Macrophytobenthic Communities from the Romanian Black Sea Coast - Indicators of the Ecological Status of Coastal Water Bodies

Abstract

Macrophytobentic communities answer to marine environment changes by modifying their qualitative and quantitative structure and can be used as indicators of changes in the marine environment. The paper presents the results for the Romanian Black Sea coast after the application of EI index (Ecological Index), developed to answer the Water Framework Directive requirements and used in the intercalibration exercise between Romania and Bulgaria. The results are expressed in relation to the average value of the species fresh biomass. The EI is reported to the EQR index (Ecological Quality Ratio), common for all biological elements according to WFD. The EI was applied to the 2011-2014 data set, providing an overview of the ecological status of the coastal zone according to the biological element macroalgae and angiosperms. The index has met the requirements of the Water Framework Directive and will be used in the future under the Marine Strategy Directive, which requires to maintain or achieve good environmental status. To validate the results, the response of the ecological index at the anthropogenic pressures from the coastal zone was tested throught the application of the pressure index LUSI_BS (Black Sea Land Use Simplified Index), developed during the Romania-Bulgaria intercalibration process.