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Article
Human pressures and their potential impact on the Baltic Sea ecosystem
Abstract
The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive requires Member States to estimate the level of human
impacts on their marine waters. We report the first attempt to quantify the magnitude and distribution
of cumulative impacts of anthropogenic pressures for an entire regional sea, the Baltic Sea. We used
a method which takes account of the sensitivity of different ecosystem components and gives scores
for potential impacts in 5 km × 5 km areas. Our quantification of impacts was based on data layers of
anthropogenic pressures and ecosystem components. The classification of the anthropogenic pressures
follows the MSFD and the outcome of the index was targeted to facilitate the implementation of the
directive. The study presents the cumulative impacts over the entire sea area and shows that the highest
estimated impacts were in the southern and south-western sea areas and in the Gulf of Finland. The
lowest index values were found in the Gulf of Bothnia. The results coincide with the population densities
of the adjacent catchment areas. Fishing, inputs of nutrients and organic matter and inputs of hazardous
substances comprised 25%, 30% and 30%, respectively, of the total cumulative impact. The approach used is transparent and the results are useful in regard to ecosystem-based management, e.g. for area-based management and assessments. Examples of uses are given together with analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the approach.
... In temperate areas, such as in the Baltic Sea, recruitment areas for fish, biogenic reefs and vegetated bottoms are especially threatened by many human activities (Kraufvelin et al. 2018(Kraufvelin et al. , 2020c. Negative changes in the coastal zone are often caused by several activities and stress factors that are acting simultaneously, for instance different kinds of coastal construction and recreation, increased input of nutrients and other pollutants, selective harvesting of species, introduction of non-indigenous species, and climate change (Elliott 2004, Korpinen et al. 2012, Andersen et al. 2015, Worm 2016. Typical effects, seen globally, are that biological communities are becoming more and more similar (homogenisation), important top predators are decreasing in abundance and size, habitat-forming species are decreasing and the structural diversity, connectivity and process dynamics within biological communities is being disturbed (Geist & Hawkins 2016). ...
... In the lack of input from experts about where restoration measures would be of highest significance/need, evaluations for this report will instead primarily be based on: -existing knowledge of activities and pressures in the Baltic Sea area such as from the HELCOM ACTION WP 2.1-report, compiled in parallel to this report, -existing information about the distribution and condition of ecosystem components from Korpinen et al. (2012) and HELCOM (2018) and published literature such as the review paper by Kraufvelin et al. (2018) about essential fish habitats, which also include relevant information for this purpose, -existing knowledge from national underwater mapping activities and evaluations (such as the underwater habitat mapping undertaken in Finland and Sweden). ...
... In the context of Figure 2, an ecosystem component refers to biological parts of the ecosystem such as species, biotopes formed by habitat-forming species or abiotic biotopes with a clear linkage to certain species (Korpinen et al. 2012). The 14 named ecosystem components in Korpinen et al. (2012) are divided into benthic biotopes (two), benthic biotope complexes (six), water column (two) and species data (four). ...
This publication has been produced as part of the project “Actions to evaluate and identify effective measures to reach GES in the Baltic Sea marine region (HELCOM ACTION)”. Running from January 2019 to December 2020, HELCOM ACTION is a Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) coordinated project that is co-funded by the European Union. The project is designed to contribute to the update of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan by 2021 and can also be used by HELCOM Contracting Parties that are also EU Member States in updating and implementing their MSFD Programme of Measures. Information and views expressed in this publication are the authors’ own and might vary from those of the Helsinki Commission or its members.
This publication is a deliverable of the HELCOM ACTION project’s work package WP2 - Impacts on the seabed: evaluating restoration measures in coastal areas and impacts of spatial regulation of offshore fisheries, including effects on benthic communities and costs of measures.
... Work Package N. 4 finalized the methodological approach that would be followed for assessing the cumulative impacts of human activities on ecosystem components of the case study areas. This approach is based on previous well-established methodologies (Halpern et al., 2008;Korpinen et al., 2012;Micheli et al., 2013;Stelzenmüller et al., 2010) however, some critical limitations have been highlighted. More explicitly, during this period spatial data necessary for the assessment of pressures exerted by fisheries and aquaculture on coastal ecosystem components for each case study area have been compiled and developed according to the following structure: polygon of the study area (shape file), the fishnet (grid) of the study area (shape file) in 1 km * 1km cell size (grid resolution), the raster datasets of ecosystem components to examine for each case study (as presence or absence grid layers and then converted to raster datasets), raster datasets of activities (grid layers with pressure intensities and then converted to raster datasets) and a matrix of what activity interact with which ecosystem component and weight factors according to experts' judgement based on Halpern's criteria (scale 0-4). ...
... WP4 aims to assess the cumulative impact of aquaculture and fisheries and to identify and map their spatial interactions with other human uses of the marine and coastal environment in the seven case studies. The assessment of cumulative impacts will capitalize on previous wellestablished methodologies (Halpern et al., 2008, Korpinen et al., 2012, Micheli et al., 2013 which will be implemented in the seven case studies areas of the European regional seas. WP4 will examine which human pressures derived from aquaculture and fisheries could constitute critical threats to important for conservation coastal and marine habitats including essential fish habitats, according to their vulnerability (Halpern et al. 2008). ...
... Hence during the aforementioned period covered by the midterm report (01/09/2016 to 31/08/2017) the methodological approach that would be followed for assessing the cumulative impacts of human activities on ecosystem components of the case study areas was finalized and then was presented to the partners. This approach is based on previous well-established methodologies (Halpern et al., 2008, Korpinen et al., 2012, Micheli et al., 2013, however, some critical limitations have been highlighted. ...
