Member State report / Art11 / 2020 / D1-P / Croatia / Mediterranean: Adriatic Sea

Report type Member State report to Commission
MSFD Article Art. 11 Monitoring programmes (and Art. 17 updates)
Report due 2020-10-15
GES Descriptor D1 Pelagic habitats
Member State Croatia
Region/subregion Mediterranean: Adriatic Sea
Reported by Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries
Report date 2020-10-15
Report access

Descriptor
D1.6
Monitoring strategy description
Plankton communities are monitored to assess environmental status and distance from GES in the pelagic habitat. State of the habitat is evaluated through the state of phytoplankton and zooplankton communities, using appropriate biodiversity-based (taxonomical structure) and stock size-based (abundance, biomass) indicators relevant for those elements under D1C6 criterion. The assessment areas include coastal and open-sea waters, particularly those under increased anthropogenic pressures that might induce undesirable changes in plankton communities: eutrophication, resulting in elevated nutrient concentrations that promote accelerated phytoplankton growth, proliferation of opportunistic species and changes in the food web structure; fisheries, that through excessive species extraction impacts the structure of apex predators; introduction of non-indigenous species, which changes local communities through competitive advancement of alien species. Through the monitoring results, deviations in plankton diversity, relative abundance or biomass from the natural ranges (baselines) that can be backtracked to human-induced pressures will be recognized as impediments to GES achievement. Monitoring strategy is expected to contribute to the assessment of progress towards the achievement of the main GES targets for the pelagic habitat.
Coverage of GES criteria
Adequate monitoring was in place in 2014
Gaps and plans
Spatial and temporal resolution of plankton monitoring might be increased by the use of automated methods for plankton enumeration and analyses. Due to high diversity and complex life-cycles, there is need to constantly update and expand taxonomical knowledge on plankton. The upgrades are expected from creating the subregional/regional experts network and from exploiting the recent advancements in integrative taxonomy, using genomic methods that could provide faster results and complement the traditional plankton analyses.
Related targets
  • D1T1 - Pelagic habitat
Coverage of targets
Adequate monitoring was in place in 2014
Related measures
Coverage of measures
Related monitoring programmes
  • MADHR-D01-05
Programme code
MADHR-D01-05
Programme name
Pelagic habitats - community characteristics
Update type
Modified from 2014
Old programme codes
  • MADHR-D014-05
Programme description
Plankton (microscopic plants and animals) play a fundamental role in the marine food web. Planktonic species generally have short life cycles and respond quickly to environmental changes and thus require spatially and temporally denser monitoring than species with longer life span and slower reproduction. Apart from the variations dependent on prevailing natural conditions and climate change, plankton communities are also impacted by human pressures, such as eutrophication, introduction of non-indigenous species and fisheries. The proposed indicators (biodiversity-based and stock-based) aim to discriminate changes in the plankton communities of the Croatian Adriatic due to human pressure from those caused by natural spatial-temporal variability. Sampling sites along the eastern Adriatic coast encompass open and coastal waters, with coastal sites reflecting areas under anthropogenic pressures. The samples collected will provide information on community composition and species abundances. Monitoring of plankton communities contributes to demonstrating the achievement of GES in the pelagic habitat, reflecting not only on the plankton but also on other species and habitats.
Monitoring purpose
  • Environmental state and impacts
Other policies and conventions
  • Water Framework Directive
Regional cooperation - coordinating body
Regional cooperation - countries involved
Regional cooperation - implementation level
Monitoring details
Frequency: Phytoplankton: Profiles of middle and northern Adriatic minimal 10 times a year. Lim, Bakar, ZOI 7 times a year. The rest 4 times a year Zooplankton: minimum 2 x per year
Features
Other pelagic habitats
Coastal ecosystems
Shelf ecosystems
Coastal ecosystems
Shelf ecosystems
Coastal ecosystems
Shelf ecosystems
Eutrophication
Elements
  • Phytoplankton communities
  • Zooplankton communities
  • Primary producers
  • Secondary producers
  • Primary producers
  • Secondary producers
  • Primary producers
  • Secondary producers
  • Primary producers
  • Secondary producers
  • Primary producers
  • Secondary producers
  • Primary producers
  • Secondary producers
  • Phytoplankton communities
GES criteria
D1C6
D4C1
D4C1
D4C2
D4C2
D4C4
D4C4
D5C3
Parameters
  • Other
  • Other
  • Other
  • Abundance (number of individuals)
  • Biomass
  • Abundance (number of individuals)
  • Biomass
  • Productivity
  • Productivity
  • Frequency
Parameter Other
Abundance/Biomass, species composition
Species composition
Species composition
Spatial scope
  • Territorial waters
Marine reporting units
  • MAD-HR-MRU_1
Temporal scope (start date - end date)
2021-2026
Monitoring frequency
Other
Monitoring type
  • In-situ sampling coastal
  • In-situ sampling offshore
Monitoring method
  • Other monitoring method
Monitoring method other
Roger Harris, Peter Wiebe, Jürgen Lenz, Hein Rune Skjoldal and Mark Huntley. 2000. ICES Zooplankton Methodology Manual Utermöhl, von H. 1931. Neue Wege in der quantitativen Erfassung des Planktons. (Mit besondere Beriicksichtigung des Ultraplanktons). Verh. Int. Verein. Theor. Angew. Limnol., 5, 567–595. Marie, D., Partensky, F., Jacquet, S., Vaulot, D., (1997). Enumeration and cell cycle analysis of natural populations of marine picoplankton by flow cytometry using the nucleic acid stain SYBR Green I. Appl. Environ. Microb., 63, 186-193. Marie, D., Brussaard, C., Partensky, F., Vaulot, D. 1999. Flow cytometric analysis of phytoplankton, bacteria and viruses. In Current Protocols in Cytometry. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., pp. 11.11.1- 11.11.15. Fuhrman, J.A., Azam, F. (1982) Thymidine incorporation as a measure of heterotrophic bacterioplankton production in marine surface waters: evaluation and field results. Mar. Biol., 66, 109-120. doi: 10.1007/BF00397184 Sampling procedure has been described in Marasovic I., Krstulovic, N., Leder, N., Loncar, G., Precali, R., Šolic, M., Loncar,.G., Beg- Paklar, G., Bojanic, N., Cvitkovic, I., Dadic, V., Despalatovic, M., Dulcic, J., Grbec, B., Kušpilic, G., Nincevic-Gladan, Ž., P. Tutman, Ujevic, I., Vrgoc, N., Vukadin, P., Žuljevic, A. Coastal cities water pollution control project, Part C1: Monitoring and Observation System for Ongoing Assessment of the Adriatic sea under the Adriatic sea Monitoring Programme, Phase II. Interim report (IR), December, 2013. https://jadran.izor.hr/jadranski_projekt_2/MJERNE-METODE-I-OPREMA.pdf
Quality control
As used in the reported monitoring method.
Data management
Data access
Related indicator/name
Contact
References