Microbial assemblages for environmental quality assessment: Knowledge, gaps and usefulness in the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive

Abstract

The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC (MSFD) defines a framework for Community actions in the field of marine environmental policy in order to achieve and/or maintain the Good Environmental Status (GES) of the European seas by 2020. Microbial assemblages (from viruses to microbial-sized metazoa) provide a major contribution to global biodiversity and play a crucial role in the functioning of marine ecosystems, but are largely ignored by the MSFD. Prokaryotes are only seen as “microbial pathogens,” without defining their role in GES indicators. However, structural or functional prokaryotic variables (abundance, biodiversity and metabolism) can be easily incorporated into several MSFD descriptors (i.e. D1. biodiversity, D4. food webs, D5. eutrophication, D8. contaminants and D9. contaminants in seafood) with beneficial effects. This review provides a critical analysis of the current MSFD descriptors and illustrates the reliability and advantages of the potential incorporation of some prokaryotic variables within the set of indicators of marine environmental quality. Following a cost/benefit analysis against scientific and economic criteria, we conclude that marine microbial components, and particularly prokaryotes, are highly effective for detecting the effects of anthropogenic pressures on marine environments and for assessing changes in the environmental health status. Thus, we recommend the inclusion of these components in future implementations of the MSFD.

• Good Environmental Status
• indicators
• marine policy (Marine Strategy Framework Directive)
• microbes

Acknowledgements

This study was performed within the Agreement signed between the Institute for Protection and Environmental Research (ISPRA, Rome, Italy) and the Italian National Research Council- Department of Earth Sciences and Technologies for the Environment (CNR-DTA, Rome, Italy) (contract Prot. AMMCNR-CNR n. 0055493, September 13, 2012), under the general Agreement signed on December 1st 2011 between ISPRA and the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Protection of Land and Sea (MATTM), as part of the transposing of the National Decree 190/2010 for the implementation of the MSFD.

Part of this manuscript has also resulted from the DEVOTES (DEVelopment Of innovative Tools for understanding marine biodiversity and assessing good Environmental Status) project funded by the European Union under the 7th Framework Programme, 'The Ocean of Tomorrow' Theme (grant agreement no. 308392), www.devotes-project.eu.

Declaration of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.