ECOAST aims to identify, develop and test new methodologies for spatial and temporal management of fisheries and aquaculture in coastal areas. The overall approach is aimed at assessing the impact of fisheries and aquaculture on coastal ecosystems, including essential fish habitats and conservation priority habitats, as well as synergies and conflicts between human activities. Building on previous methodologies and experiences the project has evaluated marine spatial planning in seven coastal case study areas having different ecological and socio-economic characteristics: 1) Adriatic Sea (ADR), 2) Ionian Sea (ION), 3) Black Sea (BLK), 4) Tyrrhenian Sea (TYR), 5) Baltic Sea (BAL), 6) Norwegian Fjords (NOR) and 7) NE Atlantic Coast (ATL). The project outcomes produced case specific evaluation of the impact of aquaculture and fisheries in coastal areas, maps of optimal areas for fisheries and aquaculture, evaluation of compatibility between fisheries, aquaculture and other human activities in coastal areas, as well as implementation of holistic methods and an operational modelling framework to evaluate and predict stakeholder responses to coastal spatial management options covering marine cross sector occupation of space. Several methodologies already exist to assess the impacts on the ecosystem and the socio-economic effects of some spatial management measures, as well as to spatially manage some cross sector marine activities, but none of them integrate all relevant management aspects for coastal areas. Therefore, the holistic methodology covered in a single system different approaches and management aspects, identifying realistic spatial and temporal potentials and limitations for the integration of fisheries and aquaculture in coastal areas, in order to allow policy makers and stakeholders to evaluate management measures from different points of view and share decisions in a transparent manner on case specific basis. ECOAST results can support the EU and national policies through the provision of tools and data for an ecosystem based allocation of space and sustainable use of marine resources in coastal areas on case specific basis.
... Finally, good environmental status of pelagic habitats can also be affected by human physical interventions (Salmaso & Tolotti, 2020). Even short-term environmental interventions may lead to ecological legacy effects over longer time periods (Korpinen et al., 2012). Changes in thermal and salinity regimes can occur as a product of cooling cycles, for example from nuclear power and wastewater treatment plants or from the presence of bridges and coastal dams (Korpinen et al., 2012). ...
... Even short-term environmental interventions may lead to ecological legacy effects over longer time periods (Korpinen et al., 2012). Changes in thermal and salinity regimes can occur as a product of cooling cycles, for example from nuclear power and wastewater treatment plants or from the presence of bridges and coastal dams (Korpinen et al., 2012). Likewise, underwater noise from coastal and offshore shipping or operational wind farming and oil rigs interfere with the biological community structure (Slavik et al., 2019). ...
This report reviews the current situation as regards to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) Descriptor 1 (Biodiversity) for pelagic habitats and serves as a basis for a workshop with Member States experts and scientists that will be held on March 9-10 2021. Recommendations are in the concluding section. Pelagic habitats cover the 71% of Earth’s surface and play an essential role in regulating temperature on land, producing oxygen and food. They are also a management challenge where the alterations of their physical, chemical and biological characteristics negatively impact their ecosystem functioning and services (e.g. provisioning services). To address these challenges, the MSFD has required the assessment of pelagic habitats against environmental targets to reach Good Environmental Status (GES). A key step in the pelagic habitat assessment is a thorough understanding of its physical, chemical and biological processes and the drivers that underlie the spatiotemporal variability in its ecologically relevant ecosystem components. However, pelagic assessments to date have not sufficiently addressed the functional and structural characteristics of pelagic habitats processes, which is limiting our ability to inform on their environmental status and to disentangle the anthropogenic drivers. This report evaluates previously published work on pelagic habitats assessments considering the actions and targets to meet the MSFD requirements. To do this, the report (i) summarizes the main drivers of variation in pelagic habitat characterization; (ii) reviews the common empirical approaches used to assess pelagic habitats, the advantages, and challenges; and finally (iii) exposes a set of recommendations for characterizing pelagic habitats in EU waters. Since the pelagic habitats are made of a highly dynamic fluid, appropriate spatiotemporal scales regarding data and methods must be considered to assess their GES. This applies in particular to the selected indicators to propose the effective and quantifiable GES targets that need to be reached.
... Indices have been calculated to quantify the different effects and interrelations (e.g. HELCOM, 2018a; Korpinen et al., 2012;Blenckner et al., 2021), and the work has also been incorporated into decision support systems or general advice for decision makers Hyytiäinen et al., 2021). Studies concerning the Baltic Sea have identified eutrophication, hazardous substances, non-indigenous species and fisheries (Korpinen et al., 2012;Andersen et al., 2015;HELCOM, 2018a;Andersen et al., 2020; as the most detrimental factors, but also acidification and climate change (Jutterström et al., 2014). ...
... HELCOM, 2018a; Korpinen et al., 2012;Blenckner et al., 2021), and the work has also been incorporated into decision support systems or general advice for decision makers Hyytiäinen et al., 2021). Studies concerning the Baltic Sea have identified eutrophication, hazardous substances, non-indigenous species and fisheries (Korpinen et al., 2012;Andersen et al., 2015;HELCOM, 2018a;Andersen et al., 2020; as the most detrimental factors, but also acidification and climate change (Jutterström et al., 2014). Looking at our DPSIR analysis of the different drivers (Table 1), and our matrix analysis (Table 2a and b), it becomes evident that the pressures caused by climate change, food production, transport, energy production, industries and tourism have the largest impacts on the Baltic Sea region. ...
Coastal environments, in particular heavily populated
semi-enclosed marginal seas and coasts like the Baltic Sea region, are
strongly affected by human activities. A multitude of human impacts,
including climate change, affect the different compartments of the
environment, and these effects interact with each other. As part of the
Baltic Earth Assessment Reports (BEAR), we present an inventory and
discussion of different human-induced factors and processes affecting the
environment of the Baltic Sea region, and their interrelations. Some are
naturally occurring and modified by human activities (i.e. climate change,
coastal processes, hypoxia, acidification, submarine groundwater discharges,
marine ecosystems, non-indigenous species, land use and land cover), some
are completely human-induced (i.e. agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries,
river regulations, offshore wind farms, shipping, chemical contamination,
dumped warfare agents, marine litter and microplastics, tourism, and coastal
management), and they are all interrelated to different degrees. We present
a general description and analysis of the state of knowledge on these
interrelations. Our main insight is that climate change has an overarching,
integrating impact on all of the other factors and can be interpreted as a
background effect, which has different implications for the other factors.
Impacts on the environment and the human sphere can be roughly allocated to
anthropogenic drivers such as food production, energy production, transport,
industry and economy. The findings from this inventory of available
information and analysis of the different factors and their interactions in
the Baltic Sea region can largely be transferred to other comparable
marginal and coastal seas in the world.
... Where ecological data are lacking, ex situ measurements (condition drivers that act on the ecosystem, e.g. pressures) can be used as a proxy for condition (Korpinen et al., 2012). These data tend to be more easily accessible , and have been shown to relate to the structure and functioning of ecosystems (e.g. ...
