Paul Quataert - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Paul Quataert

Fisheries Management and Ecology, 2007

Abstract A pan-European, classification of the extent of environmental degradation from chemical... more Abstract A pan-European, classification of the extent of environmental degradation from chemical, physical and biological pressures on fish communities as a precursor to assess the ecological status of running waters based on fish is proposed. Twenty-four potential pressures acting on fish communities at three different spatial scales (river basin, segment and site) were identified and class boundaries for high, good, moderate, poor and bad status, based on existing data and/or expert judgement, were defined. Four pressures (hydrological regime, morphological conditions, toxic or acid conditions, nutrients and organic load) were found to describe the majority of degradation at a specific site and these were combined into a single pressure variable to describe impact at each location. Principal Component Analysis showed that the four variables were correlated with other physical and chemical variables not included in the combined pressure variable. However, biological pressures, e.g. introduction of fish, and longitudinal connectivity were not well correlated, suggesting that two dimensions of human impact on stream fish were poorly accounted for. Low-resolution Geographical Information Systems (GIS) data (1 km grid) on land use and population density correlated well with the four chosen pressures, suggesting it is possible to use standardised GIS data to aid pre-classification of stream degradation.

Chemosphere, 2005

and trace metal accumulation of two Salix clones on sediment-derived soils with increasing contam... more and trace metal accumulation of two Salix clones on sediment-derived soils with increasing contamination levels. Chemosphere 58 , 995-1002.

European Journal of Cancer, 1997

This study describes trends in cervical cancer mortality among women in Belgium from 1954 to 1989... more This study describes trends in cervical cancer mortality among women in Belgium from 1954 to 1989. Data are analysed by means of the standardised mortality rate, age- and cohort-specific mortality rates and standardised cohort mortality ratios. The age-standardised mortality rate decreased progressively from 6.3/100,000 women-years in the first period (1955-1959) to 3.8/100,000 in 1985-1989, indicating a decline of 39.7% over the seven quinquennial periods. A decrease was observed in almost all age groups between 30 and 69 years. In the last 15 years, no further decline, but even a discrete increase, occurred for the age categories younger than 50 years. The successive cohorts born between 1915 and 1939 expressed a continuing lower risk of cervical cancer mortality. This trend was not observed for the most recent generations, for whom even a slight increase of the standardised cohort mortality ratio could be distinguished.

European journal of epidemiology, 1999

More and more citizens urge public health authorities to investigate reports of disease excess in... more More and more citizens urge public health authorities to investigate reports of disease excess in their neighbourhood. These environmental concerns are legitimate and it is part of good public health practice to respond to these complaints. However, the methodological and practical problems are severe and a lot of controversy exists about the usefulness of these investigations. To clarify the possibilities and limitations in this situation, this paper proposes a typology of cluster studies. According to this framework, cluster response is distinguished from two other types of cluster studies: Cluster monitoring. screening proactively for clusters to act as an early warning system, and cluster research, scrutinizing clustering to generate and test aetiological hypotheses. To each of these three types of cluster studies corresponds a different public health context; respectively public health action, public health surveillance and public health research. Probably, part of the controve...

Fisheries Management and Ecology

De toenemende vraag naar informatie door het milieu- en natuurbeleid heeft geleid tot de uitbouw ... more De toenemende vraag naar informatie door het milieu- en natuurbeleid heeft geleid tot de uitbouw van een groot aantal meetnetten. Echter, een groter gegevensaanbod garandeert geen toename van de gewenste kennis. In de eerste plaats moet goed nagedacht worden over de omvang en aard van de gegevens die nodig zijn om de informatiebehoefte in te vullen en bij te dragen aan de beleidswerking. Met deze leidraad bieden we een denkkader aan om een meetnet voor milieu- en natuurinformatie tijdens de ontwerp- of evaluatiefase beter af te stemmen op de informatienoden van het beleid. Het ontwerpen van een kwaliteitsvol meetnet is een interactief en interdisciplinair proces dat een nauwe en herhaalde samenwerking vereist tussen enerzijds de opdrachtgever en anderzijds de meetnetontwerper, bijgestaan door domeinexperts, methodologen en statistici. De versie van de leidraad die u nu in handen heeft, richt zich tot de opdrachtgever en concentreert zich op de taken die u moet uitvoeren.

Integration of the existing national river classification systems of FAME member countries with t... more Integration of the existing national river classification systems of FAME member countries with the requirements of the Water Framework Directive is an ongoing process, with few countries at a stage where their system wholly complies with either of the two schemes proposed in the WFD. The typology developed within FAME to account for fish distribution in European rivers was derived on two main levels, using common themes from national schemes and the models proposed by the WFD.

Het Instituut voor Natuur-en Bosonderzoek (INBO) is het Vlaams onderzoeks-en kenniscentrum voor n... more Het Instituut voor Natuur-en Bosonderzoek (INBO) is het Vlaams onderzoeks-en kenniscentrum voor natuur en het duurzame beheer en gebruik ervan. Het INBO verricht onderzoek en levert kennis aan al wie het beleid voorbereidt, uitvoert of erin geïnteresseerd is.

