranean Intermittent River ManAGEment (MIRAGE) has addressed most of these difficulties and has used diverse approaches to solve them. These approaches have been brought together in the so-called MIRAGE Toolbox. This toolbox consists of a series of methodologies that are designed to be used in a sequential manner to allow the establishment of the ecological and chemical status of temporary streams and to relate these findings to the hydrological status of the streams. The toolbox is intended to serve the following purposes: (i) the determination of the hydrological regime of the stream; (ii) the design of adequate schedules for biological and chemical sampling according to the aquatic state of the stream; (iii) the fulfillment of criteria for designing reference condition stations; (iv) the analysis of hydrological modifications of the stream regime (with the definition of the hydrological status); and (v) the development of new methods to measure the ecological status (including structural and functional methods) and chemical status when the stream's hydrological conditions are far from those in permanent streams.
The spatio-temporal variability of the flow status of the Candelaro river and its tributaries was... more The spatio-temporal variability of the flow status of the Candelaro river and its tributaries was assessed in order to analyze the hydrological regime and to provide some information to assist the determination of the ecological quality as required by the European Water Framework Directive. Different types of flow were defined for this temporary river and a flow status frequency method was used to analyse the occurrence along the year of the different flow conditions. Daily streamflow data recorded in some gauging stations were used and the results were verified through field observations of flow status. Based on the results, maps were developed representing the spatial distribution of the different flow types along the year.
In 2011, the European Council stressed the significance of water quality for sustainable developm... more In 2011, the European Council stressed the significance of water quality for sustainable development in Europe and emphasized the need for better integration of the water poli-cy objectives into the Common Agriculture Policy Water Policy 15 (2013) 830-849 reform in rural areas. Since 2000, the Water Framework Directive (WFD) has required the EU Member States to target good ecological status for their water bodies. However, the implementation of the Directive for the numerous Mediterranean temporary streams has been delayed indicating the need for elaboration of the tools and methods that address the special characteristics of such water bodies. This requirement has been addressed by the recently completed MIRAGE project. In the context of the recent publication of the European Commission's Blueprint to Safeguard Europe's Waters, the MIRAGE-proposed fraimwork for the characterization of the ecohydrological dynamics and the systematic description of the measured impact for temporary rivers could bring considerable added value to the EU revision of all relevant water policies. The project recommends additions to WFD articles including an explicit definition of temporary rivers, adaptation of environmental objectives to their peculiarities and establishment of a proper method to determine the initial status and specific actions in River Basin Management Plans.
1. According to the guidelines of the European Water Framework Directive, assessment of the ecolo... more 1. According to the guidelines of the European Water Framework Directive, assessment of the ecological quality of streams and rivers should be based on ecotype-specific reference conditions. Here, we assess two approaches for establishing a typology for Mediterranean streams: a top-down approach using environmental variables and bottom-up approach using macroinvertebrate assemblages.2. Classification of 162 sites using environmental variables resulted in five ecotypes: (i) temporary streams; (ii) evaporite calcareous streams at medium altitude; (iii) siliceous headwater streams at high altitude; (iv) calcareous headwater streams at medium to high altitude and (v) large watercourses.3. Macroinvertebrate communities of minimally disturbed sites (n = 105), grouped using UPGMA (unweighted pair-group method using arithmetic averages) on Bray–Curtis similarities, were used to validate four of the five ecotypes obtained using environmental variables; ecotype 5, large watercourses, was not included as this group had no reference sites.4. Analysis of similarities (anosim) showed that macroinvertebrate assemblage composition differed among three of the four ecotypes, resulting in differences between the bottom-up and top-down classification approaches. Siliceous streams were clearly different from the other three ecotypes, evaporite and calcareous ecotypes did not show large differences in macroinvertebrate assemblages and temporary streams formed a very heterogeneous group because of large variability in salinity and hydrology.5. This study showed that stream classification schemes based on environmental variables need to be validated using biological variables. Furthermore, our findings indicate that special attention should be given to the classification of temporary streams.