... Measuring and mapping human pressures acting on the marine have been widely applied to assess (infer) condition at broad spatial scales (Crain et al., 2009;Halpern et al., 2008;Korpinen et al., 2012;Selkoe et al., 2009). Cumulative pressure and impact assessments aim to cover all potential human pressures and estimate their impacts on a broad spectrum of ecosystem components (Korpinen and Andersen, 2016). ...
This review provides a broad conceptual overview of different approaches to measuring marine ecosystem condition and guidance for framework development (particularly relevant for developing countries). The objectives were to review definitions of ecosystem condition and identify the core approaches and key challenges within the research area. Furthermore, we reviewed the advantages and disadvantages of different indicators that can be used for condition assessments. A semi-systematic approach drawing from more than 300 studies covering a broad range of methods was followed.
Generally, definitions of ecosystem condition are based on known changes to the ecosystem, but ultimately, they should align with the definition of an ecosystem and consider ecosystem structure and functioning. As far as possible, the definition should relate an observed state to a reference condition or ecological target. Importantly, definitions of condition should be practical, scalable and always provided when conducting condition assessments.
Five indicator categories were identified including pressures, physical parameters, biological structure, functional structure and ecological models. Indicators mostly focus on drivers of change (i.e. ex situ pressures) or the structure of the ecosystem, as these data are easier to obtain. While valuable, these classes of indicators can only provide an indirect appraisal of ecosystem functioning in instances where the relationship between pressure, structure and functioning are known. Indicators that measure structure and functioning of an ecosystem can be used to directly report on condition; however, the data (and monitoring) requirements make them impractical in most instances. Ideally, integrated assessments, that measure indicators from all indicator categories, should be prioritised to provide a comprehensive overview of condition. However, this often requires transdisciplinary collaboration, substantial research capacity (and associated funding) and time to collect the necessary data. An alternative is to select a few strategic indicators that can provide data to address the definition of ecosystem condition and at the same time provide a feasible approach to address the project specific research objectives. Where possible, a data-derived approach should be followed as in situ measurements have potential to improve the understanding of impacts of anthropogenic pressures on ecosystem functioning, and in turn facilitate better management of human activities and enhance ecosystem functioning.
... Further, only 70 out of 1740 ESR were assessed with multiple pressures in an experimental context. Our systematic assessment of ecosystem vulnerability identified excess nutrients together with toxic substances to be among the major pressures with high impact on the Baltic Sea ecosystems (Andersen et al., 2011;Conley et al., 2007;Korpinen et al., 2012). Anthropogenic nutrient inputs and associated eutrophication result in the loss of keystone macroalgae and seagrass, rapid growth of filamentous algae, decreased water transparency, and cause anoxia that often leads to the collapse of benthic communities (Andersen et al., 2011;Baden et al., 2012;Conley et al., 2007;Korpinen et al., 2012; Nielsen et al., 2003;Schubert et al., 2013). ...
... Our systematic assessment of ecosystem vulnerability identified excess nutrients together with toxic substances to be among the major pressures with high impact on the Baltic Sea ecosystems (Andersen et al., 2011;Conley et al., 2007;Korpinen et al., 2012). Anthropogenic nutrient inputs and associated eutrophication result in the loss of keystone macroalgae and seagrass, rapid growth of filamentous algae, decreased water transparency, and cause anoxia that often leads to the collapse of benthic communities (Andersen et al., 2011;Baden et al., 2012;Conley et al., 2007;Korpinen et al., 2012; Nielsen et al., 2003;Schubert et al., 2013). By taking up nutrients and filtering plankton, seagrass, macroalgae and mussel beds increase water clarity and counteract eutrophication (Austin et al., 2017;Kotta et al., 2020;Lindahl et al., 2005). ...
Seagrass meadows, algal forests and mussel beds are widely regarded as foundation species that support communities providing valuable ecosystem services in many coastal regions; however, quantitative evidence of the relationship is scarce. Using the Baltic Sea as a case study, a region of significant socio-economic importance in the northern hemisphere, we systematically synthesized the primary literature and summarized the current knowledge on ecosystem services derived from seagrass, macroalgae, and mussels (see animated video summary of the manuscript: Video abstract). We found 1740 individual ecosystem service records (ESR), 61% of which were related to macroalgae, 26% to mussel beds and 13% to seagrass meadows. The most frequently reported ecosystem services were raw material (533 ESR), habitat provision (262 ESR) and regulation of pollutants (215 ESR). Toxins (356 ESR) and nutrients (302 ESR) were the most well-documented pressures to services provided by coastal ecosystems. Next, we assessed the current state of knowledge as well as knowledge transfer of ecosystem services to policies through natural, social, human and economic dimensions, using a systematic scoring tool, the Eco-GAME matrix. We found good quantitative information about how ecosystems generated the service but almost no knowledge of how they translate into socio-economic benefits (8 out of 657 papers, 1.2%). While we are aware that research on Baltic Sea socio-economic benefits does exist, the link with ecosystems providing the service is mostly missing. To close this knowledge gap, we need a better analytical framework that is capable of directly linking existing quantitative information about ecosystem service generation with human benefit.
... Indices have been calculated to quantify the different effects and interrelations (e.g. HELCOM, 2018a; Korpinen et al., 2012;Blenckner et 2995Blenckner et al., 2021 and the work has also been incorporated into decision support systems or general advice for decision makers Meier et al., 2014;Hyytiäinen et al., 2021). In the Baltic Sea, the detrimental factors with the most substantial impact have been identified as being eutrophication, hazardous substances, non-indigenous species and fisheries (Korpinen et al., 2012;Andersen et al., 2015;HELCOM 2018a;Andersen et al., 2020;Blenckner et al., 2021), but also acidification and climate change (Jutterström et al., 2014). ...
... HELCOM, 2018a; Korpinen et al., 2012;Blenckner et 2995Blenckner et al., 2021 and the work has also been incorporated into decision support systems or general advice for decision makers Meier et al., 2014;Hyytiäinen et al., 2021). In the Baltic Sea, the detrimental factors with the most substantial impact have been identified as being eutrophication, hazardous substances, non-indigenous species and fisheries (Korpinen et al., 2012;Andersen et al., 2015;HELCOM 2018a;Andersen et al., 2020;Blenckner et al., 2021), but also acidification and climate change (Jutterström et al., 2014). Looking at our DSPIR analysis of the different drivers (Table 1), it becomes evident 3000 that industry, transport, energy production and other economic activities, together with food production, are the most evident driving forces. ...
