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Ecological integrity is a term often used to describe the state of ecosystems subjected to anthropogenic pressures. It is usually defined closely to the literal definition of integrity: being whole or unimpaired. Considering the deep changes our world is undergoing, we argue here for ecological indicators that are not restricted to naturalness targets. We propose a conceptual framework for so-called level-2 indicators of ecological integrity, that evaluate how the integrity of ecosystems is preserved given their naturalness context. We develop reference relationships between indicator and contextual variables and then assess how an ecosystem is doing, compared to others in similar contexts, by its distance to this reference. We explore two such relationships: the amount of aboveground phytomass an ecosystem stores in a given volume (biomass packing efficiency) and the mean patch size given the total habitat amount in the landscape (habitat connectivity). Using datasets at the national and worldwide scale, we show that these indicators are objective measures of ecological integrity that allow the comparison of plant stands and landscapes across different environmental and naturalness contexts. This framework provides a basis to evaluate if the state of an ecosystem is degrading and paves the way to a triage system prioritizing conservation and restoration actions.

The intensification, extensification and abandonment of agricultural land will each play a major role in the future development of European landscapes. However, their impacts on various dimensions of sustainability vary spatially. This creates challenges but also opportunities for landscape managers and policymakers to optimize biodiversity and ecosystem services. In this study, we conduct a spatial assessment of the impacts of these three major agricultural development trajectories on ten ecosystem service and biodiversity indicators across the European Union (EU) and the UK. Using a spatial resolution of 1 km2, we exposed high spatial variation in impacts and strong differences in the spatial patterns depending on the indicator. Aggregating all positive and negative impacts of a trajectory, hot- and cold spots of total positive and negative impacts could be distinguished. An assessment of trade-offs and synergies between impacts of each trajectory was used to map areas dominated by beneficial impacts, detrimental impacts, or high trade-offs between impacts. The results indicate very diverse spatial trade-off and synergy patterns, with generally high sub-regional variation, emphasizing (i) the need for reflecting trade-offs and context-specificity in landscape planning and management and (ii) the potential advantages of spatial targeting of agricultural development and conservation strategies. Biodiversity and ecosystem service impact mapping exercises can, thus, be a major tool to effectively navigate trade-offs and synergies and explore effective sustainable landscape solutions.

Phytoplankton is an important role player in the ecology of rivers and streams, and sensitive to changes in water quality. This study aimed to determine how pollution influenced phytoplankton composition in two streams and to confirm the dominant phytoplankton Classes and genera at each stream as indicators of the water quality. The water from the Vaal River in the Middle Vaal Catchment of South Africa is heavily polluted by the time it is abstracted for treatment by Midvaal Water Company. The Koekemoerspruit is an upstream tributary of the Vaal River and is considered a possible source of pollution. Physical and chemical water quality data were collected for 21 variables together with phytoplankton samples at five strategically selected sites over a two-year period (November 2012 to October 2014). The Vaal River showed extreme total chlorophyll concentrations associated with high pH levels compared to the Koekemoerspruit in which high ammonia, nitrate and nitrate and orthophosphate concentrations confirmed severe organic pollution. A total of 86 algal genera were identified and grouped into seven phytoplankton classes. Average phytoplankton cell concentrations of 1,410,069 cells/mL and 417,931 cells/mL were determined for the Vaal River and the Koekemoerspruit respectively. A redundancy analysis summarised and confirmed that water quality had a definite effect on the phytoplankton assemblages for the Vaal River and the Koekemoerspruit (p-value of 0.08). Both streams were eutrophic but Chlorophyceae dominated in the Vaal River (49%) and Cyanophyceae were predominant in the Koekemoerspruit (44%). The dominant presence of phytoplankton genera such as Scenedesmus spp. (42%) and Nitszchia spp. (84%) confirmed the main water quality characteristics of the two streams.

