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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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10272/19351 https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3521 |
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ftunivhuelva:oai:rabida.uhu.es:10272/19351 2023-05-15T13:28:11+02:00 Historical distribution of freshwater fishes and the reference conditions concept in a large Mediterranean basin Ramos Merchante, Adrián Sáez Gómez, Pedro Prenda Marín, José 2021-01 http://hdl.handle.net/10272/19351 https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3521 eng eng Wiley Postprint Ramos Merchante, A., Sáez Gómez, P., & Prenda Marín, J. (2021). Historical distribution of freshwater fishes and the reference conditions concept in a large Mediterranean basin. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3521 1099-0755 http://hdl.handle.net/10272/19351 https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3521 1052-7613 1099-0755 (electrónico) Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 España http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess CC-BY-NC-ND River Reservoir Stream Ecological status Water Framework 46 Directive Fish Agriculture Alien species Impoundment info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2021 ftunivhuelva https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3521 2021-08-11T19:38:30Z 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. Article in Journal/Newspaper Anguilla anguilla Universidad de Huelva: Arias Montano Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 31 4 888 902 |
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Universidad de Huelva: Arias Montano |
op_collection_id |
ftunivhuelva |
language |
English |
topic |
River Reservoir Stream Ecological status Water Framework 46 Directive Fish Agriculture Alien species Impoundment |
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River Reservoir Stream Ecological status Water Framework 46 Directive Fish Agriculture Alien species Impoundment Ramos Merchante, Adrián Sáez Gómez, Pedro Prenda Marín, José Historical distribution of freshwater fishes and the reference conditions concept in a large Mediterranean basin |
topic_facet |
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. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ramos Merchante, Adrián Sáez Gómez, Pedro Prenda Marín, José |
author_facet |
Ramos Merchante, Adrián Sáez Gómez, Pedro Prenda Marín, José |
author_sort |
Ramos Merchante, Adrián |
title |
Historical distribution of freshwater fishes and the reference conditions concept in a large Mediterranean basin |
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 |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10272/19351 https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3521 |
genre |
Anguilla anguilla |
genre_facet |
Anguilla anguilla |
op_relation |
Postprint Ramos Merchante, A., Sáez Gómez, P., & Prenda Marín, J. (2021). Historical distribution of freshwater fishes and the reference conditions concept in a large Mediterranean basin. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3521 1099-0755 http://hdl.handle.net/10272/19351 https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3521 1052-7613 1099-0755 (electrónico) |
op_rights |
Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 España http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC-ND |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3521 |
container_title |
Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems |
container_volume |
31 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
888 |
op_container_end_page |
902 |
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