Coastal environments, in particular heavily populated semi-enclosed marginal seas and coasts like the Baltic Sea region, are stongly affected by human activities. A multitude of human impacts, including climate change, affects the different compartments of the environment, and these effects interact with each other. As part of the Baltic Earth Assessment Reports (BEAR), we present an inventory and discussion of different human-induced factors and processes affecting the environment of the Baltic Sea region, and their interrelations. Some are naturally occurring and modified by human activities (i.e. climate change, coastal processes, hypoxia, acidification, submarine groundwater discharges, marine ecosystems, non-indigenous species, land use and land cover), some are completely human-induced (i.e. agriculture, aquaculture, fisheries, river regulations, offshore wind farms, shipping, chemical contamination, dumped warfare agents, marine litter and microplastics, tourism, coastal management), and they are all interrelated to different degrees. We present a general description and analysis of the state of knowledge on these interrelations. Our main insight is that climate change has an overarching, integrating impact on all of the other factors and can be interpreted as a background effect, which has different implications for the other factors. Impacts on the environment and the human sphere can be roughly allocated to anthropogenic drivers such as food production, energy production, transport, industry and economy. We conclude that a sound management and regulation of human activities must be implemented in order to use and keep the environments and ecosystems of the Baltic Sea region sustainably in a good shape. This must balance the human needs, which exert tremendous pressures on the systems, as humans are the overwhelming driving force for almost all changes we see. The findings from this inventory of available information and analysis of the different factors and their interactions in the Baltic Sea region can largely be transferred to other comparable marginal and coastal seas in the world.
... At the large scale applied in this study, we include only additive effects and follow the example by Goodsir et al. (2015) to use the term 'combined-effect assessment' and the acronym 'CEA. ' We calculated the combined effects by the method developed by Halpern et al. (2008) and later used several times in Europe (Coll et al. 2012;Korpinen et al. 2012;Micheli et al. 2013;HELCOM 2018a;Bevilacqua et al. 2018;Andersen et al. 2020). The index (I) is calculated as follows: ...
... Sensitivity scores, which estimate the relative sensitivity of different species and habitats to the assessed pressures, have previously been developed for global (Micheli et al. 2013;Halpern et al. 2008Halpern et al. , 2015 and regional assessments (Korpinen et al. 2012;HELCOM 2018a;Hammar et al. 2020). However, to our knowledge, there are no studies concluding how generally applicable the results from these studies are. ...
Marine ecosystems are under high demand for human use, giving concerns about how pressures from human activities may affect their structure, function, and status. In Europe, recent developments in mapping of marine habitats and human activities now enable a coherent spatial evaluation of potential combined effects of human activities. Results indicate that combined effects from multiple human pressures are spread to 96% of the European marine area, and more specifically that combined effects from physical disturbance are spread to 86% of the coastal area and 46% of the shelf area. We compare our approach with corresponding assessments at other spatial scales and validate our results with European-scale status assessments for coastal waters. Uncertainties and development points are identified. Still, the results suggest that Europe’s seas are widely disturbed, indicating potential discrepancy between ambitions for Blue Growth and the objective of achieving good environmental status within the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.
... Marina bays in our study have previously been shown to harbor less dense submerged macrophyte canopies than control bays (10). Again, increased disturbance has the potential to reduce ostracod's capacity to acquire food resources (56) and diminishes the integrity of their preferred habitats (77,78). However, one can expect different responses to perturbations within ostracods. ...
With the increase of recreational boating activity and development of boating infrastructure in shallow, wave-protected areas, there is growing concern for their impact on coastal ecosystems. In order to properly assess the effects and consider the potential for recovery, it is important to investigate microbial and meiofaunal communities that underpin the functioning of these ecosystems.
... The Baltic Sea (BS), located in Northern Europe and classified as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area by IMO, is among the world's most polluted sea areas (see HELCOM, 2010) and one of the largest brackish water basins (Fig. 2). Due to low salinity and winter temperature, together with high seasonal and regional variation (Leppäranta and Myrberg, 2009) as well as remarkable anthropogenic pressures (Korpinen et al., 2012), the BS is a challenging living environment for organisms. Hence, most of its species are under constant stress, which makes the resilience of the ecosystem low (Tomczak et al., 2013). ...
Ship hulls create a vector for the transportation of harmful non-indigenous species (NIS) all over the world. To sustainably prevent NIS introductions, the joint consideration of environmental, economic and social aspects in the search of optimal biofouling management strategies is needed. This article presents a multi-perspective soft systems analysis of the biofouling management problem, based on an extensive literature review and expert knowledge collected in the Baltic Sea area during 2018-2020. The resulting conceptual influence diagram (CID) reveals the multidimensionality of the problem by visualizing the causal relations between the key elements and demonstrating the entanglement of social, ecological and technical aspects. Seen as a boundary object, we suggest the CID can support open dialogue and better risk communication among stakeholders by providing an illustrative and directly applicable starting point for the discussions. It also provides a basis for quantitative management optimization in the future.
... Immense oil tanker traffic intensity (HELCOM, 2010) exacerbated already known issues related to pollution associated with the disposal of industrial and domestic waste, along with atmospheric deposition of toxic compounds, which all became the main environmental concern addressed in the eastern Gulf of Finland (Panov et al., 2002;Ryabchuk et al., 2017). Although, despite the lack of data on some persistent HS in the eastern Gulf of Finland, it is potentially one of the most polluted areas in the Baltic Sea as revealed by human pressures mapping (Korpinen et al., 2012). ...
Contamination by hazardous substances is one of the main environmental problems in the eastern Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea. A trilateral effort to sample and analyse heavy metals (HMs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and organotins from bottom sediments in 2019-2020 were conducted along with harvesting historical data in Russian, Estonian and Finnish waters. We suggest that the input of organotins still occurs along the ship traffic routes. The tributyltin content exceeded the established quality criteria up to more than 300 times. High contamination by PAHs found near the ports, most likely originate from incomplete fuel incineration processes. The Neva River Estuary and Luga Bay might potentially suffer from severe cadmium contamination. The high ecological risk attributed to the HMs was detected at deep offshore areas. The simulated accumulation pattern qualitatively agrees with field observations of HMs in sediments, demonstrating the potential of numerical tools to tackle the hazardous substances problems.