Ecosystem services (ES) are dynamic over space and time. Understanding and quantifying spatio-temporal trade-offs and synergies among multiples ES, as well identifying the drivers of change provides an opportunity to make the link between ecosystems, policy and land management. We present an approach to understand the historical dynamics of ES and to analyze the regional diversity in ES changes in Switzerland. A spatio-temporal approach was used to examine changes of nine ES and their relationships from 1986 to 2015 across the twenty-six Swiss cantons. We found that ES supply was dependent on the spatial and temporal distribution of interacting factors. The relationships between ES shifted through time, and the correlation between the supply of ES and the distance between cantons was significant but remained almost constant through time. Each canton is providing a specific bundle (a set of positively correlated ES), dominated by just a few services. Trajectories in ES supply were related to changes in population density and the surface area of organic farming, reflecting trajectories in national strategies of land use planning and agriculture, respectively. Cantons with the lowest supply of ES had the highest population density, while the cantons with the greatest abundance of cultural ES had the lowest population density, which suggests that the densification trend in Switzerland could yield negative externalities. The promotion of organic farming and moderate population density was suitable to ensure sustainable supply of provisioning and regulating ES, but not cultural ES. We provide clear evidence of the dynamic nature of ES through time. Analyses of the relationships between the drivers and ES supply allows identifying the potential limits of national policies and new forms of land use planning based the ecosystem multifunctionality of territories.

Forests cover 30% of the Earth's landmass, host 80% of the biodiversity on land, and represent one of the main sinks of carbon. Studying forest ecosystems and dynamics is more crucial than ever now that the climate is changing. On the other hand, forest structural attributes and microhabitats data acquisition is challenging, and require huge efforts. Here we provide a georeferenced dataset of living trees, deadwood, and microhabitats referring to 199 plots (13 m radius), collected between 2012 and 2018, and located over six Apennine mountainous forest types across Italy. The dataset we provide promotes collaboration among researchers and improves the possibilities to analyze the evolution of forest ecosystems.

International audience; There are serious concerns about the ecological degradation caused by modern agriculture and its impact on top-chains predators. But, scientists still disagree on how to assess which are the winners and losers of Anthropocene biodiversity changes. In this field of research, many studies have been carried out on passerine birds but long-term ones, and especially on raptors, are still missing. Our study reports a twelve-year survey on two diurnal common raptors (the Buzzard, Buteo buteo and the Eurasian kestrel, Falco tinnunculus) facing recent land use changes in Western France farmland landscapes. Precise remote sensing data were analyzed each year, allowing us to precisely describe land use changes and stability along this time series. Buzzards showed reduced abundances in intensified landscapes and responded negatively to wood habitat instability while kestrels were more abundant and stable when areas of meadows increased. According to life history traits of these two-raptor species, we may suppose that buzzards, as generalist predators, mainly suffer of nesting site decrease while kestrels suffer of food depletion and namely voles living in meadows. No decreasing or increasing regional or local trends was observed for buzzards during these 12-years confirming that populations seem adjust their numbers to fit to local resources. Inversely, kestrels exhibit significant population collapses at both regional and local scales. If limiting wood habitats fragmentation or disturbance would optimize buzzard densities, drastic management measures improving surfaces and quality of grassland habitats will be necessary to reverse the decline of the Eurasian kestrel, highlighted by this study.

9 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, supplementary data https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.09.034, It is crucial that societies are informed on the risks of impoverished ecosystem health for their well-being. For this purpose, Ecological Integrity (EI) is a useful concept that seeks to capture the complex nature of ecosystems and their interaction with social welfare. But the challenge remains to measure EI and translate scientific terminology into operational language to inform society. We propose an approach that simplifies marine ecosystem complexity by applying scientific knowledge to identify which components reflect the state or state change of ecosystems. It follows a bottom-up structure that identifies, based on expert knowledge, biological components related with past and present changing conditions. It is structured in 5 stages that interact in an adaptive way: stage 1, in situ observations suggest changes could be happening; stage 2 explores available data that represent EI; stage 3, experts' workshops target the identification of the minimum set of variables needed to define EI, or the risk of losing EI; an optative stage 4, where deviance from EI, or risk of deviance, is statistically assessed; stage 5, findings are communicated to society. We demonstrate the framework effectiveness in three case studies, including a data poor situation, an area where lack of reference sites hampers the identification of historical changes, and an area where diffuse sources of stress make it difficult to identify simple relationships with of ecological responses. The future challenge is to operationalise the approach and trigger desirable society actions to strengthen a social-nature link, Funding for JH was provided by NIWA Coasts and Oceans Centre (MBIE CORE). SdJ was funded by H2020-Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action MSCA-IF-2016 [Project ID: 743545]. MDS was funded by FONDECYT 1130580 grant and ICM grant CCM – RC130004 from Ministerio de Economía, Fomento y Turismo (Chilean Government)