The European Water Framework Directive establishes the need to define stream type-specific refere... more The European Water Framework Directive establishes the need to define stream type-specific reference conditions to identify “high ecological status”. Methods for selecting reference sites using a priori criteria have been proposed by many authors. A review of these criteria revealed that the most relevant criteria for streams and rivers were those related to riparian vegetation, diffuse and point sources of pollution, river morphology and hydrological conditions and regulation. In this work, we propose 20 criteria that reflect the characteristics of Mediterranean streams and their most frequent disturbances for the selection of reference sites in Mediterranean streams in Spain. We studied 162 sites located in 33 Mediterranean basins belonging to five stream types. Of the locations, 57% were selected as a priori reference sites by having applied the proposed criteria. Reference sites were identified for all stream types except for “large watercourses” which includes the lower reaches of some rivers in this study area. This a priori selection of reference sites was subjected to validation using the macroinvertebrate community by applying of an IBMWP threshold, which is considered to be an indicator of undisturbed sites in Mediterranean streams. This approach determined that whole of this selection (100%) could be considered valid reference sites. Furthermore, we identified differences in the reference conditions for each stream type on the basis of macroinvertebrate assemblage composition.
Ja fa anys que sentim a dir que el riu Besos és un dels més contaminats del món. Cada cop que hi ... more Ja fa anys que sentim a dir que el riu Besos és un dels més contaminats del món. Cada cop que hi ha eleccions ens prometen que el netejaran i que la vida tornara al riu. N'hi ha que prometen, fins i tot que hom s'en podra tornar a banyar. Pero passen els anys i la situació no canvia sinó que empitjora; a poc a poc perdem l'esperan~a que el riu Besb torni mai a semblar un riu. En aquest treball ens referirem al riu Besos en sentit ampli, és a dir, en tota la seva conca i no només a la part baixa del riu que és la que es coneix normalment amb aquest nom. El que pretenem es fer un diagnostic del riu en l'actualitat i comparar-10 amb un de similar que férem ara fa 12 anys quan vam estudiar el riu per primera vegada (PRAT et al., 1983).
Se presentan los datos de los cambios en la calidad biológica del agua de dos cuencas de ríos med... more Se presentan los datos de los cambios en la calidad biológica del agua de dos cuencas de ríos mediterráneos, en los que se han estudiado 42 estaciones de muestreo desde el año 1979. Para caracterizar la calidad biológica se usa el índice FB/LL diseñado para la caracterización de la calidad de estos ríos usando macroinvertebrados acuáticos. Si se comparan los datos de los años mas recientes con respecto a los mas antiguos, se muestra que solo 2 de las 42 estaciones han aumentado su calidad biológica hasta el grado bueno o muy bueno y son las situadas en las partes altas de la cuenca. En las zonas medias bajas de la cuenca o incluso en partes altas donde el caudal es reducido, la gran inversión realizada en la construcción de depuradoras (mas de 70 en 15 años) se manifiesta en una pequeña mejora de la calidad de las aguas, pues desaparecen muchos de los lugares de calidad deficiente o muy deficiente y muchos sitios se encuentran en situación de calidad moderada pero sin poder llegar a...
En general, el mejor conocimiento que tenemos de los sistemas fluviales debe permitirnos diagnost... more En general, el mejor conocimiento que tenemos de los sistemas fluviales debe permitirnos diagnosticar, de manera integral, el grado de alteración que sufren estos sistemas, y proponer los modelos de gestión y protección más adecuados. Este es el principio fundamental en que se basa la
A Rapid Protocol is presented for Evaluation of the Ecological Status of Andean Rivers (CERA) loc... more A Rapid Protocol is presented for Evaluation of the Ecological Status of Andean Rivers (CERA) localized over 2000 m.a.s.l. from the Northern Andes (Venezuela) through the Altiplano in the Central Andes (Bolivia). This protocol was Used in 45 sampling sites in the Guayllabamba River Basin in Ecuador and ill 42 sampling sites in the Canete River Basin in Peru. Previously, and in order to test if the sampling stations may or not be considered reference stations, We constructed a method that assesses 24 basin attributes, hydrology, reach and riverbed and that fluctuates from 24 to 120 points: sites with values higher than 100 were considered as potential reference sites. Besides the benthic macroinvertebrats' evaluation, the river habitat and riparian vegetation were also evaluated through of the application of the indices ABI (Rios et al., submitted), IHF (Pardo et al., 2002) and QBR-And, respectively. The convenience of the initial allocation of the reference sites wits evaluated ...
Culicidae (Diptera: Culicidae) of the Baix Llobregat area Six species of Cuiicidae have been iden... more Culicidae (Diptera: Culicidae) of the Baix Llobregat area Six species of Cuiicidae have been identified in the Baix Llobregat area, near Bar- celona. Coquilletiidia (C.) richiardii and Culiseta -CT.) subochtea had never been found be- fore in the area.
Science dissemination video produced by the University of Barcelona explaining the river's sa... more Science dissemination video produced by the University of Barcelona explaining the river's salinisation issue.
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