The taxonomy of the five Crataegus taxa indigenous in Flanders was stud- ied through a morphometr... more The taxonomy of the five Crataegus taxa indigenous in Flanders was stud- ied through a morphometric analysis. The applicability of the taxonomic treatments of Chris- tensen, the botanical authority on Crataegus in Europe, was evaluated. Leaf and fruit charac- teristics were analysed for a total of 186 individuals. The results show that C. monogyna and C. laevigata can easily be

Soil Science Society of America Journal, 2005

Pedotransfer functions (PTFs) based on easily measured soil variables offer an alternative for la... more Pedotransfer functions (PTFs) based on easily measured soil variables offer an alternative for labor-inÍensive bulk density (p6) measurements. The predictive qualiÍy of 12 published PTFs was evaluated using an independent daÍsset of forest soils (1ó14 sarnples) from Flanderq Belgium. For all sampleg PTF actrracy and precision was calcrrlated, and for topsoil and subsoil samples seperately. All functions were found to produce a systematic underestimation of predicted p6, with mean prediction errors (MPEs) ranging between -0.01 and -05f Mg m-r. Most PTFs performed diÍferentty when applied Ío Íopsoil or subsoil data. Prediction of topsoil po showed the highest predicÍion error. The evaluation demonstÍated the poor performance ofsome published PTFs, and raised concern that the predicÍive ability ofeven the better models may not be adequate. Therefore, two candidate PTFs were recalibrated and validated. WiÍh recalibration. accuracy improved considerably and showed a near-zero bias, but precision increased only slightly. The besÍ ÍiÍted empirical model was based on foss-on-ignition (LOI): h: L775 -0.173(LODn. I15 predictive capacity was not signiÍicantly better than the Adams physical twocomponent model p5 :

Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 1995

Survival dynamics of several bacterial strains introduced into soils under different inoculum con... more Survival dynamics of several bacterial strains introduced into soils under different inoculum conditions were estimated by the Gompertz model. The model is determined by a pair of parameters A and M. A is an estimation of the kinetic behavior of the strain in the soil (growth or die-off). M represents the stable amount of microorganisms reached in time. To evaluate the applicability of the model, the following five criteria were used: coefficient of determination R2 between experimental and estimated data; analysis of the residuals; biological meaning of the parameters; confidence intervals of the estimated parameters; and the simulating power of the model. In 21 cases out of 28 cases, the Gompertz model had a coefficient of determination z 0.8 but, in approximately half of the cases, the model failed to pass all criteria. The results indicate that factors such as soil, strain type and inoculum level influence the Gompertz parameters A and M. For sterile soils, the A value is in the range 1 Z-2.5, whereas for non-sterile soils it was generally < 0.2. Characteristic A and M values for a specific strain, independent of its growth conditions, were not encountered; the latter mathematically confirms the importance of the ecological conditions upon introduction of bacteria.

Marine Pollution Bulletin, 2010

Biotic integrity Fish-based index Meso-and oligohaline estuary Freshwater European Water Framewor... more Biotic integrity Fish-based index Meso-and oligohaline estuary Freshwater European Water Framework Directive Zeeschelde a b s t r a c t Fish-based indices monitor changes in surface waters and are a valuable aid in communication by summarising complex information about the environment (Harrison and Whitfield, 2004). A zone-specific fish-based multimetric estuarine index of biotic integrity (Z-EBI) was developed based on a 13 year time series of fish surveys from the Zeeschelde estuary (Belgium). Sites were pre-classified using indicators of anthropogenic impact. Metrics showing a monotone response with pressure classes were selected for further analysis. Thresholds for the good ecological potential (GEP) were defined from references. A modified trisection was applied for the other thresholds. The Z-EBI is defined by the average of the metric scores calculated over a one year period and translated into an ecological quality ratio (EQR). The indices integrate structural and functional qualities of the estuarine fish communities. The Z-EBI performances were successfully validated for habitat degradation in the various habitat zones.

Journal of Fish Biology, 2007

Fourteen non-indigenous fish species have been successfully introduced to the wild within the ter... more Fourteen non-indigenous fish species have been successfully introduced to the wild within the territory of Flanders; nine are considered naturalized. Most of the introductions occurred prior to 1950, with six species introduced since then. This paper reviews the available, hitherto scattered, information (including 'grey literature') on these 14 non-indigenous fish species introductions, and evaluates a decade of data from fisheries surveys to assess the recent development of these non-indigenous populations. Gibel carp Carassius gibelio and topmouth gudgeon Pseudorasbora parva are the most widespread of the non-indigenous species in Flemish waters, and both continue to expand their ranges. A reduction in range has been observed in brown bullhead Ameiurus nebulosus only. A case is presented for not including European catfish Silurus glanis, sunbleak Leucaspius delineatus and European bullhead Cottus gobio on the list of non-indigenous freshwater fishes in Flanders. Also discussed are non-indigenous fish species that are likely to colonize Flanders inland waters in the near future.

Journal of Environmental Monitoring, 2004