... However, on a large scale, studies suggest that outdoor recreational activities may have a small overall impact on nature compared to environmental pressures from other human activities (e.g. agriculture, industrial development, commercial fishing and urbanization) (Korpinen et al., 2012;Sutherland et al., 2017). ...
Coastal zones are important for recreational activities and waterbirds. However, recreational activities may have negative implications for birdlife, which calls for balancing of both types of use by integrated coastal and marine planning and management. Successful integrated management and planning require spatiotemporal knowledge about the species needing protection and the outdoor recreation activities. This paper examines water-oriented outdoor recreation in Denmark in terms of activities, seasonality and geographical distribution, and presents a national screening of spatiotemporal overlap between coastal and marine recreational activities and waterbirds based on 10,291 responses and 6,499 geographical positions. In total 77.6% of the Danish population participated in water-oriented outdoor recreation activities at least once within a year. The most frequent activities were to move along or stay on the coast/shore (63.9%), to bathe and swim (34.4%) and to observe nature and wildlife (20.3%). Overlap between recreation and waterbirds, representing potential conflicts, ranged from 0.8% in winter on water to 27.7% in summer on the coast. The results revealed significant negative effects between recreational activities and abundance of waterbirds during spring and summer on the water. The results also indicate that most recreational activities use areas with no or low densities of waterbirds. Successful coastal and marine planning requires application of management tools that include educational and interpretative initiatives to enhance coexistence. However, for detailed management, more studies are urgently needed of spatiotemporal patterns, adaptations, conflicts and coexistence between recreational activity and waterbirds.
Management implications
The results support integrated planning and management of water-based recreation in conjunction with waterbirds by:
-Providing spatially explicit year-round data on recreational and waterbird use of coastal and marine areas.
-Obtaining the first ever national overview of potential areas of conflict and of possibilities for coexistence between coastal and marine recreation and waterbirds.
-Identifying specific local areas in need of management action and more detailed studies of effects and impacts of coastal and marine recreation on waterbirds.
... Others have been focused on single stressors and single species or habitats (Korpinen and others, 2012;Marcotte and others, 2015;Coll and others, 2016). Of the 154 studies reviewed by Stelzenmüller and others (2018), several key conclusions regarding the various approaches used were identified, including that: (a) expert knowledge and qualitative data are sporadically or moderately used across assessments; ...
... Clearly, areas with high aridity are more sensible to desertification risk. Korpinen et al. (2012) defined anthropogenic pressure as a human-derived stress factor causing either temporary or permanent disturbance or damage or lossing of one or several components of an ecosystem. Thus, pressure may cause immediate impacts or it may also be low enough not to cause immediate adverse impacts on biota. ...
Desertification is an environmental threat that affects many countries in the world, and it poses specially an ecological issue to Algeria. This study aimed to assess areas sensitive to desertification in North-Eastern Algeria (Tebessa province) using a logistic regression model (LRM), and geomatics-based approaches. Topsoil Grain Size Index (TGSI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Aridity index (AI), and Anthropic pressure on the steppe environment (APSE) were selected as desertification indicators for representing land surface conditions from soil, vegetation, climate, and anthropic disruptors. Results indicate that both AI and TGSI are the most crucial indices conditioning desertification risk. Other indices; NDVI and ASPE were appeared as secondary important indices. Herein, although vegetation generally is a key factor for reading desertification, this result shows that vegetation changes in this study are less important than other desertification conditioning parameters. Area under curve value equal 0.94 indicates a satisfactory accuracy for the proposed model. In total, desertification risk changes increasingly along a North-to-South gradient of the whole research area. Besides, slight, moderate, high, and very high classes occupied 0.87%, 21.08%, 19.33% and 58.72% of the total land area, respectively. LRM is recommended as an accurate and easily applied tool to monitor desertification, especially in scarce data environment in developing countries. Additionally, the results obtained in this paper represent a basic scientific tool for implementing current and future policies to control desertification at areas with high risk.
... The Baltic Sea ( Figure 1) is a semi-closed marginal sea of the North Sea. As a shallow and brackish water sea (mean depth 54 m), it is ecologically sensitive [45,46]. The northern location (approx. ...
Seawaters exhibit various types of cyclic and trend-like temporal alterations in their biological, physical, and chemical processes. Surface water dynamics may vary, for instance, when the timings, durations, or amplitudes of seasonal developments of water properties alter between years and locations. We introduce a workflow using remote sensing to identify surface waters undergoing similar dynamics. The method, called ocean surface dynamics partitioning, classifies pixels based on their temporal change patterns instead of their properties at successive time snapshots. We apply an efficient parallel computing method to calculate Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) time series distances of large datasets of Earth Observation MERIS-instrument reflectance data Rrs(510 nm) and Rrs(620 nm), and produce a matrix of time series distances between 12,252 locations/time series in the Baltic Sea, for both wavelengths. We define cluster prototypes by hierarchical clustering of distance matrices and use them as initial prototypes for an iterative process of partitional clustering in order to identify areas that have similar reflectance dynamics. Lastly, we compute distances from the time series of the reflectance data to selected physical factors (wind, precipitation, and changes in sea surface temperature) obtained from Copernicus data archives. The workflow is reproducible and capable of managing large datasets in reasonable computation times and identifying areas of distinctive dynamics. The results show spatially coherent and logical areas without a priori information about the locations of the satellite image time series. The alignments of the reflectance time series vs. the observational time series of the physical environment clarify the causalities behind the cluster formation. We conclude that following the changes in an aquatic realm by biogeochemical observations at certain temporal intervals alone is not sufficient to identify environmental shifts. We foresee that the changes in dynamics are a sensitive measure of environmental threats and therefore they will be important to follow in the future.
... Overlap analysis is the first step for assessing the potential impacts of pressures (or stressors) that human activities cause on marine ecosystems. Similar assessments have been previously conducted at a global level [1,8], at some European regional seas level (i.e., Baltic Sea [9][10][11], Mediterranean and Black Seas [12]) or at country's marine waters levels (i.e., Denmark [13], Portugal [14]). Independent of the method used, the basis for a comprehensive human impact assessment is ...
