Chrysoula Ntislidou

• Biology
• PhD Student at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Due to the multiple pressures from human activities, many freshwater ecosystems are facing degradation. To address this issue, a new approach for assessing stream water quality and ecological (WQE) risk using a multi-criteria analysis through a GIS-based policy tool has been developed. The suggested methodology integrates eight different factors al...

Evaluating and integrating local ecological knowledge held by fishers into decision-making processes has the potential to significantly enhance fisheries management. The present study aimed to collect information on fishery practices and to assess the ecological knowledge of local professional fishers through interviews, evaluating its importance i...

The distinct origin and hydrological characteristics of reservoirs, shaped by fluctuating water levels and seasonal variations, play a crucial role in determining aquatic species assemblages across diverse limnological zones. This study aimed to analyze fish and crayfish assemblages in the nearshore area of a canyon-shaped Mediterranean reservoir,...

Water resources management requires comprehensive and integrated approaches that jointly consider hydrological, ecological and social factors. The assessment of lakes’ environmentally minimum water level is a critical tool for the sustainable management and protection of their ecosystems. This work combines the morphological, hydrological and biolo...

Surface waters, particularly rivers, are paramount in serving as the primary global water source and a pivotal economic driver. Various pollution sources can negatively impact water quality. The Water Framework Directive has established regulations that define specific chemical and ecological statuses for rivers. Consequently, there is an ongoing c...

Despite peri-urban areas being crucial for ecosystem service provisioning, they usually become degraded, as they are burdened with effluents from urban production activities. Such is the case of Laspias River (Thrace, Greece), where a series of diffuse and point pollution sources are met throughout its course, neglecting the fact that it discharges...

The island species–area relationship (ISAR) describes how species richness increases with increasing area of a given island or island‐like habitat, such as freshwater lakes. While the ISAR is one of the most common phenomena observed in ecology, there is variation in both the form of the relationship and its underlying mechanisms. We compiled a glo...

Multiple pressures in rivers, especially those connected with urban areas, receive anthropogenic “burden” due to socioeconomic activities. Laspias river form its springs acts as sink of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), military exercises field, landfill, industrial parks and animal farms, all connected to Xanthi’s productive spectrum. The Eye4W...

In Greece, the implementation of the Water Framework Directive for rivers is based mainly on benthic macroinvertebrates and uses a semi-quantitative method with a D-frame net, which is certified by the International Organization for Standardization. Before the official adoption of this method, a quantitative shovel sampler (“Cretan shovel”) was use...

More than half of the European water bodies still lag behind the 2000/60/EC directive due to various reasons. A complete, updated and holistic knowledge base is central in forming a proper monitoring suite, within a management scheme tailored for each case study. In Eye4Water project, a series of hierarchical procedures was followed in order to pro...

Rural and peri-urban ecosystems usually have to confront the environmental pressure deriving from the agricultural schemes. These are usually aggravated by the synergistic multiplying effect of other pressures. In the case study of Laspias basin, it is witnessed that the river is subject to a large variety of pressures ever since its springs, recei...

Benthic macroinvertebrate communities from different lake zones are known to respond differently to environmental parameters and human pressures. The objectives of this study were to explore the spatial and temporal variability of benthic communities, investigate the effect of environmental factors on their assemblages and assess their response to...

The “One Out–All Out” (OOAO) principle imposed by the WFD selects the worst ecological status assessed by different biological quality elements (BQEs). Since it is a precautionary rule that can lead to problems of underestimation of the overall status, its amendment has been a matter of debate for WFD 20⁺. The use of fuzzy methods that express the...

The estimation of the number of samples required for reliably monitoring lakes’ benthic macroinvertebrates is difficult due to the natural variability and cost and time constraints. To determine a statistically robust and effective sampling design, we collected benthic macroinvertebrate samples from 15 Greek natural lakes. We compared the spatial a...

Eutrophication caused by nutrient enrichment is a predominant stressor leading to lake degradation and, thus, the set-up of boundaries that support good ecological status, the Water Framework Directive’s main target, is a necessity. Greece is one of the Member States that have recorded delays in complying with the coherent management goals of Europ...

