EBEO - Diagnosis of stressors for ecology in surface waters

Water managers dedicate considerable efforts to biological monitoring. Applying the current Water Framework Directive assessment, this data provides an overview of the present ecological status of a water body (ranging from good to poor). However, there is often a lack of understanding why the ecological status is insufficient. The EBEO-tool is developed to diagnose and visualize stressors in a water body based on the species present and their environmental preferences.

Insight into the causes of insufficient water quality can aid in selecting appropriate restoration measures and evaluation of their effectiveness. Users can apply the tool to existing monitoring data. The results can be flexibly visualized, for example on maps (spatial patterns), in radar plots (different stressors at a single site), in time series (trends over years), and in tables. These visualizations support communication with policymakers.