1. Intercalibration CB GIG River Macroinvertebrates Final Report ECOSTAT June 2011 Isabel Pardo Roger Owen

2. CBGIG River Macroinvertebrate Timeline Phase 1: Commenced work in 2004 Phase 1: Final agreed boundaries 2008 Phase 2: Commenced 2008  Compliance check of Phase 1 (new guidance)  New MS methods/types for intercalibration  Check consistency of reference conditions Phase 2: Final report June 2011 (hopefully)

3. Participation: Phase I  17 MS participated  9 MS methods included in calculation of GIG boundary & harmonisation bands: AT, BE-W, DE, ES, UK, IT, LU & IE  Data from 8 MS (LT, NL, PL, BE-F, CZ, DK, EE, SE) excluded from GIG boundary/harmonisation band:  National boundaries not agreed yet  National assessment method not fully developed  Reference values were chosen using an approach that differs to that outlined by the CB GIG  Data quality issues  NL, BE-F & DK used modelled reference status  CZ, EE, LV, LT and PL had methods under development during Phase I, that were not included in the EU IC decision

4. Estonia and Czech Republic have submitted new official methods for intercalibration Spain submitted a new method for testing, but not for official intercalibration Belgium-Wallonia has submitted data for the IC of additional types Poland, Latvia and Lithuania have not provided intercalibration data Participation: Phase II CountryMethod Czech RepublicCzech system for ecological status assessment of rivers using benthic macroinvertebrates EstoniaEstimation of freshwater quality using macroinvertebrates SpainNORTI (North Spanish Indicators system) Belgium-WalloniaGlobal biological index normalized

5. Compliance check Phase 1 national assessment methods with new guidance No problems with compliance check with those MS who participated in phase 1 and were included in the boundary calculation.

7. Phase 2 compliance check of national assessment methods with the WFD requirements

8. Compliance check: Methods intercalibration feasibility check 1.Typology→All MS data fitted RC1 to RC6 CB common types 2.Pressure → All MS methods addressed “general degradation pressure”. Pressure-impact relationship demonstrated for ICMi. 3.Assessment concept → all national methods sampled all available habitats per site (Multi-habitat), and addressed similar community characteristics

9. Compliance check: IC datasets  Phase I (17 MS):  biological data collected from 14,835 samples (MS screened reference sites & developed pressure-response relationships)  Phase II (4 MS):  biological data, pressures and physico- chemistry data collected from 370 samples, 60 of these were reference sites (GIG checked reference data and pressure-response relationships)

10. Compliance check: Data acceptance checking

11. Compliance check Benchmarking: Reference conditions  47 criteria derived from the main 8 pressures defined by REFCOND guidance (Wallin et al. 2003)  Phase I:  MS validated candidate reference sites against all pressures criteria  For phase II:  MS provided pressure data & the GIG validated the reference sites

12. Review of Consistency in the Application of Reference Criteria  Analyses performed by the Cross GIG Reference Conditions Working Group  Analyses concluded that reference criteria were not always consistently applied by MSs during phase I – but lack of information in some cases  Further analyses aimed to validate and refine CB GIG pressure criteria thresholds, but lack of data precluded firm conclusions  AQEM & STAR data provided by WISER provided in opportunity to check CB GIG thresholds with an external database  Some thresholds probably require review

13. Comparison & harmonization  IC Option 2 was used to accommodate different sampling protocols, area sampled between MS and different nature qualitative/quantitative of assessment methods  An intercalibration common metric (ICMi) permitted the comparison of boundaries

14. CB GIG ICM  The ICMi is a multimetric index, with six metrics:  The ICMi was calculated as a weighted average of all the metrics Average Score Per Taxon (ASPT) Log10(sel_EPTD+1) 1-GOLD total number of taxa (families) number of EPT taxa (families) Shannon-Wiener diversity index

15. IC Statistical Requirements Relationship must be significant (from p≤0.05 to p≤0.001). Pearson’s correlation coefficient r = 0.5 Slope of the regression - significantly different from 0; 0.5>x<1.5. Observed minimum r2 should be at least half of the observed maximum r2. Check assumptions of a linear regression Phase I: Checked for compliance by JRC Checked by GIG

16. Class bias of the boundaries submitted for Phase II was calculated using Phase I GIG boundaries Only CZ H/G boundary had a class bias >0.25 giving a precautionay boundary (and exercise their right not to adjust) Boundaries for ES, EE and BE-WA were within the acceptable range of bias. Phase 2: Boundary comparison and harmonisation summary Boundaries (national metric) MSTypeH/GG/MHG BiasGM Bias ESRC2, 3, 4, 5, 60.930.700.053-0.071 EERC60.900.70-0.0600.240 CZRC30.800.600.286-0.015 BE-WRC5, 60.970.740.173-0.034

17. Intercalibration of new types for Be-W  Be-W has worked hard to intercalibrate these types  New types RC-5 & RC-6 successfully intercalibrated  New type RC1 not yet accepted;  No current reference sites  Historical reference failed GIG land use thresholds  Historical biological data not quantitative, inadequate to calculate values of the ICMi  GIG has suggested modelling reference  Requires independent review

18. What happens next…  How do we deal with MS who wish to intercalibrate in future?  What support will be offered to MS to assist them with the process?  Who will provide advice?  CBGIG Instruction Manual (Benthic invertebrates and phytobenthos)

19. Acknowledgements Phase 1Phase 2 Jean-Gabriel Wasson Gisela OfenboeckMikaela GonziIsabel Pardo Wim GabrielsLeonard SandinAlena Slavikova Pierre GerardRoger OwenPavla Louckova Lars LarsenCathy BennettLibuse Opatrilova Henn TimmMartial Ferreol Sebastian BirkChristine Keulen Martin McGarrigleStefania Erba John LuceySebastian Birk Andrea BuffagniHenn Timm Stefania ErbaBarbara Bis Normunds Kadikis Alain DohetRoger Owen Roel KnoebenCathy Bennett Marcel van den Berg Malgorzata Golub Isabel Pardo