Graphical abstract, Highlights • A simple quantitative method for choosing ecological indicators and target ranges is proposed. • Sustainable use of ecosystems requires freedom of usage choice for each generation. • Sustainability so limits any state indicator to the range from which timely recovery is feasible. • Relevant state indicators are those that anthropogenic pressure might drive out of this range. • The method extends to pressure- and auxiliary indicators, and suites of indicators., Wide-ranging, indicator-based assessments of large, complex ecosystems are playing an increasing role in guiding environmental policy and management. An example is the EU’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive, which requires Member States to take measures to reach “good environmental status” (GES) in European marine waters. However, formulation of indicator targets consistent with the Directive’s high-level policy goal of sustainable use has proven challenging. We develop a specific, quantitative interpretation of the concepts of GES and sustainable use in terms of indicators and associated targets, by sharply distinguishing between current uses to satisfy current societal needs and preferences, and unknown future uses. We argue that consistent targets to safeguard future uses derive from a requirement that any environmental state indicator should recover within a defined time (e.g. 30 years) to its pressure-free range of variation when all pressures are hypothetically removed. Within these constraints, specific targets for current uses should be set. Routes to implementation of this proposal for indicators of fish-community size structure, population size of selected species, eutrophication, impacts of non-indigenous species, and genetic diversity are discussed. Important policy implications are that (a) indicator target ranges, which may be wider than natural ranges, systematically and rationally derive from our proposal; (b) because relevant state indicators tend to respond slowly, corresponding pressures should also be monitored and assessed; (c) support of current uses and safeguarding of future uses are distinct management goals, they require different types of targets, decision processes, and management philosophies.

Bottom trawling is one of the main anthropogenic pressures that impact soft-bottom habitats, directly affecting benthic and demersal communities, as well as their food web structure. To analyse local scale impacts of bottom trawling on food web structure we combined biological (species abundance and diets obtained from scientific bottom trawl surveys) and anthropogenic pressure (fishing effort obtained from Vessel Monitoring Systems, VMS) data. Using generalised additive models we explored the effect of bottom-trawling in nine community and trophic indicators across a gradient of fishing effort. We found an extensive effect of fishing on community indicators: with increasing fishing pressure, the biomass of seven out of fifteen functional groups declined, as well as that of the whole benthic-demersal community. Species richness was also significantly affected by bottom trawling, both at community and trophic level. We also showed a negative relationship between fishing effort and mean Trophic Level (mTL) of benthic and demersal communities at small-scale spatial resolution. Despite the apparent reduction of fishing effort observed in the study area in the last decade, we found a strong local influence of this anthropogenic pressure on the benthic-demersal food webs, demonstrating that small spatial resolution is crucial when investigating the effects of spatially heterogeneous pressures, such as fishing. Thus, we highlight the importance of analysing the effect of fishing on ecological indicators and trophic structure at local scales., Sí

