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Methodological elements for optimising the spatial monitoring design to support regional benthic ecosystem assessments

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Abstract

Benthic habitat condition assessments are a requirement under various environmental directives. The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), for example, challenges member states in a European sea region to perform comparable assessments of good environmental status and improve coherence of their monitoring programmes by 2020. Currently, North Sea countries operate independent monitoring programmes using nationally defined assessment areas. Lack of an agreed OSPAR or EU scale monitoring method and programme has been identified as a priority science need. This paper proposes a method for the development of a coherent and efficient spatial sampling design for benthic habitats on regional level and gives advice on optimal monitoring effort to get more accurate assessments. We use ecologically relevant assessment areas (strata) across national borders and test spatial sample allocation methods. Furthermore, we investigate the number of samples needed in each stratum to reduce the variance for estimating mean number of taxa and abundance. The stratification needs to take into account the spatial heterogeneity of the entire ecosystem. The total sample effort is optimal when sample allocation takes into account the size and benthic variability within those strata. Change point analysis helps to find a balance between sampling effort and precision of the benthic parameter estimate. A joint sampling design for the North Sea could be generated by combining current efforts, and where needed adapting existing national programmes. This serves a coordinated, region-wide, benthic condition status assessment and strengthens regional cooperation to fulfil multiple monitoring tasks, with a scientifically underpinned common approach.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank all colleagues from the JMP NS/CS consortium and BEWG that participated in the workshops providing fruitful discussions and results and helped with inspiring ideas whilst developing this publication. Finally, we acknowledge the valuable comments of the anonymous reviewer.

Funding

This work was developed during the European Project ‘Towards a Joint Monitoring Programme for the North Sea and Celtic Sea’ (JMP NS/CS) (Call PP/ENV/SEA2012; Grant agreement No.07.0335/2013/659567/SUB/C2) and supported by the Benthos Ecology Working Group (BEWG), which is an expert group of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES).

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Appendix

Appendix

Table 3 Benthic subtidal soft sediment monitoring programmes for the European Union countries in the North Sea area. This information was collected in function of the project ‘Towards a Joint Monitoring Programme for the North Sea and Celtic Sea’ (JMP NS/CS) and the database from where these programmes were extracted can be found on https://www.informatiehuismarien.nl/projecten/joint-monitoring/. Those programmes can also be found on the official MSFD article 11 reporting portal ( http://cdr.eionet.europa.eu/)

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Van Hoey, G., Wischnewski, J., Craeymeersch, J. et al. Methodological elements for optimising the spatial monitoring design to support regional benthic ecosystem assessments. Environ Monit Assess 191, 423 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-019-7550-9

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