Effect of Climate Change and anthropogenic pressures on the European eel Anguilla anguilla from RAMSAR Wetland Ichkeul Lake: prediction from the Random Forest model Sabrine Sahabni INSTM, Tunisia Rachid Toujani INSTM, Tunisia Nabiha Ben M’Barek ANPE, Tunisia Ennio Ottaviani OnAIR srl, Italy Eva Riccomagno University of Genoa, Italy Enrico Prampolini OnAIR srl, Italy Hechmi Missaoui INSTM, Tunisia Bechir Bejaoui INSTM, Tunisia This is a section of Ninth International Symposium “Monitoring of Mediterranean Coastal Areas: Problems and Measurement Techniques”(DOI: 10.36253/979-12-215-0030-1) by Laura Bonora, Donatella Carboni, Matteo De Vincenzi, Giorgio Matteucci Firenze University Press Firenze 2022 https://doi.org/10.36253/979-12-215-0030-1.72

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This study aims to assess the trophic level of Lake Ichkeul and predict the effect of climate change and anthropogenic pressures on European eel using the trophic index TRIX and the Random Forest RF model. The TRIX values show the poor water quality of the lake. While the RF model shows that eel landing depends on water level, turbidity, and salinity. The RF model gave an R2 =58.4% > R2 =40.3% from Multiple linear regression, confirming the high performance of the RF model. The combination of the two models is an appropriate approach to be used in decision making by civil authorities.

 Ichkeul Lake Climate Change Eutrophication European eel TRIX Random Forest

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