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All BISI related information gathered on one site

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Westerschelde intertidal zone

The BISI protocol for generic application (BISI v2) is available now. The Benthic Indicator Species Index (BISI) is specifically developed for quality status evaluation and evaluation of quality developments of benthic habitats. Compared to v1, BISIs (area specific indicator species lists with reference occurrences for comparison) are in v2 constructed in a standardized way at the level of ecotopes (or broad habitat types) which allows application in similar habitat within the same region. From these BISIs at ecotope level, area specific indices can be constructed surface area ratio based.

Specific assessment tools are developed and made available for:

  • Application in soft sediment habitats of OSPAR region II (Greater North Sea region) distinguishing 6 broad habitat types and make use of approximately 0.1 m2 grab or (box)core monitoring data.
  • Application for marine Habitat Directive (HD) habitat types of the Dutch ‘Delta-waters’, the Wadden Sea and the coastal zone of the North Sea, making use of benthos data from two categories of sampling techniques (core – and benthic dredge related samples).
  • Application in distinguished areas of the Dutch North Sea with regards to the MSFD, the HD and evaluation of effectiveness of management measures, making use of benthos data from core – and benthic dredge related samples in (most) soft sediment areas, and the combination of video and grab sampling in areas with gravel and boulders.

Tools are available for direct application in similar situations (habitats x monitoring techniques), or new BISIs can be constructed according to the protocol for other types of habitats, geographical regions and/or monitoring specificities.

We are very interested in the results and experiences from testing or application of existing assessment tools or new constructed BISIs specific for other situations based on your own monitoring data. Therefore all BISI related documents (including with regards to earlier versions) and assessment tools are now gathered on one site: http://ecoauthor.net/bisi/. You will stay informed on new developments, applications and/or results via the BISI site. Please contact us if we can be of help or to share your findings.

“The focus of current international quality status assessments (e.g. MSFD – and OSPAR assessments) with regards to seafloor integrity is predominantly on large-scale assessment of expected impact from dominant pressures taking sensitivity of habitats into account. It is however of importance to verify the quality status with benthic observations, which can be related to specific impacts and habitat changes. Herewith key processes and management options can be identified or evaluated. The BISI could potentially fill in this gap.“

Benthic Indicator Species Index (BISI) developed for marine habitat types in Natura 2000 areas.

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View on the Western Scheldt with the skyline of the harbours of Antwerp – S. Wijnhoven (2016)

Benthic Indicator Species Indices (BISIs) specifically developed for quality evaluations of marine Habitat Directive (HD) habitat types and relevant Natura 2000 areas of the Dutch Delta waters, the Wadden Sea and the coastal zone of the North Sea, are available now. Specifically BISIs have been developed for HD-habitat types H1160, H1130, H1110a, H1140a and H1140b*. BISIs have been developed according to BISI v2 (protocol update in progress), taking dominant ecotopes (defining the main distinguishing communities) as the basis to select indicator species for which internal reference occurrences (as used in the indicator) are calculated surface-ratio based. This allows application of the BISI in similar habitats beyond the current Natura 2000 areas for which the indicator has been elaborated and tested here. The developed BISIs are presented with proposals for monitoring programmes with sufficient power to detect potential quality differences, as much as possible making use of current recurring monitoring activities. Indicator development and suggested monitoring programmes for the Eastern Scheldt (Oosterschelde), Western Scheldt (Westerschelde), Wadden Sea (Waddenzee) including Eems-Dollard and intertidal areas in the coastal zone of the Dutch North Sea, are presented in:

Wijnhoven, S. & Van Avesaath, P.H. (2019). Benthische Indicator Soorten Index (BISI) voor mariene habitattypen in Natura 2000-gebieden. Uitwerking beoordelingsmethodiek inclusief monitoringvoorstel voor mariene habitattypen van de Habitatrichtlijn gelegen in de Deltawateren, het Waddenzeegebied en de kustzone van de Noordzee. Ecoauthor Report Series 2019 – 03, Heinkenszand, the Netherlands.

With Assessment Tools for the developed BISIs in Excel-format available from here. Background information on the calculations and test results as indicated in the report is available on request.

