Deriving nutrient criteria to support ʽgoodʼ ecological status in European lakes: An empirically based approach to linking ecology and management

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2019-02, Vol.650 (Pt 2), p.2074-2084
• Main Authors: Poikane, Sandra, Phillips, Geoff, Birk, Sebastian, Free, Gary, Kelly, Martyn G., Willby, Nigel J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aquatic Organisms - metabolism; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Europe; Eutrophication; Lakes - chemistry; Macrophytes; Models, Biological; Nitrogen; Nitrogen - metabolism; Nutrients; Phosphorus; Phosphorus - metabolism; Plants - metabolism; Water Framework Directive
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.09.350

European water policy has identified eutrophication as a priority issue for water management. Substantial progress has been made in combating eutrophication but open issues remain, including setting reliable and meaningful nutrient criteria supporting ʽgoodʼ ecological status of the Water Framework Directive. The paper introduces a novel methodological approach - a set of four different methods - that can be applied to different ecosystems and stressors to derive empirically-based management targets. The methods include Ranged Major Axis (RMA) regression, multivariate Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression, logistic regression, and minimising the mismatch of classifications. We apply these approaches to establish nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) criteria for the major productive shallow lake types of Europe: high alkalinity shallow (LCB1; mean depth 3–15 m) and very shallow (LCB2; mean depth