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Eutrophication in Coastal Ecosystems pp 91–106Cite as

Relationship between eutrophication reference conditions and boundary settings considering OSPAR recommendations and the Water Framework Directive—examples from the German Bight

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Part of the book series: Developments in Hydrobiology ((DIHY,volume 207))

Abstract

In order to allow for natural variability, the original OSPAR assessment procedure for eutrophication (Comprehensive Procedure) sets the threshold between Non-Problem/Problem Area (elevated levels) at 50% above natural background concentrations, which is equivalent to the boundary setting good/moderate for the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). The 50% level corresponds to the recent natural variability of nutrient gradients in coastal and estuarine waters in the German Bight. Based on this threshold, a proposal is given for the additional boundary settings required for the WFD assessments. Examples, based on concentrations of total nitrogen and other correlated eutrophication components, are presented. However, for eutrophication effects such as oxygen deficiency, reduced transparency and increased transboundary loads, especially for offshore regions, 50% exceedance of the natural background surpasses ‘slight differences’ as recommended by the boundary good/moderate for the WFD. For this reason, 15% is proposed as the boundary setting for good/moderate and discussed for different parameters. Overlapping between recent means and their standard deviations and the four boundary settings for the WFD cannot be avoided, thereby causing weak assessments. Since the part of the variability of recent data is caused by hydrodynamics, coupled with salinity variation, the variability could be reduced to some degree by relating the data to mean salinities. By doing this, the significance of classifications could be improved. The application of this procedure is discussed for examples from the German Bight.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Biogeochemistry and Marine Chemistry, Hamburg University, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 6, 20146, Hamburg, Germany

    Dilek Topcu & Uwe Brockmann

  2. German Federal Environmental Agency, Wörlitzer Platz 1, 06844, Dessau, Germany

    Ulrich Claussen

Authors
  1. Dilek Topcu
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  2. Uwe Brockmann
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  3. Ulrich Claussen
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. DHI, Agern Allé 5, 2970, Hørsholm, Denmark

    J. H. Andersen

  2. GeoBiosphere Science Centre, Lund University, Sölvegatan 12, 223 62, Lund, Sweden

    D. J. Conley

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Topcu, D., Brockmann, U., Claussen, U. (2009). Relationship between eutrophication reference conditions and boundary settings considering OSPAR recommendations and the Water Framework Directive—examples from the German Bight. In: Andersen, J.H., Conley, D.J. (eds) Eutrophication in Coastal Ecosystems. Developments in Hydrobiology, vol 207. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3385-7_9

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