A critical prerequisite for the assessment and management of human activities and natural ecosystem components , is the availability of data and information on their spatial and temporal distribution. Based on European seabed habitats and human activities datasets publicly available in EMODnet portal, and adopting the Marine Reporting Units (MRUs) defined by the Marine Strategy Framework and Water Framework Directives, this study analyses the (i) geographical overlap of human activities and seabed habitats, and (ii) the suitability, limitations and gaps of these datasets for management purposes. The analysis concerns an area of 19,269,645 km 2 and 6,539 assessment units. Seabed habitats information is available for 75% of the total area and gaps are found in several littoral areas and the outermost Atlantic regions. Significant difference in the number of records per human activity type are also reported, corresponding the highest number of records to the "State of Bathing waters" monitoring stations, and "Active licences" and "Boreholes" for hydrocarbon extraction. A good coverage of vessel traffic information is also available. Most human activity records are located on coastal water bodies (49%) and subregions (37%), but for several MRUs records are not available. From the 63 EUNIS habitat types, 11 host more than 20 different activities, although many available records are located in areas with no seabed habitats information. The information and datasets elaborated in this research may be useful to support different environmental assessment and management initiatives. However, the completion and improvement of these datasets is highly recommended to fulfil policy requirements.
... In 2008, Halpern et al. 11 developed the first methodology that relied on assessing the cumulative impacts of human activities on the environment at a holistic (international) spatial scale and was represented spatially through maps 11 . On the regional level, the application of this methodology was presented in a study by Andersen et al. 17 , with a detailed analysis of the combined Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, and German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Over the last few years, expanding on the initial work of Halpern et al., an increased focus has been given to developing a range of geo-spatial tools as a response to the challenges of quantifying the cumulative impacts of anthropogenic pressures on the marine ecosystem (e.g., Tools4MSP, SYMPHONY, InVEST Habitat Risk). ...
The North Sea basin is one of the busiest maritime areas globally with a considerable number of anthropogenic pressures impacting the functioning of the marine ecosystem. Due to growing EU ambitions for the deployment of large offshore wind farm projects (OWF), as part of the 2050 renewable energy roadmap, there is a key need for a holistic understanding of OWF potential impacts on the marine ecosystem. We propose a holistic Cumulative Effect Assessment methodology, applied using a geo-spatial open-source software, to assess impacts of OWF related pressures on selected seabed habitats, fish, seabird and mammal species. We take into account pressures specific to the three OWF development phases, spanning 1999–2050, for the entire North Sea basin. Our results underline 2022 as the peak year of cumulative impacts for the approved OWFs, followed by a considerable increase in potential impacts of the planned 212GWs, by 2050. The spatio-temporal analysis of the OWF environmental impacts presents the shift between highly impacted areas over the studied timeline and distinguishes between concentrated areas of high impacts (S–E of UK) and dispersed areas of high impacts (Germany). Our results can inform decision-makers and the OWF industry in a joint effort to mitigate the environmental impacts of future large OWF developments.
... Cumulative impact assessments remain one of the few comprehensive tools that allow quantifying how humans are affecting natural systems, and how actions targeting specific stressors may be expected to alter the overall impacts (Halpern et al., 2008a). While traditionally used in the marine environment to inform management and policy decisions on the global (Halpern et al., , 2015(Halpern et al., , 2008b and regional scales (Ban et al., 2010;Bevilacqua et al., 2018;Clarke Murray et al., 2015;Gissi et al., 2017;Halpern et al., 2009;Korpinen et al., 2012;Micheli et al., 2013), key challenges remain to apply the cumulative impact framework at the local scale. These include the availability of fine-scale resolution data on human activities and associated pressures, especially in a land-sea continuum perspective (Clark et al., 2016), the outputs' representation in a comprehensive way for local planners and managers (Lombard et al., 2019), and the integration of the inherent uncertainty into decision-support (Stock et al., 2018). ...
Cumulative impact assessments can inform ecosystem-based management by mapping human pressures and assessing their intensity on ecosystem components. However, its use to inform local management is scarce, largely due to the need for fine-grained spatial data representing ecosystem threats that can assess impacts at a local scale. Here, we applied the cumulative impact assessment framework to Moorea's coral reef, French Polynesia to inform the ongoing revision of the island-wide marine spatial management plan. We combined high spatial resolution data on 11 local anthropogenic pressures and four ecological components with expert vulnerability assessments. Results revealed that the entire reef is impacted by at least four pressures: coral reef fisheries, agriculture, land use change and urbanization. These activities together contribute to 87% of the overall cumulative impact. Most importantly, land-based activities contribute to more than half (52%) of the overall impact. Other high-impact activities, such as reef-based tourism, remain very localized and contribute little to the overall human impact. These findings show that by focusing solely on reef-based activities, the current management plan misses critical sources of impact. Not considering land-based activities in the management may lead to decisions that could fail to significantly lower cumulative human impact on the reef. This study demonstrates how operationalizing the cumulative human impact framework at a local scale can help managers identify key leverage points likely to yield improved ecological outcomes.
... In 2008, Halpern et al. 10 developed the first methodology that relied on assessing the cumulative impacts of human activities on the environment at a holistic (international) scale and was represented spatially through maps 10 . On the regional level, the application of this methodology was presented in a study by Andersen et al. (2013) 16 , with a detailed analysis of the combined Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, and German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Over the last few years, expanding on the initial work of Halpern et al., an increased focus has been given to developing a range of geo-spatial tools as a response to the challenges of quantifying the cumulative impacts of anthropogenic pressures on the marine ecosystem (e.g., Tools4MSP, SYMPHONY, InVEST Habitat Risk). ...
The North Sea basin is one of the busiest maritime areas globally with a considerable number of anthropogenic pressures impacting the functioning of the marine ecosystem. Due to growing EU ambitions for the deployment of large-scale offshore wind farms (OWF), as part of the 2050 renewable energy roadmap, there is a key need for a holistic understanding of OWF potential impacts on the marine ecosystem. We propose a holistic Cumulative Effect Assessment methodology, applied using a geo-spatial open-source software, to assess impacts of OWF related pressures on selected seabed habitats, fish, seabird and mammal species. We take into account pressures specific to the three OWF development phases, spanning 1999–2050, for the entire North Sea basin. Our results underline 2022 as the peak year of cumulative impacts for the approved OWFs, followed by a considerable increase in potential impacts of the planned 212GWs, by 2050. The spatio-temporal analysis of the OWF environmental impacts presents the shift between highly impacted areas over the studied timeline and distinguishes between concentrated areas of high impacts (S-E of UK) and dispersed areas of high impacts (Germany). Our results can inform decision-makers and the OWF industry in a joint effort to mitigate the environmental impacts of future large-scale OWF developments.