Dragonflies are globally renowned bioindicators, with larvae, exuviae and/or adult life stages used in freshwater quality assessments. However, little is known about the extent to which conspecific adults and larvae occur within close proximity of each other, or how they comparably respond to biotic and abiotic factors. Firstly, we test the extent to which adult male dragonflies are congruent with their larvae at three independent sample unit scales (small 10 m × 3 m, medium 90 m × 3 m, and large 450 m × 3 m) along four rivers, along with a subset of 40 randomly selected small scale sites (small 40) to test for a possible effect of sampling design on the outcomes of the spatial scale analyses. Secondly, we test the extent to which adult males and larvae share similar responses to environmental variables. At medium and large spatial scales, larvae and adults were strongly congruent for abundance, species richness, and Dragonfly Biotic Index (DBI) scores. Despite this, at the small spatial scale, only 15% of observations matched (contained adults and conspecific larvae). This increased to 46% at the medium scale, and 60% at the large scale, neither of which were significantly different from the number of mismatches. Dragonfly species composition differed between larval and adult assemblages at the small, small 40, and medium scales but did not differ at the large scale. Water temperature was the only variable that generally elicited similar responses in both life stages, at all spatial scales. Exuviae here were so under-represented that they provided no extra information. Assessments, where medium or large spatial scales are suitable for sampling, such as measuring the state of a river, can utilize either life stage. However, for comprehensive biodiversity surveys, both larvae and adults should be sampled.

Urbanization causes the loss of large amounts of habitat and produces significant changes in environmental conditions with consequences in the individual’s behavior, morphology, and physiology in natural populations. The urbanization can impact in the individual’s development instability (DI) that may be measured with the fluctuating asymmetry (FA) level making it an environmental quality bioindicator. In addition, the FA of each trait should be interpreted considering the trait functional importance, morphogenesis and history of selection pressures. In this paper, we evaluated the impact of two decades of increasing urbanization levels over a population of the pampean scorpion Bothriurus bonariensis. We analyze the FA level in somatic and genital traits in adult individuals of both sexes, collected every ~ 10 years (1997, 2008, 2018). Interestingly, in this study the somatic traits (pedipalp chelae) would be under directional selection and are shaped throughout the individual’s growth. In contrast, the genital traits (male’s hemispermatophore) are involved in the sperm transfer process and could be under stabilizing selection. Also, hemispermatophores are affected for less time by environmental stressors since they are formed once the individual has reached sexual maturity. Our results showed a significant increase in the FA levels in somatic traits of males and females, according to the increase of urbanization along years. In contrast, genital traits showed no changes in the level of FA in females, and only a few male genital traits presented an increase in the FA level. This work shows evidence that the measured scorpion traits (under different selective pressures and morphogenesis) might present differences in their susceptibility to environmental stress. We discuss these results in a context of DI of individuals caused by urbanization. We support the idea that the level of FA can be useful as an index to evaluate the effects of environmental stress on invertebrate populations. Furthermore, our paper presents the scorpions as a good model that could be used as an indicator group for studying the impact of the anthropogenic disturbance factors on natural ecosystems.

The coast of the Gulf of Orosei (Sardinia, Italy) consists of impressive cliffs set up on dolostones and limestones characterized by wide karst systems connected to the sea. Marine caves, which are part of these system flooded by seawater through marine entrances, may be considered as extreme environments because of wide spatial and temporal environmental variability due to changing marine and terrestrial contributions. This study presents the results of the third survey carried out in summer 2016 in the Bue Marino cave, as part of a research project started in 2014 aimed at the application of Benthic Foraminifera (BF) as ecological indicators in Mediterranean marine caves for the identification of different habitats and their environmental interpretation. Sediment and water samples were collected from a total of 25 stations from two distinct sectors of the cave (North Branch and Middle Branch); sediments were analysed for living and dead BF and grain size, while Temperature, Salinity, pH and Dissolved Oxygen were measured in water samples collected close to sediment water interface. Two main foraminiferal assemblages, with distinct characteristics with respect to the typical Mediterranean shallow-water ones, were recognized by means of Hierarchical Cluster Analysis and Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling, and a Canonical Correspondence Analysis deduced their environmental significance. A well oxygenated, less saline environment with coarse bottom sediment, correlated with a mixed calcareous-agglutinated assemblage (Gavelinopsis praegeri, Rosalina spp., Eggerelloides advenus and Reophax dentaliniformis) with high species diversity (H-index 2.32–3.57) and low foraminiferal density, was exclusive of the North Branch. A scarcely oxygenated, more saline environment with fine bottom sediment enriched in vegetal debris was related to a prevalently agglutinated assemblage characterized by low species diversity (H-index 1.60–2.68), with high dominance of E. advenus (up to 83.6%) associated to Ammonia tepida, and high foraminiferal density, recognized in the Middle Branch. These different environments were interpreted considering the different modes of feeding the karst systems of the two branches. They also corresponded to two distinct ecozones, Entrance and Confluence, already recognized in earlier studies. The environmental significance of the foraminiferal ecozones recognized in this study and their comparison with the ones identified in the previous years, helped to consider the ecological zonation as a tool for detecting seasonal and, possibly, long term annual environmental variability in the marine system.

