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This report provides a showcase of three essential biodiversity variables (EBVs) related to the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) and possible synergies with other EU policies. The report consists of two major parts: the species level EBV on macrophyte species in Nordic lakes and the community condition EBVs for phytoplankton in lakes and benthic invertebrates in rivers based on their deviation from reference conditions measured by Ecological Quality Ratios (EQR-values). The macrophytes species modelling predicts species distribution for two species (Isoetes lacustris and Potamogeton lucens) selected from a dataset of more than 2000 lakes and close to 100 single species. The model is based on observations of each species occurrence and abiotic co-variates (alkalinity, temperature, phosphorus-concentration) from the same lakes identifying the niche for each species. The outputs of the model show all lakes where each of the species potentially can occur. The model is also used to predict impacts of nutrient pollution on the species distribution of each species, showing a clear reduction in their distribution range. The community condition EBVs are based on data reported annually by countries to the European level (EEA). The data are used to assess community condition and trends, showing a recent improvement of condition for water bodies that were in poor or bad condition in 2015, thereby demonstrating the positive effect of mitigation measure to nutrient and organic pollution. Interactive dashboards showing maps and timeseries are developed and fully accessible. Initial analysis of land-use effects shows a negative impact on the condition in areas with > 30% agriculture and > 10% urban areas.
Solheim et al. (Thu,) studied this question.