Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA) 1 Agenda item 2: Practical information for reporting of State-of-Environment biology data Training on reporting of SoE biological elements in rivers and lakes September 2013, Skopje and Ohrid, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

2 Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA) Outline Building blocks of SoE biology data –Concepts –Purpose –(More details on calculation in Agenda item 4) Tools for reporting biology data –Excel files from NIVA (unofficial) –Web pages and templates from EEA

Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA) 3 Building blocks of SoE biology data –Biological Quality Elements (BQE) –National classification system: Class boundaries and reference conditions –Ecological status class –Ecological Quality Ratios (EQR) - national and normalised

4 Biological Quality Elements (BQEs) BQEs for which EEA requests data: Phytobenthos in rivers (PB) –Main pressure: eutrophication Macroinvertebrates in rivers (MI) –Main pressure: general degradation Phytoplankton in lakes (PP) –Main pressure: eutrophication Macrophytes in lakes (PP) –Main pressure: eutrophication –Other main pressures: Acidification, Hydromorphology Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA)

5 National classification system: Reference value and class boundaries Hypothetical metric: Metric value: 15 Reference value: 20 Class boundaries for ecological status: –High/Good = 17 –Good/Moderate = 11 –Moderate/Poor = 7 –Poor/Bad = 4 Worst possible value: 0 Best possible value: 20 (?) Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA) H/G M/P P/B

6 Combining status of metrics and pressures into status of BQEs Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA) Correct level for reporting to EEA: BQE & pressure type e.g. macroinvertebrates & hydrology

7 Ecological Quality Ratio (EQRs) Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA) "Best value" "Worst value" METRIC EQR (NATIONAL) H/G M/P P/B WFD requires calculation of EQR values EEA requests EQR values for SoE biology data A (national) EQR value for a metric is the ratio between the measured value and the reference value

8 National EQRs National EQR is normally in the range 0 (bad) - 1 (high) –Can also exceed 1 ! For metrics that decrease with the pressure gradient: EQR = measured value divided by reference value ("Method 1") For metrics that increase with the pressure gradient: EQR = reference value divided by measured value ("Method 2") or alternative method ("Method 3") (More details in session 4) Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA)

9 Normalisation adjusts the national EQR values relative to the set of normalised class boundaries: –H/G = 0.8 –G/M = 0.6 –M/P = 0.4 –P/B = 0.2 Normalised EQRs Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA) EQR (NATIONAL) NORMALISED EQR

10 Why do we normalise EQR values? Normalised class boundaries are common for all countries Benefits of normalised EQR (nEQR): –Can be compared across countries –Useful for trend analyses –Can more easily combine metrics for one Biological Quality Element E.g. Norway has 4 metrics for phytoplankton, combined as nEQR –More informative about ecogical state relative to class boundaries nEQR >0.6 always means Good status or better –Can be used for trend analyses (in future) The process is relatively new - no official documentation available Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA)

11 Should countries report national or normalised EQRs? Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA) EQR (NATIONAL) NORMALISED EQR Countries can report either national EQR + class boundaries (in EQR scale) + WaterbodyType info or normalised EQR

Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA) 12 Tools for reporting biology data –Reporting Obligations Database (ROD) –Data request letter –Reporting sheets –Data dictionary –Excel templates from EEA –Central Data Repository (CDR) –Automatic Quality Assessment (QA) routines

13 Reporting Obligations Database (ROD) Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA)

14 Reporting Obligations Database (ROD) Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA)

15 ROD contains data deliveries from all countries Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA)

16 ROD contains links to much other information Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA) Data dictionaries (DD): technical description, instructions for reporting Request letter 2013: overview of data request Reporting sheets: information on reporting for each main group of parameters CDR: where you upload the data Waterbase: where EEA publishes the data

17 SoE data request letter 2013 Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA)

18 From data request letter: specifications for biology data Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA)

19 Reporting sheets for biology: content What should be reported? (parameters requested) Why is it needed? (Justification of indicator) How should it be reported? (parameter specifications) Treatment of data before reporting (temporal and spatial aggregation of samples) Methodological details (sampling and analyses) One reporting sheet for each BQE – 5: BIO_INV_RV (macroinvertebrates in rivers) –17: BIO_ALG_RV(phytobenthos in rivers) – 6: BIO_PHY_LK(phytoplankton in lakes) – 7: BIO_AQU_LK (macrophytes in lakes) Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA)

20 Reporting sheets for biology: example Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA)

21 Data Dictionary (DD) Full technical description and instructions for SoE data reporting –Description of all fields (columns) –Allowed values (or text) for many of the fields Contains templates for data delivery Updated every year, based on comments from data providers Biology reporting is included in Rivers DD and Lakes DD Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA)

22 Data Dictionary Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA) printable version of DD (pdf) - most recent version excel template for reporting - most recent version link to most recent version of DD (other file formats are also allowed)

23 Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA) Biology data now are integrated with Rivers / Lakes databases, and can be linked to pressures, nutrients and hazardous substances through a common Stations table. Two types of biology data: –Ecological quality ratios –Additional metrics (lakes only) DD contains the Data model: relationships between tables

24 DD contains specification for each table Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA)

25 Table specification: BiologyLakes_EQR Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA) National WB type: mandatory Intercalibration WB type: fixed "values" (code list) You can report either (national) EQR or normalised EQR Ecological status class: mandatory

26 Table specification: ClassificationSystemLakes Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA) All 4 class boundaries must be reported One set of class boundaries for each different BQE, impact type and water body type

27 Central Data Repository (CDR) Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA)

28 Automatic Quality Assurance routines Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA) Example of automatic feedback for data delivery from MK in 2012

29 Additional QA feedback from data managers Event, date: Reporting of SoE biology, Author: Jannicke Moe (NIVA)