Long-term macrozoobenthos changes in a shallow boreal lagoon: Comparison of a recent biodiversity inventory with historical data

The European water framework directive (WFD) aims at achieving good ecological status of water bodies, which implies assessment of their current ecological quality status in respect to defined reference (pristine) conditions. In this paper, two historical biodiversity datasets (from 1920s and 1950s) and results from the recent inventory are used to trace the long-term changes of the macrozoobenthos in the eutrophic boreal lagoon of the Baltic Sea. In comparison of datasets the highest congruence was obtained for molluscs and malacostracan crustaceans, which also had a similar level of taxonomic emphasis between studies. Considering inconsistencies in methodology and taxonomic determination, only few species extinctions in these groups did likely occur during the last 100 years. Two amphipod species (Gammarus pulex and Gammarus lacustris) were not found during the recent survey, whereas five new species of this taxonomic group occurred in the lagoon since 1950s. The causes of these extinctions remain unclear; however displacement by established new amphipods cannot be excluded. Theodoxus fluviatilis was recently recorded in the very restricted area of the lagoon, while in earlier studies the species was mentioned as common and widely distributed in the water body. On the other hand, 10 gastropod species and 9 bivalves were reported for the first time in the lagoon and most likely have been overlooked in earlier surveys. Approximately 10% of the species have their origin outside the Baltic Sea basin and the number of invasions considerably exceeds the number of likely extinctions. Assessment scheme of such changes is unclear following WFD guidelines, therefore elaboration of a framework for evaluation of the alien species diversity in a context of local biodiversity should attain more effort when implementing the WFD. (C) 2007 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.