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| Integrated assessment of the status of marine biodiversity is and has been problematic
compared to, for example, assessments of eutrophication and contamination status,
mostly as a consequence of the fact that monitoring of marine habitats, communities and
species is expensive, often collected at an incorrect spatial scale and/or poorly integrated
with existing marine environmental monitoring efforts. The objective of this Method Paper
is to introduce and describe a simple tool for integrated assessment of biodiversity status
based on the HELCOM Biodiversity Assessment Tool (BEAT), where interim biodiversity
indicators are grouped by themes: broad-scale habitats, communities, and species as
well as supporting non-biodiversity indicators. Further, we report the application of an
initial indicator-based assessment of biodiversity status of Danish marine waters where
we have tentatively classified the biodiversity status of Danish marine waters. The
biodiversity status was in no areas classified as “unaffected by human activities.” In all
the 22 assessment areas, the status was classified as either “moderately affected by
human activities” or “significantly affected by human activities.” Spatial variations in the
biodiversity status were in general related to the eutrophication status as well as fishing
pressure. | |
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