The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) was adopted in October 2000 and is one of the most important pieces of legislation in relation to water quality in EU member states. The aim of the WFD is to protect and monitor all water bodies including surface waters (rivers, lakes, estuaries (transitional waters) and coastal waters) and groundwaters to achieve good water quality for these habitats. Water quality is monitored through the assessment of a variety of proxies or Quality Elements such as benthic invertebrates, phytoplankton, and water nutrient concentrations. This research will investigate the relationship between benthic macroinvertebrates and (i) Ecological Status of waterbodies, (ii) other BQE’s (Biological Quality Elements) with a particular focus on adapting the benthic BQEs to better reflect a wider range of habitats as currently they are restricted to fine sands and muds and/or the effect extreme events have on the water quality scores reported. In particular, the project will focus on the Infaunal Quality Index (IQI), a multimetric index, that expresses the ecological health of benthic macroinvertebrate (infauna) assemblages. Within the parameters of this metric the project will assess potential relationships between the benthic phytoplankton dormant stages present at time of sampling and the BQEs
