Assessing the ecological status of Italian lagoons using a biomass-based index

We compared the performance of abundance- and biomass-based M-AMBI in the 13 major Italian lagoons, using a benthic dataset constituted by 208 sampling sites. The relative importance of ecological groups changed when using abundance or biomass, sometimes leading to an improved ecological status classification. Being biomass more ecologically relevant than abundance, the adoption of a biomass-based index may better describe the ecological status of lagoons, where the community is naturally disturbed and dominated by tolerant and opportunist species.