Indicatoren en maatlatten voor de beoordeling van structuur en functie van mariene habitattypen voor Natura 2000

Indicators for assessing the structure and functions of marine habitat types for Natura 2000. The 2019 national report on the conservation status of Habitats Directive species and habitat types for the period 2013–2018 called for the development of indicators for assessing the structure and functions (S&F) of marine habitat types. This present study proposes a hierarchical assessment tool based on indicators at the level of communities, ecotopes and habitat types. These indicators include ecotope structures within marine habitat types, biogenic structures that provide habitat for other species and biotic structures with associated ecological functions. Besides identifying elements of the S&F of marine habitat types, this report describes an ecotope-specific benthic S&F indicator based on the Benthic Indicator Species Index (BISI) previously developed under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. We propose to use this BISI-S&F indicator for assessing the S&F of Dutch marine habitat types.