A Marine Biotic Index to Establish the Ecological Quality of Soft-Bottom Benthos Within European Estuarine and Coastal Environments

摘要

In this paper, a marine Biotic Index (BI) for soft-bottom benthos of Euroepan estuarine and coastal environments is proposed. This is derived form the proportions of indi- vidual abundance in five ecological groups, which are re- lated to the degree of sensitivity/tolerance to an environmental stress gradient. The main difference with previously published indices is the use of a simple formula that produces a continuous Biotic Coefficient (BC) - which makes it more suitable for statistical analysis, in opposition with previous discreet biotic indices - not af- fected by subjectivity.