... Cumulative impact assessment is currently viewed as a useful approach to map environmental impact of multiple pressures, offering support for spatially oriented ecosystem-based MSP (Depellegrin et al., 2017;Fernandes et al., 2017;Hammar et al., 2020;Korpinen et al., 2012). The Swedish MSP with the CIA tool Symphony has been criticised for not including connectivity aspects into the planning framework. ...
Cumulative impact assessment (CIA) is a promising approach to guide marine spatial planning (MSP) and management. One limitation of CIA is the neglect of seascape connectivity, which may spread the impact of localized pressures to ambient areas, e.g. through lost dispersal and recruitment of organisms. We here, for the first time, incorporate seascape connectivity into a traditional CIA model using a connectivity matrix, exemplified by dispersal of propagules estimated through biophysical modelling. Two connectivity impacts are identified: the source impact represents downstream areas losing recruits because of reduced larval dispersal from sites affected by the pressure, and the sink impact represents loss of recruits originating from upstream areas prevented from settlement in the site affected by the local pressure. By including seascape connectivity in the Swedish MSP-guiding CIA tool Symphony we demonstrate how to practically account for remote effects of local environmental impact. Our example on blue mussel shows how reducing mussel fitness in a given area may have impacts on mussels far from the acting pressures. Overall, results indicate that connectivity impact for blue mussels plays a minor role in most areas, <10% of the ordinary cumulative impact. However, in some smaller areas, e.g. on offshore banks and the Danish Straits, seascape connectivity may increase ordinary cumulative impact with 20%–30%. In an example of scenario-based CIA analyses of MSP projections, we demonstrate how impacts of particular management actions, e.g. shipping rerouting and wind power developments, can be tracked far from the original area of influence. Depending on the dispersal ability of ecosystem components, a local pressure may impact a considerable area through seascape connectivity, transgressing management units and national borders. Although the mean connectivity impact may be modest for a single ecosystem component, the consideration of seascape connectivity across multiple ecosystem components may significantly alter the mapping of cumulative impact and the assessment of different MSP scenarios. Synthesis and applications. Our extension of Cumulative Impact Assessment offers a new method for mapping and practically integrating seascape connectivity with ecosystem-based MSP and other spatial instruments for policy making, such as marine protected areas. © 2020 The Authors. Journal of Applied Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society
... Estuaries have been shown to support a variety of essential ecological functions and provide social bene ts to humans 1 . In recent years, estuarine ecosystems have been increasingly demonstrated habitat degradation due to intensive anthropogenic activities (e.g., urbanization, industrial development, shipping, shing, and aquaculture), along with the consequent stressors that accompany these activities (e.g., chemical pollution, over shing, invasive species and climate change) 2,3,4 . From the perspective of environmental management, proper efforts to understand the anthropogenic impacts on the health status of these critical ecotones are necessary. ...
In order to assess the ecological quality status of coastal environments in Europe, the AZTI’s Marine Biotic Index (AMBI) and multivariate-AMBI (M-AMBI) have been developed. However, the applicability and validity of these methods worldwide remains in question, particularly for complex ecosystems such as estuaries. The present study, therefore, is an investigation of the relationship between the M-AMBI and different contamination variables in a eutrophic estuary in three seasons (i.e., spring, summer and autumn). In addition, the reliability of taxonomic sufficiency for simplifying M-AMBI operation was tested. The results showed that genus- and family-level data accurately reproduced the spatial-temporal patterns of species-level community assemblages. The M-AMBI values showed a consistent spatial distribution pattern in all sampling seasons, with a decreasing trend along the increasing distance from the estuary inlet. Furthermore, both genus- and family-level results performed nearly as well as species-level data in detecting the seasonal variations of different contaminants (i.e., nutrients and organic enrichment). The taxonomic sufficiency succeeded in this temperate ecoregion is owing to the high aggregation ratios at different taxonomic levels in all sampling events. In general, these findings suggested that application of taxonomic sufficiency based on the M-AMBI provides a simple and efficient method for evaluating variations of ecological quality in the Liaohe Estuary.
... Finally, stressors such as sedimentation, nutrients and metal loading do not affect species distributions or functional traits in isolation. Marine communities are usually subject to multiple co-occurring human activities [39][40][41] . While the individual effects of single stressors on species and ecosystem function has been studied, there has been less research into the cumulative and interactive effects of multiple stressors 1,42 which generally influence coastal marine ecosystems. ...
Sediment, nutrient and metal loading to estuarine and coastal environments is increasing hence there is a growing need to predict ecological responses to such change. Maximum abundance models of 20 macrobenthic taxa and 22 functional traits were developed for sediments, nutrients and metals to predict how taxa and ecosystem function respond to key stressors. The abundance of most taxa declined in response to sedimentation and metals while a unimodal response was often associated with nutrient loading. Optimum abundances for both taxa and traits were at relatively low stressor levels, highlighting the vulnerability of estuaries to increasing stressor loads. Individual taxa were more susceptible to stress than traits, reflecting the redundancy inherent within functional groups and that functional traits may be less sensitive for detecting changes in ecosystem health. Multiplicative interaction effects were more common than additive ones, with multiplicative effects identified for most taxa and traits modeled. The observed sensitivity of most taxa to increasing sediment and metal levels and the documented interaction effects between multiple stressors have important implications for understanding, predicting and managing the ecological consequences of eutrophication, sedimentation and contaminants on coastal ecosystems.
... Coastal waters around the globe are facing cumulative impacts from human-induced stressors at an accelerating pace (Halpern et al., 2019). In the Baltic Sea, a combination of resource extraction, eutrophication and pollution has severely degraded coastal habitats (Korpinen et al., 2012). The seabed of the Baltic Sea is generally dominated by mud and sandy mud of smooth topography, yet large boulders are scattered across the low relief areas as a result of glacial erosion and deposition (Beisiegel et al., 2019;Kaskela & Kotilainen, 2017). ...
