An ecological integrity index for littoral wetlands in agricultural catchments of semiarid mediterranean regions. Environ

ABSTRACT / The main goal of the present study was to de-velop an ecological integrity index for littoral wetland manage-ment and conservation in semiarid Mediterranean areas that have been highly impacted by agriculture, including the selec-tion of pressure and state indicators at landscape and wet-lands scales that reflect the status, condition, and trends of wetlands ecosystems. We used a causality framework based on the relationship between pressure of anthropogenic activi-ties and the ecological state of wetlands and their catch-ments, integrating environmental, biologic, economic, and social issues. From the application of 51 indicators in 7 littoral wetlands in the southeastern Iberian Peninsula, we selected 12 indicators (5 at catchment scale and 7 at wetland scale) to constitute the ecological integrity index proposed. The poten-tial nitrogen export per area at catchment scale and the po