Xavier Torras Boldú

Spanish National Research Council | CSIC · Center for Advanced Studies of Blanes

The cartography of shallow water macroalgal assemblages allows the assessment of water quality in coastal water bodies through the application of CARLIT. In this study, we have applied CARLIT to assess the ecological status of Algerian coastal water bodies for the first time. The surveyed zone is still in a good ecological status since 52% have a g...

Historical information on marine organisms needs to be incorporated to develop effective management plans and conservation targets. In the Mediterranean Sea most species of brown seaweeds of the order Fucales are threatened or endangered and need protection. Here we merge data on historical and current records to create the first reference dataset...

CARLIT is a Water Framework Directive-compliant methodology permitting a rapid assessment of water quality using rocky-shore macroalgae as biological quality elements. Here we present the water quality assessment of 32 coastal water bodies of Catalonia (Northwestern Mediterranean) during a period of 14 years (1999-2012) applying CARLIT. The average...

Methodologies developed by European Member States to assess the environmental quality of their coastal waters under the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD, 2000/60/EC) may have an associated source of uncertainty. Here we identify and quantify the level of uncertainty in the CARLIT (Cartography of littoral and upper-sublittoral communities) methodol...

Macroalgae is a biological key element for the assessment of the ecological status in coastal waters in the frame of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD, 2000/60/EC). Here we propose a methodology for monitoring water quality based on the cartography of littoral and upper-sublittoral rocky-shore communities (CARLIT, in short). With the use...

Only five of fourteen species of Fucales reported at the end of the XIXth century are currently present in the Albères Coast (France, NW Mediterranean). According to historical data there has been a steady decrease of all the populations since the 1940s. Seven taxa now extinct (Cystoseira crinita, Cystoseira barbata, Cystoseira foeniculacea f. tenu...

In this study we present a new methodology for monitoring water quality based on the cartography of rocky benthic communities in the littoral zone. Littoral communities thriving in the selected coast are cartographied from a small boat and the cartographic information is transcribed to a GIS. With the use of spatial databases and geographic informa...

Sampling of benthic communities from the Catalonia rocky littoral (NW Mediterranean) was carried out in 1999-2000 to study the environmental quality of the waters, using the organisms as bioindicators, and DCA analysis as ordination method. Coverage of the main organisms was used as descriptors of the ecological state. Cystoseira mediterranea was t...