The work applies food web models to the Lagoon of Nador (Morocco) and subsequently estimates ecosystem indices. This effort supports the evaluation of the ecosystem status and the implementation of the Ecosystem Approach (EcAp), endorsed by the contracting parties of the Barcelona Convention for the Mediterranean Sea. The Lagoon of Nador, on the Mediterranean coast of Morocco, suffered from eutrophication during recent decades. We used indices derived from Ecological Network Analysis for investigating the most relevant features of ecosystem functioning in the decade 2000−2010 (present scenario), and comparing them with those of the 1980s (past scenario). As the Lagoon includes different habitats, the methodology was applied to each of them, in order to assess their contribution to the functioning of the whole ecosystem. Results highlighted an increase in Total System Throughput (TST) in the present scenario when compared with the past one, also associated to an increase of Total Respiration (TR) and of the ratio between Total Primary Production and Total Respiration (TPP/TR). Under the present scenario Nador lagoon shows a decreased cycling efficiency. The sensitivity analysis highlighted the capability of TST and Comprehensive Cycling Index (CCI) in detecting changes, in agreement with other recent studies on responses of food web functioning to eutrophication. The results are discussed in respect to three specific aspects, related with the application of food Web Models and Ecological Network Analysis in the EcAp context: i) data availability; ii) spatialization of indicators; iii) selected set of indicators. The results also highlight the important role of sensitivity/uncertainty analysis when implementing food web models in data-scarce systems.

WOS:000529795300004; The decrease of microbial and nutrient inputs from the watershed has long dominated lagoon ecosystem management objectives. Phytoplankton biomass and abundance have drastically decreased for more than a decade and Zostera meadow have gradually recovered, expressing lagoon ecosystem restoration such as Thau lagoon. Do the progressive achievement of the good ecological status of the Thau lagoon possibly threatens the shellfish industry in terms of production and oyster quality, by reducing the carrying capacity? To provide answers about the right balance to be achieved between conservation and exploitation, a new numerical tool was developed to help in decision-making. We hereby propose to incorporate a Dynamic Energy Budget type shellfish production model to an existing lagoon ecosystem box-model. The influence of different scenarios of nutrient inputs (related to projections of population growth or improvement of treatment plants) and shellfish stocks were tested on oyster performances (production, oyster condition index), carrying capacity of the lagoon and ecological status indices used within the EU Water Framework Directive. Model outputs demonstrated that shellfish production was mainly controlled by nutrient inputs, which depend on hydro-meteorological variability, and specifically by phosphorus and N:P ratios of nutrient inputs. Scenarios tested, however, demonstrated smaller differences of oyster production in comparison to inter-annual variability. The overall ecological status of the lagoon remained in a "good" status with acceptable lagoon-scale phytoplankton depletion, regardless of scenarios, setting the carrying capacity of this ecosystem to be sustainable.

Benthic vegetation is arguably one of the most important indicators of the state of marine environment. Assessment of the status of eelgrass (Zostera marina) is commonly done using various remote sensing methods such as aerial photography or satellite images. These methods often fail to capture the true scenario beneath the surface of the water if the water is turbid or the satellite image is masked by cloud cover which makes it impossible to see beneath them. As a second line of defense, researchers have used under water videos (obtained either with scuba,snorkel or other visual observations) to assess the ground truth. Lots of man-hours are spent browsing through many hours of video data manually by an expert and assessing the status (presence/absence) which is a very common practice. Here we propose two methods for detection of eelgrass (presence/absence) from under water videos obtained from Roskilde Fjord in Denmark. We extend these methods to show that it can be used as a proxy to estimate coverage of eelgrass in a given area which match well with an expert's estimation. The benefit of using this method is that it is objective, less biased, cost efficient, robust to noisy environment, does not require pixel-level annotated ground truth images and can be used on existing video transects. This method can also detect rare errors from domain expert's visual estimation.

