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Quality assurance of diatom counts in Europe: towards harmonized datasets

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Abstract

Investigations on organism ecology, biodiversity and biogeography often use large compiled datasets to extract information on species ecological preferences, which then can be used in environmental assessment. Freshwater benthic diatoms are commonly used in this context. However, it is important that the taxonomic information of the separate diatom datasets is compatible. At present, inconsistencies between diatom datasets, mainly due to differences and uncertainties in diatom identification, may misinform diatom taxon-specific ecological preferences, geographical distribution and water quality assessment. It is our opinion that these inconsistencies in diatom datasets can be reduced with quality assurance (QA), such as identification exercises. However, the results of these exercises must be well documented and well communicated; otherwise, gained knowledge may not spread inter-regionally or internationally. As a first step to reach greater consistency in QA/harmonization studies, this article (1) presents and compares information of existing diatom identification and counting QA from published and grey (non-peer reviewed) European literature to identify advantages and drawbacks of each approach; (2) summarizes taxa that can easily be misidentified according to European identification exercises; and (3) suggests a consistent design of identification exercises for diatom dataset QA.

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Acknowledgments

We thank everyone who was contacted for this analysis and helped to find information: Martyn Kelly (UK, Bowburn consultancy), Bryan Kennedy (IE, EPA), Libuse Opatrilova (CZ, T. G. Masaryk Water Research Institute), Frans Kouwets (NL, Rijkswaterstaat Water, Verkeer en Leefomgeving), Gaby Verhaegen (BE, Flanders, VMM), Christine Keulen (BE, Wallonia, Service Public de Wallonie), Juliette Rosebery (FR, Irstea grpt de Bordeaux UR EABX), Matteo Galbiati & Andrea Fazzone (IT, ARPA Lombardia), Pepita Nolla (ES, PhytoLab Control) & Elisabet Tornés (ES, ICRA) and Richild Mauthner-Weber (AU, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management) (additionally to the authors). We also want to thank the organizers and participants of the diatom identification exercises who kindly provided the grey literature compiled in this study. We thank Martyn Kelly for a critical review of a first version of this manuscript, and Matteo Galbiati, Andrea Fazzone, Richild Mauthner-Weber, Juliette Rosebery, Elisabet Tornés and Gaby Verhaegen for their valuable contributions to it. We also thank the reviewers, who contributed considerably to the improvement of the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Saúl Blanco

    Present address: The Institute of the Environment, La Serna, 58, 24007, León, Spain

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P. O. Box 7050, 750 07, Uppsala, Sweden

    Maria Kahlert & Antonia Liess

  2. Danube Research Institute, MTA Centre for Ecological Research, Karolina út 29, Budapest, 1113, Hungary

    Éva Ács

  3. Biology Department and GeoBioTec Research Centre, University of Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    Salome F. P. Almeida

  4. Department of Biodiversity and Environmental Management, University of León, 24071, León, Spain

    Saúl Blanco

  5. Department for Botany and Botanical Garden, Institute of Bio-Science, University of Rostock, Wismarsche Str. 8, 18057, Rostock, Germany

    Mirko Dreßler

  6. Environmental Research and Innovation Department (ERIN), Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), 41 rue du Brill, 4422, Belvaux, Luxembourg

    Luc Ector

  7. Finnish Environment Institute, University of Oulu, P. O. Box 413, 90014, Oulu, Finland

    Satu Maaria Karjalainen

  8. Grontmij Nederland B.V., P. O. Box 95125, 1090 HC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Adrienne Mertens

  9. AQUON, Korte Huifakkerstraat 6, 4815 PS, Breda, The Netherlands

    Jako van der Wal

  10. Centre for Limnology, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 5D, 51014, Tartu, Estonia

    Sirje Vilbaste

  11. Diatoms as Bioindicators, Grainauer Str. 8, 10777, Berlin, Germany

    Petra Werner

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  1. Maria Kahlert
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Correspondence to Maria Kahlert.

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Kahlert, M., Ács, É., Almeida, S.F.P. et al. Quality assurance of diatom counts in Europe: towards harmonized datasets. Hydrobiologia 772, 1–14 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-016-2651-8

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