Benthic indicators: From subjectivity to objectivity - Where is the line?

Over the last few years, the interest in using benthic indicators to assess marine environments has increased dramatically after a rather long period of relative stagnation, mostly due to the need to assess the status of coastal marine waters required by North American and European regulations. Numerous papers on this topic have been published in the domain of ecology, using a variety of different terms to refer to two categories of information: benthic species and the status of benthic communities. Nowadays, the abundant literature on these two categories makes it possible to comment on (1) the definition of the different terms used by benthic researchers, (2) the current increase of papers of rising complexity about benthic indicators, and (3) the subjectivity and objectivity involved in using benthic indicators. Faced with the increase in the number of methods, we recommend pragmatism and thus the transfer of simple methods to the research consultancies that are responsible for assessing benthic quality in numerous impact studies. Using certain procedures, such as the "sentinel species", the best professional judgement (BPJ) and taxonomic sufficiency (TS), should clearly be encouraged.

[1]  D. Raffaelli,et al.  Pollution monitoring with meiofauna, using the ratio of nematodes to copepods☆ , 1981 .

[2]  Jean-Claude Dauvin,et al.  Paradox of estuarine quality: benthic indicators and indices, consensus or debate for the future. , 2007, Marine pollution bulletin.

[3]  F. Boero The Study of Species in the Era of Biodiversity: A Tale of Stupidity , 2010 .

[4]  G. Patriti Aperçu sur la structure des populations zooplanctoniques de la zone portuaire et du golfe de Fos-sur-Mer , 1984 .

[5]  P. Chapman Letter to the editor: Borja et al.'s (2008) "Overview of integrative tools and methods ... worldwide" omits key elements. , 2009, Marine pollution bulletin.

[6]  Stuart I. Rogers,et al.  Assessing Marine Ecosystem Health: The Long-Term Effects of Fishing on Functional Biodiversity in North Sea Benthos , 2003 .

[7]  E. Wolanski,et al.  Treatise on estuarine and coastal science , 2011 .

[8]  J. Dauvin,et al.  Benthic indicators: analysis of the threshold values of ecological quality classifications for transitional waters. , 2007, Marine Pollution Bulletin.

[9]  F. Jorissen,et al.  Comparison of benthic foraminiferal and macrofaunal responses to organic pollution in the Firth of Clyde (Scotland). , 2008, Marine pollution bulletin.

[10]  Pat Hutchings,et al.  Overview of integrative tools and methods in assessing ecological integrity in estuarine and coastal systems worldwide. , 2008, Marine pollution bulletin.

[11]  C. Heip,et al.  Comparison of the performances of two biotic indices based on the MacroBen database , 2009 .

[12]  Mats Blomqvist,et al.  Marine quality assessment by use of benthic species-abundance distributions: a proposed new protocol within the European Union Water Framework Directive. , 2004, Marine pollution bulletin.

[13]  D. Ellis Taxonomic sufficiency in pollution assessment , 1985 .

[14]  R. Rosenberg,et al.  Macrobenthic succession in relation to organic enrichment and pollution of the marine environment , 1978 .

[15]  Christian Bockstaller,et al.  Indicators: Tools to Evaluate the Environmental Impacts of Farming Systems , 1999 .

[16]  Ulrich Heink,et al.  What are indicators? On the definition of indicators in ecology and environmental planning , 2010 .

[17]  Steven Degraer,et al.  Assessing coastal benthic macrofauna community condition using best professional judgement--developing consensus across North America and Europe. , 2010, Marine pollution bulletin.

[18]  G. Bachelet,et al.  Benthic indicators and index approaches in the three main estuaries along the French Atlantic coast (Seine, Loire and Gironde) , 2009 .

[19]  S. Weisberg,et al.  The level of agreement among experts applying best professional judgment to assess the condition of benthic infaunal communities , 2008 .

[20]  G. Beaugrand Long-term changes in copepod abundance and diversity in the north-east Atlantic in relation to fluctuations in the hydroclimatic environment , 2003 .

[21]  Brian D. Fath,et al.  Review and evaluation of estuarine biotic indices to assess benthic condition , 2009 .

[22]  Denise Bellan-Santini Relationship between populations of amphipods and pollution , 1980 .

[23]  John Weiner,et al.  Letter to the Editor , 1992, SIGIR Forum.

[24]  W. S. Fisher,et al.  Strategies for evaluating indicators based on guidelines from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development , 2001 .

[25]  R. Valente,et al.  A review of approaches for classifying benthic habitats and evaluating habitat quality. , 2004, Journal of environmental management.

[26]  X. Montaudouin,et al.  Development of a multimetric approach to assess perturbation of benthic macrofauna in Zostera noltii beds. , 2009 .

[27]  Mats Blomqvist,et al.  Theoretical and practical aspects on benthic quality assessment according to the EU-Water Framework Directive--examples from Swedish waters. , 2009, Marine pollution bulletin.

[28]  Jean-Claude Dauvin,et al.  Expertise in coastal zone environmental impact assessments. , 2005, Marine pollution bulletin.

[29]  S. Fraschetti,et al.  Taxonomic sufficiency in the detection of natural and human-induced changes in marine assemblages: a comparison of habitats and taxonomic groups. , 2009, Marine pollution bulletin.

[30]  Michael Elliott,et al.  Classifying Ecological Quality and Integrity of Estuaries , 2011 .

[31]  J. Dauvin,et al.  Taxonomic sufficiency: an overview of its use in the monitoring of sublittoral benthic communities after oil spills. , 2003, Marine pollution bulletin.

[32]  Stuart I. Rogers,et al.  Assessing functional diversity in marine benthic ecosystems: a comparison of approaches , 2003 .