The ecological status of aquatic ecosystems is defined in terms of the quality of the biological community, as well as of the supporting hydrological and chemical characteristics. Several simple indicators and multimetric indices, combining simple indices as multiple sources of information, account for the composition and abundance of biological communities and are widely used in the ecological literature. We focus on three multimetric indices dealing with the benthic macroinvertebrates, as sensitive biological quality element: M-AMBI, BITS and ISS that are likely to respond differently to different sources of natural and anthropogenic variability. To understand what drives multimetric indices disagree in classifying lagoons’ ecological status, Statistical models linking multimetric indices values and ecological status categories with environmental variables have been used as suitable tools to address drivers of multimetric indices classification of lagoons’ ecological status. Here we adopt two Bayesian hierarchical models, allowing for the inclusion of multiple sources of information and external prior knowledge.
A model-based approach to lagoon ecosystem classification
Serena Arima;
2013-01-01
Abstract
The ecological status of aquatic ecosystems is defined in terms of the quality of the biological community, as well as of the supporting hydrological and chemical characteristics. Several simple indicators and multimetric indices, combining simple indices as multiple sources of information, account for the composition and abundance of biological communities and are widely used in the ecological literature. We focus on three multimetric indices dealing with the benthic macroinvertebrates, as sensitive biological quality element: M-AMBI, BITS and ISS that are likely to respond differently to different sources of natural and anthropogenic variability. To understand what drives multimetric indices disagree in classifying lagoons’ ecological status, Statistical models linking multimetric indices values and ecological status categories with environmental variables have been used as suitable tools to address drivers of multimetric indices classification of lagoons’ ecological status. Here we adopt two Bayesian hierarchical models, allowing for the inclusion of multiple sources of information and external prior knowledge.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