(At the moment the report is only available in Dutch)

*Respectively ‘Large shallow inlets and bays’ (H1160), ‘Estuaries’ (H1130), ‘Sandbanks permanently flooded – tidal area’ (H1110a), ‘Intertidal mud flats and sandbanks – tidal area’ (H1140a), ‘Intertidal mud flats and sandbanks – North Sea coastal zone’ (H1140b).

Updated BISI for generic application available soon

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The Benthic Indicator Species Index (BISI) is the Dutch national benthos indicator for evaluation of the quality status of the benthic habitats of the North Sea as amongst others in use for Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) reportings. At the moment an updated version of the BISI is being developed that allows generic application in the international context and/or application in marine waters outside the North Sea. Most important differences with the first version of the BISI are that:

  • – Ecotopes* form the basis for derivation of the index (instead of the use of an area-specific index).
  • – Indicator species selection and derivation of (internal) reference occurrences of indicator species are standardized and part of the methodology.

Development in the international context takes place as part of the OSPAR common indicator development process (within the OSPAR Benthic Habitat Experts Group – OBHEG) and the specific aim in the Netherlands is to allow evaluation of marine Habitat Directive habitat (sub)types outside the North Sea as well.

The  updated version of BISI including a complete protocol and examples and results of application in the international context will come available (here) soon.

In the meanwhile an intermediate version of the updated BISI protocol and assessment tool is available here to show the characteristics and potentials of the methodology:

*The methodology makes use of the EUNIS (EUropean Nature Information System) Broad habitat type classification as suggested by the European Commission (EC) in the MSFD common implementation strategy (CIS) and a comparable classification (ZES.1: Zoute wateren EcotopenStelsel: Dutch ecotope system for coastal waters) for coastal and transitional waters.

Quality status benthic habitats Dutch North Sea

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Example of H1110b – photo O.G. Bos.

The Ecoauthor report on the quality status and developments of benthic habitats and MSFD-areas of the Dutch North Sea is now available. The report presents the results of the application of the Benthic Indicator Species Index (BISI) on the 2015 monitoring data (considered the T0 as various measures of the Dutch Action plan Marine Strategy were just or still had to be implemented in 2015) and compares the quality status with the recent historic developments.

Some of the most important findings are:

– A stagnation and recent decline in the benthic habitat quality of offshore areas like the Frisian Front and Central Oystergrounds after years of improvement. This might be the result of a gradual movement of (seafloor disturbing) fisheries from the coastal zone to the offshore regions as suggested by results of specific BISI analyses (focussed on specific indicator species for seafloor disturbance) and the possible first improvements as observed in coastal areas.
– The permanent large impact of amongst others nutrients and pollutants (summarized as ecological disturbance) on benthic habitat quality, especially in the coastal zone, but also extending to further offshore areas like the Doggersbank. Although ecological disturbance is the most important pressure in the area of the Doggersbank, the observed decrease in benthic quality during the last two decades seems to be the result of increasing seafloor disturbance.

The study was commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV) in consultation with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (IenW), and executed in cooperation with Wageningen Marine Research (WMR).

The entire report can be downloaded from here (at the moment only in Dutch, but an English translation is foreseen).

Wijnhoven, S. (2018). T0 beoordeling kwaliteitstoestand NCP op basis van de Benthische Indicator Soorten Index (BISI). Toestand en ontwikkelingen van benthische habitats en KRM gebieden op de Noordzee in en voorafgaand aan 2015. Rapport Ecoauthor & Wageningen Marine Research. Ecoauthor Report Series 2018 – 01, Heinkenszand, the
Netherlands.

Annex 1 ‘KRM factsheet D6C3 Benthische habitats kwaliteit (BISI)‘ is available from here.

Platform Marine Monitoring

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At May the 22nd I had the opportunity to provide insight in the benthos monitoring programme for the Dutch North Sea at the ‘Exchange day Platform Marine Monitoring 2018’). I gave a presentation focussing on the potential differences in results when making choices in monitoring and evaluation methodologies. Besides I could also present and discuss some of the findings for recent developments in the quality status of sea floor habitats of specific areas in the Dutch North Sea. For those who were there, or others that are interested now; you can find the slides of the presentation here (Sorry, they are in Dutch). All presentations are available from the website of ‘Informatiehuis Marien’.