Graphical abstract, Ecological perturbations caused by biotic invasion have been identified as a growing threat to global sustainability. Invasive alien plants species (IAPS) are considered to be one of the major drivers of biodiversity loss and thereby altering the ecosystem services and socio-economic conditions through different mechanisms. Although the ecological impacts of IAPS are well documented, there is a dearth of studies regarding their economic quantification, livelihood considerations, biotechnological prospects (phytoremediation, bioenergy, phyto-synthesis of nanoparticles, biomedical, industrial applications etc.) and human health risk assessments of IAPS. In this context, the current panoramic review aimed to investigate the environmental, socio-ecological and health risks posed by IAPS as well as the compounded impact of IAPS with habitat fragmentation, climate and land use changes. To this end, the need of an integrated trans-disciplinary research is emphasized for the sustainable management of IAPS. The management prospects can be further strengthened through their linkage with geo-spatial technologies (remote sensing and GIS) by mapping and monitoring the IAPS spread. Further, the horizon of IAPS management is expanded to ecological indicator perspectives of IAPS, biosecurity, and risk assessment protocols with critical discussion. Moreover, positive as well as negative implications of the IAPS on environment, health, ecosystem services and socio-economy (livelihood) are listed so that a judicious policy framework could be developed for the IAPS management in order to mitigate the human health implications.

Bats are well known for playing an important role in several ecosystem services such as arthropod population control, insect pest suppression in agricultural systems and vector disease control, but also for acting as ecological indicators. Their population dynamics are strongly linked to environmental variations and, in some cases, reflect the health status of ecosystems. Hence, some species have an excellent potential as ecological indicators due to their sensitivity to ecosystem changes. Despite the general decrease of many bat populations worldwide and the recent upsurge in the use of autonomous acoustic detectors, the acoustic monitoring of bat assemblages is still an emerging field in bat research and conservation. Probably due to a general lack of methodological standards and the lack of common ecological indices, few long-term bat acoustic monitoring programs are currently active and data is rarely shared and compared between regions. In this study we propose and adapt a set of different ecological indices that can be used in acoustic surveys designed to detect changes in bat diversity, activity and assemblage composition, all of which can be linked to species’ climatic and habitat-related preferences. Using a dataset collected during three years of bat monitoring in Catalonia (NE Iberian Peninsula), we used three traditional indices (richness, activity and Shannon diversity) and developed four new ecological indices (Community Thermal Index, Community Precipitation Index, Community Openness Index and Community Specialization Index) that enabled us to study bat communities and compare them at different spatial and temporal scales. Here, we demonstrate the applicability of these indices in bat monitoring programs. We also provide a consistent tool for generating easy-to-interpret ecological indices when monitoring the short- and long-term responses of bats under the current scenario of global change. Using standardized protocols and robust ecological indices enables studies and datasets to be compared, which in turn promotes the development of proper management and conservation measures via international cooperation.

