Tag Archives: Habitat Directive

All BISI related information gathered on one site

Posted on by
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.

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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.