Lecture on non-indigenous species in estuaries

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Today I had the opportunity to talk about our research findings on non-indigenous species in estuarine environments and the Western Scheldt in particular, during a guest lecture in the course ‘Marine Biology’ of the University College Roosevelt. For those interested the slides can be found here:  Guest lecture UCR 110418 . Information is largely based on our Transect Monitoring reports (2016-01, 2017-04 coming available soon) and the Overview reporting on exotic species monitoring in the Western Scheldt (2017-01).

Ciliate communities on macrofauna: There is a world to discover.

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First description of epizoic ciliates on Bathyporeia including undescribed species.

Hardly visible with the naked eye, flourishing communities of epibiont species are often present on macrofauna. Examining Bathyporeia (small crustaceans of few millimeters in size, abundantly present in marine and estuarine waters) from Dutch waters showed that peritrich ciliates were present on 44% of the over 3500 specimens investigated. Although known for a range of other species including crustaceans, peritrich ciliates on Bathyporeia, when present also often abundantly present, were not described in detail before. Only d’Udekem d’Acoz (2004) mentions the common presence of ramified colonies of peritrich ciliates on appendages of Bathyporeia in his paper on the genus.

We discovered several types including solitary and colony-forming specimens, of which the most common species appeared to be Zoothamnium nanum (an epibiont species known from other small crustaceans like Gamarus species). However, also a likely sofar undescribed species of the genus Epistylis appeared to be common, and another type of Zoothamnium (that might be an undescribed species) was observed.

Findings on infestation patterns for different Bathyporeia species for different waterbodies and years and possible implications for basibionts (hosts) and epibionts are presented and discussed in a paper published in Crustaceana: Wijnhoven et al. (2018). Taking into account the common presence and large abundances on a variety of macrofauna species, indicates that epizoic ciliates might play a more important role in ecosystem functioning than is now recognized and/or understood. There is still a whole world to discover!

Photographs of peritrich ciliates on Bathyporeia sp.; a) Typical colonies of peritrich ciliates (most likely Zoothamnium nanum) attached to a peduncle of an antenna from Bathyporeia pilosa (specimen stained with Rose Bengal and preserved in formaldehyde) (1000x magnification); b) Typical colonies of peritrich ciliates (most likely Zoothamnium nanum) in detail (on a specimen stained with Rose Bengal and preserved in formaldehyde) (4000x magnification); c) Individual and small colonies of alive Zoothamnium sp. on peduncles from antenna 2 of an alive specimen of Bathyporeia sarsi (1000x magnification); d) A singular alive specimen of Zoothamnium nanum on Bathyporeia sarsi (4000x magnification) with its cilia out; e) Singular alive peritrich ciliates on Bathyporeia pilosa (4000x magnification) showing a specimen without a spasmoneme (Epistylis sp.); f) Singular and couples of peritrich ciliates on Bathyporeia pilosa (4000x magnification) where the lower specimen belonging to the genus Zoothamnium lacks transverse folds (Zoothamnium sp.).

Wijnhoven, S., Zwiep, K.L., Hummel, H. (2018). First description of epizoic ciliates (Sessilida Stein, 1933) on Bathyporeia Lindström, 1855 (Peracarida, Amphipoda) and infestation patterns in brackish and marine waters. Crustaceana 91(2),133-152.

Other study cited:

d’Udekem d’Acoz, C. (2004). The genus Bathyporeia Lindström, 1855, in western Europe (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Pontoporeiidae). Zool. Verh. Leiden 348, 3-162.

Overview alien species monitoring in the Western Scheldt

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An overview on monitoring activities providing information on the presence of alien species among macrofauna, macro-algae and plankton in the Western Scheldt has  been prepared by Ecoauthor, GiMaRIS and eCOAST. Almost a hundred alien species were observed during the last 25 years, for which vectors of introduction are indicated. The study gives a nice overview of the efficiency of techniques to detect certain alien species groups and the habitats where new alien species are most likely be encoutered. In the meanwhile new alien species have been detected in the Western Scheldt and are amongst others presented in the Transect Monitoring Report of 2017.

