Coastline Reports 18 (2012)

J. Scholle & B. Schuchardt: A fish-based index of biotic integrity – FAT-TW an assessment tool for transitional waters of the northern German tidal estuaries

The implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) involves assessment of the fish fauna to determine the ecological status of transitional waters. Assessment in conformity with the WFD should take place at a qualitative (species community) and quantitative (abundance) level of analysis.
The FAT index developed in line with this background assesses the composition of the estuarine fish species community, taking into account ecological guilds. The parameter ‘abundance’ is evaluated via indicator species. The selected species (twaite shad, smelt, flounder, herring, striped seasnail, ruffe) each represent specific ways of life and habitat. Both, a change in the species community and a change in frequency of species may reflect impairments to the estuary as a habitat.
A historical reference represents a benchmark for the fish-based assessment of the ecological status in this context. The current ecological status is assessed via the similarity or dissimilarity to the reference community and classified in the relevant status class according to a 5-level system (high, good, moderate, poor, bad).

The report is in English. For ordering Coastline Reports 18 (2012) (25 Euro including postage, 15 Euro for members of EUCC Germany) please send an e-mail with your addresses for delivery and invoice to: eucc@eucc-d.de. The complete report can be downloaded as an Acrobat PDF-File (see below).

Der Band ist in englischer Sprache verfasst. Der Coastline Reports 18 (2012) kann für 25 Euro (15 Euro für Mitglieder von EUCC Deutschland) inklusive Porto bestellt werden: eucc@eucc-d.de. Bitte geben Sie die Liefer- und Rechnungsadresse an. Der gesamte Band kann hier als Acrobat-PDF-File heruntergeladen werden:

J. Scholle & B. Schuchardt.: A fish-based index of biotic integrity – FAT-TW an assessment tool for transitional waters of the northern German tidal estuaries, Coastline Reports 18 (2012), ISSN 0928-2734, ISBN 978-3-939206-03-3 (PDF-File 3,5 MB)