Spatial and temporal patterns are determined by a variety of biotic and abiotic conditions, among all in shallow, Mediterranean, heavily modified water bodies. Lake Karla's, a multi-service reservoir, re-establishment begun 60 years after the natural lake was dried. This research is aimed at linking a series of environmental drivers with the phytop...

The intercalibration exercise is required by the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) to harmonize the national ecological class boundaries across Member States. It is applied to individual types of water bodies, comparing WFD-compliant biological assessment methods using specific quality elements. This study addresses the harmonization of the...

Despite hydromorphological pressure assessment is required by the European Water Framework Directive (WFD), there is not one commonly accepted method for this purpose. The extent of habitat alteration and naturalness loss is a major issue especially for heavily modified water bodies (HMWBs) in terms of their maximum ecological potential designation...

A description of hydromorphological pressures is required by the Water Framework Directive, however, there is not a commonly accepted assessment method. This study aims to explore a description tool application, not used before in Greece, for the quantification of the human impact extent on natural environment. Thus, in lakes Kastoria and Pamvotis,...

A description of hydromorphological pressures is required by the Water Framework Directive, however, there is not a commonly accepted assessment method. This study aims to explore a description tool application, not used before in Greece, for the quantification of the human impact extent on natural environment. Thus, in lakes Kastoria and Pamvotis,...

The aquatic snail genus Dianella (Gastropoda: Hydrobiidae) has only two representatives in Greece: Di-anella schlickumi Schütt, 1962 and Dianella thiesseana (Kobelt, 1878). D. schlickumi, a narrow endemic species to Lake Amvrakia (in Aitoloakarnania, western-central Greece), is considered as Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct, sensu IUCN 2017)...

The role of benthic macroinvertebrate and fish communities for assessing the ecological quality of an artificial re-constructed, after 50 years of dryness, Mediterranean water body (Karla Reservoir, Greece) is presented. Moreover, we provide knowledge on the structure of the biological communities and their functioning role, for inspiring feature a...

During the last decades, a great number of indices have been developed throughout Europe to fulfil the requirements of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and to assess the ecological impacts of anthropogenic pressures. The development of a methodology for assessing the ecological quality status of Greek rivers and streams was urgently needed becau...

p>Lake Karla (Central Greece) is a unique example - at European scale - of a shallow lake ecosystem that was dried in the 1960s and in 2009 started to be restored. The lake is listed in the network of the Greek protected areas as it is considered a vital aquatic ecosystem, in terms of biodiversity. It has, however, already been adversely affected b...

Presentation of pertinent results and interpretations from a state-wide review of the conservation status of fishes (primarily freshwater species) which are of European conservation interest based on the Habitats Directive (92/43/EE).

A nationwide ichthyological survey designed to meet the demands of the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC for the ecological status assessment in lotic systems was conducted between summer 2012 and autumn 2015. A total of 127 river basins were surveyed and 1,096 fish samplings were conducted in 449 sites using electrofishing devices. Overall, 237...

Lake Ecosystems have experienced a significant loss of their ecological value due to various human activities. It has been recognized that the continued alteration of freshwater biodiversity is not sustainable, and also, it has been realized that less modified freshwater ecosystems provide significant economic and social benefits to society. In Gre...

This paper investigates the benthic macroinvertebrate fauna of the northern and central rivers of Greece and their use in the assessment of the biological/ecological conditions of water bodies towards the fulfilment of the Water Framework Directive for good ecological status/potential by the end of 2015. The macrozoobenthos from reference or modera...

The cyprinid freshwater fish, Pachychilon macedonicum (Steindachner, 1892), is an endemic species in the Balkan Peninsula and has a restricted distribution in Greece. Here, we report new records of the species out of its known natural range, namely at the Mpogdanas Stream (drainage area of lakes Koronia-Volvi, northern Greece), which now constitute...

The present paper deals with the intercalibration of the Hellenic Evaluation System (HESY) boundaries for the ecological quality of Greek rivers (Northern and Central Greece) [small size and mid altitude (type R-M1) and medium size and low altitude (type R-M2)] with the officially quality boundaries set by the European Commission and the quality bo...