1. Seppo Rekolainen Finnish Environment Institute
Linkages between REBECCA research project and ECOSTAT Intercalibration and Eutrophication
Seppo Rekolainen
Finnish Environment Institute
2/21/2019

2. REBECCA Relationship between ecological and chemical status of surface waters
Title page. Please add the name and the institute of the person who will make my presentation. Once again: many thanks to him/her, I will pay a few beers in the first possible occasion.
By clicking the mouse you will get the suggestion for REBECCA logo.
2/21/2019

3. Objective of REBECCA
To assess and develop assesment tools to find out relationships between:
different pressures and chemical status
chemical (physico-chemical quality elements) status and ecological status
To bring information and valuable tools for the implementation of the WFD
CIS level – ECOSTAT
MS level
The main objectives. The next slide shows some more detailed objectives.
2/21/2019

4. Parallel working ECOSTAT Tasks: 2004:
Complete intercalibration register
Guidance on IC process
GIGs need to identify possibilities for common metrics
Overview of the potential common metrics & harmonization needs
2005:
Start intercalibration exercise
2006:
Finish & summarise IC exercise
REBECCA tasks:
2004:
Carry out evaluation of current knowledge, identify and collect available datasets
Carry out first tests of functional relationships between pressures, chemistry and biology
2005:
First results of pressure-impacts relationships available
2006:
Functional tools available for establishing cause-effect relationships
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5. What can REBECCA bring to the Intercalibration exercise?
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6. REBECCA ->Intercalibration
tools to set & evaluate consistency of reference condition for common intercalibration types
information on relationsips between pressures and phys-chem and hydromorphological conditions
information on response of water (chemical and biological) quality in relation to pressure gradients
tools to select common metrics
tests on boundary setting protocol in a larger data set (accross pressure gradients) compared to the IC net
I don’t this that REBECCA will provide RC for IC (interclaibration) types. This will be already the responsibility fo the MS during 2004, and will be part of the overall reporting requirements for WFD in 2004.
BUT: REBECCA can provide tools for generic/ common setting of comparable RC based on models (empirical or dynamic) that can be then applied to check if there are very wide difference between RCs that MS have set for the IC-types (or IC sites).
We don’t know yet if the data set in REBECCA will be larger in comparison to data from IC sites. IC network is geographically wider, while there emay be large gaps (GIGs only partly represented) in data available for REBECCA. On the other hand IC data may be focused on anrrower pressure gradient, which can cause problems if used to establish fucntional relationaships. the best woudl be to combine REBECCA & data from the IC sites (from countries that would voluntarily provide targeted / aggregated data from IC sites to REBECCA consortia).
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7. Is there anything REBECCA could get from the ECOSTAT?
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8. REBECCA would be happy…
to get information of national tools and national assessment methods that are outside the current REBECCA consortium
to get information on data availability (including access rights) from ECOSTAT members who are not represented in the consortium (MS and also research institutes/universities/agencies)
2/21/2019

9. RBECCA -> Eutrophication activity
to provide information for harmonisation of assessment methodologies for eutrophication
to analyse relationships between causes (pressures) and responses (eutrophication)
to develope and test quantitative models
to assess critical/target loads
see my comments on separate document.
I see this eutrophication activity very much as a sub-task of the overall WFD impelmentation process, thus the same need/ tasks apply both for eutrophication/ nutrient loading pressures as for other pressure groups.
however, REBECCA can assist this activity only on conceptual level (since it is in focus also in REBECCA), within the timescale of the ECOSTAT/CIS activities, for instance by providing infromation on the state-of-the-art & current knowledge because the guidance assessing eutrophciation should be ready already in early 2005, thus it can be only very generic.
Of course the life goes on, and we still need data and good (harmonised if possible) assessment tools to back-up criteria for setting class boundaries for eutrophied water bodies.
REBECCA will have a huge potential there, because it aims to put together larger datasets than earlier (accross national boundaries and within GIGs), which could assist in the final aim of setting (biological/ ecological based on WFD compliant assessment tools) criteria for classification boundaries, and critical lodaing targets for different water body types.
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10. Who are we? 19 research institutes and universities
SYKE, Finland
JRC, CEC
NIVA, Norway
NERI, Denmark
DHI, Denmark
WL|Delft, The Netherlands
CEH, UK
IVL, Sweden
Cemagref, France
IRSA, Italia
TCD, Ireland
IPIMAR, Portugal
SHMI, Slovakia
UA, Belgium
DDNI, Romania
TTU, Estonia
SLU, Sweden
NINA, Norway
RIZA, The Netherlands
The last slide. I guess you don’t have to read them, just leave this slide on the screen and finish the presentation.
Thankyou.
2/21/2019

11. Thank you!
2/21/2019