The variety of assessment methods for streams and rivers in Europe provides good opportunities for implementing the Water Framework Directive but their diversity 
may also result in serious strategic problems. The number of organism groups that will be used to assess Ecological Status, and the number of methods available 
for doing so are so diverse that inter-calibration and standardisation of methods is crucial. Similarly, protocols need to be devised to integrate the information 
gathered on the different taxonomic groups. The project aims to derive a detailed picture of which methods are best suited for which circumstances as a basis 
for standardisation. We propose to develop a standard for determining class boundaries of Ecological Status and another for inter-calibrating existing 
methods. 
            

For the purposes of this project two 'core streams types' were recognised: small, shallow, upland streams and medium-sized, deeper lowland streams. Besides 
the evaluation of existing data, a completely new data set was sampled to gain comparable data on macroinvertebrates, phytobenthos, fish and stream morphology 
taken with a set of different methods from sites representing different stages of degradation. This was the main source of data for cross-comparisons and the 
preparation of standards. A number of 'additional stream types' was investigated in order to extend the range of sites at which field methods and assessment 
procedures were compared. The participants were trained in sampling workshops. Using the project database, assessment methods based on benthic macroinvertebrates 
were compared and inter-calibrated, particularly in terms of errors, precision, relation to reference conditions and possible class boundaries. The discriminatory 
power of different organism groups to detect ecological change were tested through various statistical procedures.     
     
Two CEN Workshops were held during the contracted period.      
     
STAR benefited from clustering with the complementary Framework V Project, FAME. Project FAME developed European fish assessment protocols using existing 
data. STAR fish sampling was based on FAME protocols and STAR field data was be used by FAME to test these new protocols. 
            

The variety of assessment methods for streams and rivers in Europe provides good opportunities for implementing the Water Framework Directive but their diversity 
may also result in serious strategic problems. The number of organism groups that will be used to assess Ecological Status, and the number of methods available 
for doing so are so diverse that inter-calibration and standardisation of methods is crucial.     
   
The available products are:   
-STAR stream types and sampling sites (Report)     
-The waterview database contains a comprehensive compilation of assessment methods for rivers and streams in Europe using the 'biotic elements' macroinvertebrates, 
macrophytes, phytobenthos,phytoplankton, fish and hydromorphology.     
-Database selection and overview (Acquisition of existing data), Report    
Objectives:To obtain readily available existing data, of sufficient quality, reliability and methodological compatibility, in order to enhance the 
achievement of the project objectives. To maintain good lines of communication and co-operation with all other relevant European and national sampling and 
assessment programmes and standardisation approaches.      
-Sampling workshops an overview, Report    
The aim of the sampling workshops, which constituted the main component of Work Package 6, was to ensure that all the project's participants had a clear and 
common understanding of the sampling and laboratory protocols, in particular that there were no differences in interpretation of the written protocols. 
The workshops were also to be used to collect replicate samples of diatoms and macro-invertebrates by every partner in order to quantify, compare and inter-calibrate 
sampling variation in each form of macro-invertebrate and diatom sampling method applied in the project.     
-Results of the La Bresse diatom sampling and analysis workshop, Report     
-Results of the sampling programme