Phytoplankton, at the base of the marine food web, represent a fundamental food source in coral reef ecosystems. The timing (phenology) and magnitude of the phytoplankton biomass are major determinants of trophic interactions. The Red Sea is one of the warmest and most saline basins in the world, characterized by an arid tropical climate regulated by the monsoon. These extreme conditions are particularly challenging for marine life. Phytoplankton phenological indices provide objective and quantitative metrics to characterize phytoplankton seasonality. The indices i.e. timings of initiation, peak, termination and duration are estimated here using 15years (1997–2012) of remote sensing ocean-color data from the European Space Agency (ESA) Climate Change Initiative project (OC-CCI) in the entire Red Sea basin. The OC-CCI product, comprising merged and bias-corrected observations from three independent ocean-color sensors (SeaWiFS, MODIS and MERIS), and processed using the POLYMER algorithm (MERIS period), shows a significant increase in chlorophyll data coverage, especially in the southern Red Sea during the months of summer NW monsoon. In open and reef-bound coastal waters, the performance of OC-CCI chlorophyll data is shown to be comparable with the performance of other standard chlorophyll products for the global oceans. These features have permitted us to investigate phytoplankton phenology in the entire Red Sea basin, and during both winter SE monsoon and summer NW monsoon periods. The phenological indices are estimated in the four open water provinces of the basin, and further examined at six coral reef complexes of particular socio-economic importance in the Red Sea, including Siyal Islands, Sharm El Sheikh, Al Wajh bank, Thuwal reefs, Al Lith reefs and Farasan Islands. Most of the open and deeper waters of the basin show an apparent higher chlorophyll concentration and longer duration of phytoplankton growth during the winter period (relative to the summer phytoplankton growth period). In contrast, most of the reef-bound coastal waters display equal or higher peak chlorophyll concentrations and equal or longer duration of phytoplankton growth during the summer period (relative to the winter phytoplankton growth period). The ecological and biological significance of the phytoplankton seasonal characteristics are discussed in context of ecosystem state assessment, and particularly to support further understanding of the structure and functioning of coral reef ecosystems in the Red Sea.

The Segura River Basin is one of the most arid and regulated zones in the Mediterranean as well as Europe that includes four hydrologic river types, according to their natural flow regime: main stem rivers, stable streams, seasonal streams and temporary streams. The relationships between flow regime and fluvial and riparian habitats were studied at reference and hydrologically altered sites for each of the four types. Flow regime alteration was assessed using two procedures: (1) an indirect index, derived from variables associated with the main hydrologic pressures in the basin, and (2) reference and altered flow series analyses using the Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration (IHA) and the Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration in Rivers (IAHRIS). Habitats were characterized using the River Habitat Survey (RHS) and its derived Habitat Quality Assessment (HQA) score, whereas riparian condition was assessed using the Riparian Quality Index (RQI) and an inventory of riparian native/exotic species. Flow stability and magnitude were identified as the main hydrologic drivers of the stream habitats in the Segura Basin. Hydrologic alterations were similar to those described in other Mediterranean arid and semiarid areas where dams have reduced flow magnitude and variability and produced the inversion of seasonal patterns. Additionally, the Segura Basin presented two general trends: an increase in flow torrentiality in main stems and an increase in temporality in seasonal and temporary streams. With the indirect alteration index, main stems presented the highest degree of hydrologic alteration, which resulted in larger channel dimensions and less macrophytes and mesohabitats. However, according to the hydrologic analyses, the seasonal streams presented the greatest alteration, which was supported by the numerous changes in habitat features. These changes were associated with a larger proportion of uniform banktop vegetation as well as reduced riparian native plant richness and mesohabitat density. Both stream types presented consequent reductions in habitat and riparian quality as the degree of alteration increased. However, stable streams, those least impacted in the basin, and temporary streams, which are subject to great hydrologic stress in reference conditions, showed fewer changes in physical habitat due to hydrologic alteration. This study clarifies the relationships between hydrologic regime and physical habitat in Mediterranean basins. The hydrologic and habitat indicators that respond to human pressures and the thresholds that imply relevant changes in habitat and riparian quality presented here will play a fundamental role in the use of holistic frameworks when developing environmental flows on a regional scale, We wish to thank the University of Murcia for the predoctoral grant to Oscar Belmar and the Ministry for Education, Culture and Sport for the predoctoral grant to Daniel Bruno. We also thank Jose Antonio Carbonell and Simone Guareschi for their support during the fieldwork. Finally, we are also grateful to Melissa Crim and Javier Lloret for double-checking the English.

