The website Waters Assessment has been published. The website is an information platform for the assessment of surface waters according to the European Water Framework Directive.

For rivers, lakes, transitional and coastal waters you can find all information regarding the assessment, e.g.

• the basis for the assessment, such as waters typology and maps on types of water bodies
• the method description for the assessment of the ecological status or potential based on several biological quality components
• the method description for the assessment of the guiding quality components.

The content presented on the website represents the current version of the German Oberflächengewässerverordnung [meaning directive on surface waters], which in Germany implements the European Water Framework Directive. All the texts published are formatted in PDF style for your personal download. You can also find the primary literature, which is the basis for the information given on the website, as far as it is permitted by copyright regulations.

For the assessment system BALCOSIS (Baltic ALgae COmmunity analySIs System) which classifies macrophytes of the outer, open coastal waters of the Baltic Sea, a detailed description can be find following this link: [to date in German only]:
http://www.gewaesser-bewertung.de/index.php?article_id=327&clang=0

or on our own website in English:
https://www.marilim.de/en/information/water-framework-directive/balcosis

For the assessment system PHYBIBCO (PHYtoBenthic Index for Baltic inner COastal waters which classifies macrophytes of the inner coastal waters of the Baltic Sea, a detailed description can be find following this link: [to date in German only]:
http://www.gewaesser-bewertung.de/index.php?article_id=326&clang=0

or on our own website in English:
https://www.marilim.de/en/information/water-framework-directive/phybibco

Red lists are an important tool in nature conservation and form one instrument for spatial planning and decision-making processes relevant for the environment. Red lists provide a list of all existing but specifically of all extinct, lost and threatened species, communities or biotopes.

Whereas red lists for species have a comparatively long tradition in nature conservation, the first edition for red listed biotope types was published in Germany at first in 1994 by the Federal Agency of Nature Conservation (BfN) and a second one in 2006.

The latest (third) edition was published in Mai 2017 and includes also a complete revision of the marine biotope classification system. The classification was compiled by MariLim GmbH in cooperation with BioConsult Schuchardt & Scholle GbR and IOW Warnemünde as well as numerous biotope experts of the BfN and various regional agencies. The new classification is an adjustment to international standards like HELCOM HUB System.

Germany’s red list of biotopes and biotope complexes.
Naturschutz und Biologische Vielfalt, Volume 156

The second edition of the DEVOTES book “Bridging the Gap Between Policy and Science in Assessing the Health Status of Marine Ecosystems, 2nd Edition” has been compiled and is now available online.

The book contains 37 chapters in total, with the most important findings from the DEVOTES project and you can download it for free.

You may find the E-book on the Frontiers website through the following link:
http://www.frontiersin.org/books/Bridging_the_Gap_Between_Policy_and_Science_in_Assessing_the_Health_Status_of_Marine_Ecosystems_2nd/1151

It is also available for download on the Research Topic homepage, found here:
http://journal.frontiersin.org/researchtopic/4637/bridging-the-gap-between-policy-and-science-in-assessing-the-health-status-of-marine-ecosystems

Book content:

Marine management requires approaches which bring together the best research from the natural and social sciences. It requires stakeholders to be well-informed by science and to work across administrative and geographical boundaries, a feature especially important in the inter-connected marine environment.

Marine management must ensure that the natural structure and functioning of ecosystems is maintained to provide ecosystem services. Once those marine ecosystem services have been created, they deliver societal goods as long as society inputs its skills, time, money and energy to gather those benefits.

However, if societal goods and benefits are to be limitless, society requires appropriate administrative, legal and management mechanisms to ensure that the use of such benefits do not impact on environmental quality, but instead support its sustainable use.

Bibliographic details:

BBridging the Gap Between Policy and Science in Assessing the Health Status of Marine Ecosystems, 2nd Edition

Edited by: Angel Borja, Michael Elliott, María C. Uyarra, Jacob Carstensen, Marianna Mea

Publisher: Frontiers Media SA

ISBN: 9782889451265

Product Name: Frontiers Theme Book

via euronews, futuris [Video] – DEVOTES, DEVOTool

NEAT – Nested Environmental state Assessment Tool: a validated tool for the integrated, consistent and comparative assessment of biodiversity status and GES (good ecological status) across regional seas and the uncertainties related to this assessment

NEAT is an acronym for „Nested Environmental status Assessment Tool” and the software is an implementation of NEAT as a biodiversity assessment tool used for assessing the environmental status of marine areas according to the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). NEAT itself as an assessment method is not restricted to the MSFD but can be used for various other assessment needs and is usable for any MSFD descriptor.

The NEAT software aims to represent a flexible and user-friendly desktop application. It integrates results from several work packages of the DEVOTES project in order to be a central access point to the data collected in the project and to make use of these data for the biodiversity assessment.

NEAT is available as free download for Mac and Windows on the official DEVOTES website.

The DEVOTES software Tool to select indicators for the Marine Framework Strategy Directive (MFSD).

DEVOTES aims at supporting the implementation of the MSFD in European waters by improving the understanding of human activities and variations due to climate change on marine biodiversity. This includes testing the indicators proposed by the EC and the member states and develop new indicators for assessment at species, habitat and ecosystem level, in order to assess the environmental status of the marine environment.

To support this process, a catalogue of indicators has been produced as an inventory of existing methods. It forms the basis for gap and quality analysis, for refining existing and developing new indicators.

The original contributions to the indicator catalogue, collected from the DEVOTES partners, were put into a database. To make this information available in an userfriendly and applied way, the DEVOTES software application DE­VOTool was written by Torsten Berg, a team member of MariLim on the basis of some already existing application. The software and the metadata content will be continuously maintained and enhanced.

DEVOTool is available as free download for Mac and Windows on the official DEVOTES website.

via euronews, futuris [Video]