1,721,105 research outputs found
Impact factor and other metrics for evaluating science: Essentials for public health practitioners
Full text linkThe quality of scientific evidence is doubly tied with the quality of all research activities that generates it (including the "value" of the scientists involved) and is usually, but not always, reflected in the reporting quality of the scientific publication(s). Public health practitioners, either at research, academic or management levels, should be aware of the current metrics used to assess the quality value of journals, single publications, research projects, research scientists or entire research groups. However, this task is complicated by a vast variety of different metrics and assessment methods. Here we briefly review the most widely used metrics, highlighting the pros and cons of each of them. The rigid application of quantitative metrics to judge the quality of a journal, of a single publication or of a researcher suffers from many negative issues and is prone to many reasonable criticisms. A reasonable way forward could probably be the use of qualitative assessment founded on the indications coming from few but robust quantitative metrics
Spatial variation in lake benthic macroinvertebrate ecological assessment: a synthesis of European case studies
No full textThis paper summarizes eight case studies that were analysed as part of the research theme "lake benthic macroinvertebrates" forming part of the EU-funded WISER project "Water bodies in Europe: Integrative Systems to assess Ecological status and Recovery". The relationships between lake benthic macroinvertebrate community composition and natural and human induced environmental variables (eutrophication, catchment land-use, and hydromorphological pressures) were studied. This was done in different lake habitats (the profundal, sublittoral, and littoral) in five regions of Europe (Alpine, Northern, Central Baltic, Atlantic, and Mediterranean). The goal of the papers was to assess the main environmental factors and how they affected benthic macroinvertebrate variation at different ecological scales and thus better our basic understanding of how changes in these environmental variables can be tracked using local invertebrate assemblages. In this issue we provide a contribution towards the understanding of basic sources of spatial variation of invertebrate assemblages in different European lake habitat types and their relationship with major human pressures. All papers have an obvious applied objective and our aim is to provide useful information for designing monitoring programs and invertebrate based ecological classification tools with the ultimate aim to improve a sound management of European lake ecosystems
The importance of spatial variation of benthic invertebrates for the ecological assessment of European lakes
No full textLake assessment systems based on benthic macroinvertebrates critically depend on the amount of spatial variation of organisms within and between lakes. Investigators need to distinguish between community changes that are related to human pressures and those that are caused by inherent natural variability. However, littoral and profundal invertebrate communities are constrained by different drivers of change and may respond unevenly to distinct human disturbances. How human disturbances determined by different pressures interact in modifying the distribution of benthic invertebrate species at multiple spatial scales needs to be assessed and efficiently quantified, in order to set up reliable assessment tools of ecological status. Driven by the research activity carried out within the European project Wiser (Water bodies in Europe: Integrative Systems to assess Ecological status and Recovery, funded by the European Union under the 7th Framework Programme), we collated several case studies with the aim to increase our understanding of basic sources of spatial variation of invertebrate assemblages. The set of papers includes a variety of different European lakes, habitat types and human pressures from the Nordic, Central, Atlantic, Alpine and Mediterranean regions. All papers have an obvious applied objective and suggest which factors need to be considered when designing invertebrate-based classification tools
Relationships between pressures, chemical status, and biological quality elements. Analysis of the important knowledge gaps for the implementation of the Water Framework Directive
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Ecological Quality Ratios for Ecological Quality Assessment in Inland and Marine Waters
Full text linkThis report addresses the issue: What is a WFD compliant assessment method? This is done by focusing on the concept of the Ecological Quality Ratio (EQR). The EQR incorporates the key WFD requirements for ecological classification: typology, reference conditions, and class boundary setting. The Deliverable is targeted both to the policy makers and competent authorities implementing the Water Framework Directive and the scientists supporting them with their specific knowledge.
The Classification Guidance separates three levels in the biological assessment: the parameter level, the quality element level, and the status classification. The main conclusion is that the WFD requires classification of water bodies at the quality element level, and that the worst of the relevant quality elements determines the final classification (the “one out, all out” principle). How the different parameters within a quality element are combined is not prescribed; this can either be done by combining them in a multimetric index, or in any other way.
WFD- compliance criteria for assessment methods include reference conditions setting, definition of quality classes, and intercalibration of those boundaries. Those are currently addressed in the WFD intercalibration exercise, with a strong focus on specific quality elements and pressures. It is expected that the remaining quality elements and pressures will be addressed in the next couple of years, and that there will be a tendency from very specific, single-parameter, pressure-specific methods towards more general multimetric approaches.
Quantification of EQR uncertainty should be implemented in future assessment programs. Software like starbugs (http://www.eu-star.at/) may help in the assessment of EQR uncertainty and provides a first attempt into this direction. It should be remarked that the analysis of uncertainty of EQR classification of a given site resulting from the use of a specific assessment scheme does not reveal the (unknown) real quality class of that site. If the EQR assessment outcome can be incorporated into a modelling framework, uncertainties may be assessed through careful evaluation of model predictions.JRC.H.5 - Rural, water and ecosystem resource
Pattern of structure and diversity of the macrobenthic assemblage in volcanic lakes of Central Italy.
No full textDespite the large number of diversity studies on lake macroinvertebrates, much of our understanding of biodiversity is based on local (alpha diversity) or regional (gamma diversity) inventories, whereas variation in species diversity at the lake level (beta diversity) remains poorly understood. Beta diversity increases as the similarity in species composition among sites decreases; therefore it is a measure of the extent to which the diversity of two or more spatial units differs. Here we assembled a large dataset on macrozoobenthos (371 samples, 207 taxa) collating data from previous studies from different sites and habitats in 5 lakes belonging to the volcanic district of central Italy. The lakes ranged between 1.8 and 51 km2 of surface area and between 31m and 175m of max depth and have a different trophic state. Invertebrate taxa richness composition and similarity in species composition was compared among habitats within a lake and among lakes using univariate and multivariate displays. Additionally, variation in the assemblage structure was related to several environmental variables connected to euthrophication pressure and local habitat degradation
Selecting macroinvertebrate taxa and metrics to assess eutrophication in different depth zones of Mediterranean lakes
No full textIn this paper we investigate the response of macroinvertebrates and several metrics based on their presence/absence to eutrophication in some Mediterranean lakes of the volcanic district of Italy. A large dataset was assembled from previous studies comprising presence/absence of macroinvertebrate data from 185 sites located in three different depth zones (sandy eulittoral, vegetated infralittoral and sublittoral /profundal zone) of five lakes sampled between 1976 to 2004. Lakes were assigned to trophic categories based on total phosphorus and Secchi depth annual means. For each depth zone, species composition and richness-based metrics were compared between the different lake trophic categories. Results showed that species composition differed among lake zones and, in each depth zone, among sites belonging to lakes of different trophic state. Using a cut off value of 60 %, 23 taxa in the eulittoral, 31 in the infralittoral and 14 in the sublittoral/profundal were selected by the SIMPER routine as indicators of different trophic categories. The metric based on molluscan and large crustacean taxa was significantly higher in oligotrophic sites compared to eutrophic ones in all the three benthic zones, whereas the BMWP and ASPT scores and total taxa richness correctly differentiated between sites of different lake trophic category only in the sublittoral/profundal zone. We conclude that eutrophication pressures could be assessed by the use of certain richness-based metrics not only in the sublittoral/profundal but also in the sandy eulittoral and vegetated infralittoral zones
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