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The M-NIP: a macrophyte-based Nutrient Index for Ponds

  • Pond Conservation
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Pond Conservation in Europe

Part of the book series: Developments in Hydrobiology 210 ((DIHY,volume 210))

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Abstract

In Swiss ponds, eutrophication represents one of the major threats to biodiversity. A biological method to assess the trophic state would, therefore, be particularly useful for monitoring purposes. Macrophytes have already been successfully used to evaluate the trophic state of rivers and lakes. Considering their colonizing abilities and their roles in pond ecosystem structure and function, macrophytes should be included in any assessment methods as required by the European Water Framework Directive. Vegetation survey and water quality data for 114 permanent ponds throughout Switzerland were analysed to define indicator values for 113 species including 47 with well-defined ecological response to total water phosphorus (TP). Using indicator values and species cover, a Macrophyte Nutrient Index for Ponds (M-NIP) was calculated for each site and assessed with both the original pond data set and a limited validation data set. The resulting index performed better when considering only species with narrow responses to TP gradient and was more applicable, but less accurate when including all species. Despite these limitations, the M-NIP is a valuable and easy tool to assess and monitor the nutrient status of Swiss ponds and was shown to be robust and relatively sensitive to slight changes in phosphorus loading with a validation subset.

Guest editors: B. Oertli, R. Cereghino, A. Hull & R. Miracle

Pond Conservation: From Science to Practice. 3rd Conference of the European Pond Conservation Network, Valencia, Spain, 14–16 May 2008

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Ecology and Aquatic Biology, University of Geneva, Ch. des Clochettes 18, 1206, Geneva, Switzerland

    Lionel Sager & Jean-Bernard Lachavanne

Authors
  1. Lionel Sager
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  2. Jean-Bernard Lachavanne
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Correspondence to Lionel Sager .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Applied Sciences of Western Switzerland, Geneva, Switzerland

    Beat Oertli

  2. University of Toulouse, Toulouse, France

    Régis Céréghino

  3. Pond Conservation, Oxford, United Kingdom

    Jeremy Biggs

  4. Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Steven Declerck

  5. Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Andrew Hull

  6. University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

    Maria Rosa Miracle

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Sager, L., Lachavanne, JB. (2009). The M-NIP: a macrophyte-based Nutrient Index for Ponds. In: Oertli, B., Céréghino, R., Biggs, J., Declerck, S., Hull, A., Miracle, M.R. (eds) Pond Conservation in Europe. Developments in Hydrobiology 210, vol 210. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9088-1_17

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