Patterns of phytoplankton size spectra variation with gradients of environmental stress have been observed in freshwater, transitional waters and marine ecosystems, driving the development of size spectra based assessment tools. In this study, we have tested on transitional and coastal waters a new Index of Size spectra Sensitivity of Phytoplankton (ISS-Phyto), which integrates simple size spectra metrics, size class sensitivity to anthropogenic disturbance, phytoplankton biomass (chlorophyll a) and taxonomic richness thresholds. ISS-Phyto has been tested both among and within ecosystems along pressure gradients based on expert view assessment; the adequacy of symmetric and both left and right asymmetric models of phytoplankton size class sensitivity have been compared. The results showed that ISS-Phyto consistently discriminated between anthropogenic and natural disturbance conditions. Left asymmetric models of size spectra sensitivity, assuming greater disturbance tolerance with respect to eutrophication and organic enrichment of increasingly large size classes, showed the best fit comparing all ecosystems; in three of the four considered ecosystems (Varna, Helsinki, Mompas-Pasaia), they seemed to discriminate best between different levels of disturbance also within ecosystems. Moreover, they demonstrated significant and inverse patterns of variation along the overall pressure gradient as well as along the inorganic phosphorus (DIP), chlorophyll a and trophic index (TRIX) gradients. Therefore, ISS-Phyto, originally developed for transitional waters, seems to be an adequate assessment tool of ecological status also in coastal marine waters; moreover, it seems adequate to describe within ecosystem disturbance gradients. Hence, ISS-Phyto helps to understand the relationships between anthropogenic impact and ecosystem response from the individual point of view, with reference to the simple parameter of body size.

In this short welcome note for the new journal “Ecosystem Services”, the main interrelations between the ecosystem service concept and the approach of ecological indicators are briefly discussed with respect to three key issues: at first, some definitions are analyzed to answer the question if ecosystem services can be understood as ecological indicators. Due to a positive answer, the position of ecosystem services in the DPSIR indicator framework is determined as the central impact component. It is stated that different viewpoints are possible to interrelate the services; an environmental starting point focusing on the linkage to ecological processes and functions on the one side, and the relations with human well-being criteria and management obligations on the other. Finally, the actual needs for further research and application are outlined from an indicator-based aspect and the broad field of potential contributions for the new journal is summarized.

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Recently there has been a growing interest and need for sound and robust ecological indices to evaluate ecosystem status and condition, mainly under the scope of the Water Framework Directive implementation. Although the conceptual basis for each index may rely on different assumptions and parameters, they share a common goal: to provide a useful tool that can be used in assessing the system's health and that could be applied in decision making. This paper focuses mainly on benthic community-based, biotic indices. We supply a general overview of several indices premises and assumptions as well as their main advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, an illustrative example is provided of a straightforward application of benthic index of biotic integrity and benthic condition index. As a reference, their performance is compared to the Portuguese-benthic assessment tool. Limitations of the tested indices are discussed in context of the Mondego estuary (Portugal) case study. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6W87-4S38C07-1/1/8a495b1458d35c6ecf614eab10816ca3

Coastal environments, such as the Lagoon of Venice, are subject daily to a wide range of variability. In these environments benthic foraminifera, a class of marine Protista, can be used as bioindicators. These organisms, through the structure of their assemblage (their presence–absence–relative dominance) define the extent of similar environmental conditions (biotopes). Sampling carried out in 1983, based on the quantitative analysis of 559 bottom samples, has delineated the extent of the various biotopes for the entire Lagoon and it has indicated the parameters that control the distribution of the various biofacies, which are the exchange time with the sea, pollution, fresh water input and the presence of intertidal morphologies. In 2001, 52 new samples were collected using the same methodology as 1983 sampling. The new samples were then compared with the previous faunas using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov index. The results obtained through the comparison of foraminiferal associations from the samples taken in 1983 and 2001 from the sector of the Lagoon of Venice north of the Malamocco inlet indicate unchanged conditions for about 50% of the area. These results show the effect of the purification plant operating since 1986 in that area where industrial and urban stresses predominated. The results also indicate a collapse of some intertidal morphologies related to the increase of tidal energy following the deepening and straightening of the main channels. More stable conditions appear to predominate in the southern basin of the Lagoon where the main modifications are related to the collapse of the salt marshes due to the subsidence. These results show the capacity of the benthic foraminifera to monitor the changes occurring in unstable environments and to indicate the evolutionary trends of transition environments.