– Wijnhoven, S., Gittenberger, A., Faasse, M., Schellekens,T. (2017). Overview alien species monitoring in the Western Scheldt: Current status of monitoring efforts and presence of alien species among macrofauna and algae. Ecoauthor Report Series 2017 – 01, Heinkenszand, the Netherlands.

– Wijnhoven, S. (2017). Non-indigenous species presence and distribution in intertidal hard substrate environments of the Western Scheldt: Results of Transect Monitoring inventory of 2017 compared to 2015-2016. Ecoauthor Report Series 2017-04, Heinkenszand, the Netherlands.

– Wijnhoven, S. (2016). Non-indigenous species presence and distribution in intertidal hard substrate environments of the Western Scheldt: Results of Transect Monitoring inventory of 2016. Ecoauthor Report Series 2016 – 01, Heinkenszand, the Netherlands.

The overview report and the transect monitoring reports for the Western Scheldt are commissioned by the Office for Risk assessment and Research (BuRO) of the
Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA).

Living Planet Report – Salty and brackish nature in the Netherlands

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Foto: ©Bert Ooms/WWF

WWF – The Netherlands (WNF) has published a nice report showing the recent trends in species richness in amongst others the Dutch North Sea, Wadden Sea and Delta waters. Ecoauthor also made a modest contribution to the interpretation of findings here.

The entire report:‘Wereld Natuur Fonds. 2017. Living Planet Report. Zoute en zilte natuur in Nederland. WNF, Zeist.’ (written in Dutch) can be found here.

Additional information can be found on the website of WNF (www.wnf.nl).

Benthic Indicator Species Index to evaluate quality status North Sea

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To evaluate habitat quality, sea floor integrity and ecological functioning of the Dutch North Sea the Benthic Indicator Species Index (BISI) has been developed. The BISI is specifically developed to deliver to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) reporting, evaluate the effectivity of management measures and provide information for Habitat Directive-habitat evaluations. The BISI compares temporal patterns (absence/presence, or densities) of combinations of specific indicator species with predefined reference levels of these species that represent a good status. BISI can be used at different spatial scales (e.g. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), Natura 2000 areas, specific ecotopes and habitats) and additionally provides evidence for possible causes and effects of observed patterns in quality status (developments).

The BISI is developed by Ecoauthor in cooperation with Wageningen Marine Research (WMR) commissioned by the Dutch Ministries of Economic Affairs (EZ) and of Infrastructure and Environment (IenM)).

The BISI is potentially applicable in other regions than the Dutch North Sea as well. At present Ecoauthor is amongst others working on the T2015 evaluation of the Dutch North Sea on basis of BISI and the adjustment of BISI for wider application.

The indicator is presented in:

Wijnhoven, S. & Bos, O.G. (2017). Benthische Indicator Soorten Index (BISI): Ontwikkelingsproces en beschrijving van de Nationale Benthos Indicator Noordzee inclusief protocol voor toepassing. Ecoauthor Report Series 2017-02, Heinkenszand, the Netherlands (in Dutch).

or

Wijnhoven, S. & Bos, O.G. (2017). Benthic Indicator Species Index (BISI): Development process and description of the National Benthos Indicator North Sea including a protocol for application. Ecoauthor Report Series 2017-02, Heinkenszand, the Netherlands (in English).

With a protocol of application (written in English):

Wijnhoven, S. (2017a). Protocol Benthic Indicator Species Index (BISI). Annex 1 of Wijnhoven & Bos (2017).

And an assessment tool (in English):

Wijnhoven, S. (2017b) Assessment tool ‘Benthic Indicator Species Index (BISI)’ v260917. Excel-file with specification of the indicator for the areas of the Dutch EEZ to be evaluated and application for the situation in 2015 (T0). Appendix 2 of Wijnhoven & Bos (2017).