Perus, J., Bäck, S., Lax, H.-G., Westberg, V., Kauppila, P., Bonsdorff, E.. Coastal marine zoobenthos as an ecological quality element: a test of environmental typology and the European Water Framework Directive. In: Schernewski, G., Wielgat, M. (eds.). Baltic Sea Typology. Coastline Reports (4), pp. 27-38. EUCC - The Coastal Union, Leiden, 2004.

The European Water Framework Directive focuses on the importance of biological and ecological quality elements (phytoplankton, macroalgae, zoobenthos and fish) in classification of the ecological status (EcoQ) of surface waters within Europe. Most surface waters typologies are constructed based on hydro-morphological factors while the EcoQ is based on the status of the biological, hydro-morphological and physico-chemical quality elements, with the importance of biological elements emphasised. A crucial question is whether a typology constructed on hydro-morphological factors reflects the characteristics of the quality elements to be used in the assessing the EcoQ, i.e. whether “ecology” follows “typology”. This contribution presents a test on the possible coupling between a proposed typology based on hydro-morphological data and the community assemblages of an ecological quality element, namely macrozoobenthos, for the Finnish Baltic Sea coastal waters under the WFD.