Project Description

Project Context :

The ecological status of water bodies is strongly influenced by human activities, which alter physicochemical conditions and may degrade biodiversity. The European Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC), transposed into French law (ministerial decree of 9 Oct. 2023), assesses the status of water bodies using biological, hydromorphological, and physicochemical criteria. However, some indicators (temperature, oxygen, salinity, pH) still lack interpretation thresholds in France, although each Member State is responsible for proposing such thresholds. In addition, current assessments do not account for toxicity.

Project Objectives :

In 2026, this action is structured around two objectives: (1) Propose thresholds for missing regulatory indicators and anticipate potential needs for revising or improving water quality indicators. (2) Assess potential toxic pollution through new phytobenthos-based indicators. For objective (1), a review of thresholds proposed by European countries is underway to determine their transferability. Objective (2) combines the analysis of the distribution of diatom teratologies in lakes based on data collected during WFD monitoring campaigns with laboratory testing.

Project Results

The expected outcomes for each research objective are : (1) Produce concise fact sheets for each indicator explaining how to measure and interpret them, along with an interpretation framework for managers, to support the Ministry and State services. Initiate the development to make the indicators WFD-compatible. (2) Promote the M2 internship work on teratologies and biofilm lipid quality through internship reports, operational summaries of results, analyses of spatial distributions and impacted species, as well as presentations at scientific conferences.

To go further

Useful Links :

https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000000330631

https://diatom-terato.eabx.inrae.fr/fr/

Contact : soizic.morin[at]inrae.fr