DOI: http://doi.org/10.21698/simi.2019.ab23
ALTERNATIVE METHODS TO DETECT BIOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES IN FRESHWATER SYSTEMS

DNA metabarcoding

Freshwater systems

Taxonomy

WFD 

 

The Water Framework Directive (2000/60 / EC) (WFD) was adopted as a result of a global need to solve environmental issues and to archive environmental sustainability in a holistic approach taking into account the social requirements. The EU Member States have spent considerable resources to develop tools for river basin management plans. The “ecological status” could be better characterized by the biologic communities’ response to pressure factors (such as urban agglomeration, hydrotechnical works, domestic and industrial wastewater discharges etc), rather than the variability of physico-chemical parameters. Even though WFD has been implemented as an important stimulant for the harmonization, classification and monitoring methods across Europe, there are still gaps in this approach. Numerous studies published over the last five years focused on the difference between conventional methods of the biological communities morphological identification and alternative metabarcoding DNA methods, rapid and cost-effective methods for assessing the biodiversity of aquatic systems (Cordier et al 2019; Serrana et al 2019; Ruppert et al 2019; Pawlowski et al 2018; Hering et al 2018; Vasselon et al 2017; Elbrecht et al 2017).