Ecological goals and associated habitat needs for fish in estuaries: a case study of the Zeeschelde (Belgium)
Breine, J.J.; Maes, J.; Stevens, M.; Elliott, M.; Van den Bergh, E. (2009). Ecological goals and associated habitat needs for fish in estuaries: a case study of the Zeeschelde (Belgium), in: Breine, J. Fish assemblages as ecological indicator in estuaries: the Zeeschelde (Belgium) = Visgemeenschappen als ecologische indicator voor estuaria: de Zeeschelde (België). Doctoraten van het Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek = PhD theses of the Research Institute for Nature and Forest, T.2009.1: pp. 63-84
In: Breine, J. (2009). Fish assemblages as ecological indicator in estuaries: the Zeeschelde (Belgium) = Visgemeenschappen als ecologische indicator voor estuaria: de Zeeschelde (België). Doctoraten van het Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek = PhD theses of the Research Institute for Nature and Forest, T.2009.1. PhD Thesis. KU Leuven/INBO: Leuven. ISBN 978-90-403-0299-2. 263 pp., more
In: Doctoraten van het Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek = PhD theses of the Research Institute for Nature and Forest. Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek, more
We describe habitat needs for fish populations in estuaries needed to ensure the realisation of ecological goals. We take the view that Good Ecological Status (GES), as defined by the European Union Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EEC), is obtained when those ecological goals are fulfilled. The Zeeschelde estuary is presented as a case study for the description of ecological goals, but the described approach can be applied to all North Sea estuaries. In order to make the method widely applicable we first classify fishes into guilds, relevant for the formulation of ecological goals. Next we describe guild-specific ecological goals for fish. Based on the literature, habitat requirements for specific fishes are defined and used to define habitat needs allowing a proper functioning of the estuarine ecosystem. We describe habitat needs at a guild level and indicate how these can be achieved.
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