The longstanding debate in conservation biology on the importance of single large or several small (SLOSS) habitats for preserving biodiversity remains highly relevant, given the ongoing degradation and loss of natural habitats worldwide. Restoration efforts are often constrained by limited resources, and insights from SLOSS studies therefore have important implications if restoration efforts can be optimized by manipulating the spatial configuration of restored habitats. Yet, the relevance of SLOSS for habitat restoration remains largely unexplored. Here, we report the effects of spatial reef configuration on early colonization of marine organisms after restoring boulder reef habitats. Reefs were restored in single large (SL) and several small (SS) designs in the western Baltic Sea, where century‐long boulder extraction has severely degraded large reef areas and likely exacerbated regional declines in commercially important gadoids (Gadidae spp.). We sampled the field sites using remote underwater video systems in a before‐after control‐impact (BACI) design and obtained probabilistic inferences on restoration and SLOSS effects from Bayesian hierarchical models. Probabilities of a positive restoration effect were high (>95%) for gadoids, labrids and demersal gobies, moderate (60‐75%) for species richness and sand gobies, and low (<5%) for flatfish abundance. Notably, gadoid abundance increased 60‐fold and 129‐fold on average at SL and SS, respectively. The species composition at restored reefs deviated from control sites, mainly driven by large‐bodied piscivores. Spatial reef configuration had the strongest effect on small‐bodied mesopredators, including gobies, which were more abundant at SS and driving distinct species assemblages between the reef designs. In addition to providing suitable conditions for reef species, results suggest that SS can also benefit soft‐bottom taxa, possibly through a dispersed predator‐mediated effect relative to SL. Synthesis and applications. This study demonstrates that boulder reef restoration can strongly promote the abundance of exploited gadoids and is therefore a promising management tool to support top‐down controls by predatory fishes in degraded marine systems. The higher abundance of mesopredators at reefs with a ‘several small’ configuration suggests that the ‘Single Large or Several Small’ (SLOSS) dilemma could have long‐term implications for trophic structure and resilience of restored habitats, and should therefore become an important facet within restoration strategies.
... abundance densities in the Belts, an important spawning area for cod, were nearly extinguished after 2007. Korpinen et al. (2012) reported that this area experienced high levels of local overfishing that might have depleted this particular spawning site (Börjesson et al. 2013). Our results could likely support the latter authors' claims. ...
Monitoring and assessment of natural resources often require inputs from multiple data sources. In fisheries science, for example, the inference of a species’ abundance distribution relies on two main data sources, namely: commercial fisheries and scientific survey data. Despite efforts to combine these data into an integrated statistical model, their coupling is frequently hampered due to differences in their sampling designs, which imposes distinct bias sources in the estimator of the abundance distribution. We developed a flexible species distribution model (SDM) that can integrate both data sources while filtering out their relative bias contributions. We applied the model on three different age groups of the western Baltic cod stock. For each age group, we tested the model on (i) survey data and (ii) integrated data (survey + commercial) as a means to compare their differences and investigate how the inclusion of commercial fisheries data improved the spatiotemporal abundance estimator and parameter estimates. Moreover, we proposed a novel validation approach to evaluate whether the inclusion of commercial fisheries data in the integrated model is not in direct contradiction with the survey data. Following our approach, the results indicated that the use of commercial fisheries data is suitable for the integrated model. Across all age groups, our results demonstrated how commercial fisheries supplied additional information on cod’s spatiotemporal abundance dynamics, highlighting sometimes abundance hot‐spots that were not detected by the survey model alone. Additionally, the integrated model provided a reduction of up to 20% and 10% in the uncertainty (std. error) of the predicted abundance fields and fixed‐effect parameters, respectively. The proposed model represents a valuable benchmark for evaluating spatiotemporal dynamics of fish, and strengthens the science‐based advice for marine policymakers.
... Elevated concentrations of micropollutants transmitted via WWTPs are commonly observed in marine environments, in particular estuaries and coastal zones which are influenced by river outlets or sometimes direct WWTP emissions, but also in open waters (Nödler et al., 2014;Overdahl et al., 2021). Similar observations have been made in the Baltic Sea (Björlenius et al., 2018;Borecka et al., 2015;Chernova et al., 2021;Fisch et al., 2017Fisch et al., , 2021Kötke et al., 2019;Siedlewicz et al., 2018;Skeff et al., 2017) where coastal zones are under a generally high anthropogenic pressure due to land-based pollution and maritime activities (Korpinen et al., 2012). Furthermore, the Baltic Sea is, due to its slow water exchange with the North Sea, and hence long residence time of seawater (Stigebrandt and Gustafsson, 2003), an "aquatic end station" for persistent and mobile substances, i.e. chemicals that escape wastewater treatment and have the potential to travel long distances in catchment waterways. ...
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) transmit many chemical contaminants to aquatic environments. Quantitative data on micropollutant emissions via WWTPs are needed for environmental risk assessments and evaluation of mitigation measures. This study compiled published data on substances analysed in effluents from WWTPs in the Baltic Sea region, assessed country related differences in the data sets and estimated micropollutant inputs to the Baltic Sea catchment. Concentration data were found for 1090 substances analysed at 650 WWTPs. Heterogeneity and low number of data points for most substances hindered adequate comparisons of country specific concentrations. Emission estimates were made for the 280 substances analysed in at least five WWTPs in years 2010 to 2019. For selected substances, mass loads were compared to previously published estimations. The study provides data useful for national and Baltic Sea-scale pressure analysis and risk assessments. However, it also highlights the need for broad scope monitoring of micropollutants in wastewater.
... Anthropic pressure on the steppe environment A long history, increase of anthropic pressure has triggered the accentuation of wind erosion processes in semiarid and arid region over the world. Korpinen et al. (2012) defined an anthropogenic pressure as a human-derived stress factor causing either temporary or permanent disturbance or damage to or loss of one or several components of an ecosystem. Thus, pressure may cause immediate impacts or it may also be low enough not to cause immediate adverse impacts on biota. ...
Wind erosion is one of the most severe environmental problems in arid, semiarid, and dry sub-humid regions of the planet. This paper aimed to identify areas sensitive to wind erosion in Northeastern Algeria (Wilaya of Tebessa) based on empirical model using analytic hierarchy process, fuzzy analytic hierarchy process approaches, and geomatics-based techniques. Sixteen causative factors were used incorporating meteorological, soil erodibility, physical environment, and anthropogenic impacts as main available inputs in this approach. Weighted linear combination algorithm was adopted to combine all standardized raster layers. Area under curve value equal to 0.96 indicates an excellent accuracy for the proposed approach. Globally, wind erosion risk increases gradually from the North to South of the whole area. Besides, it was found that areas with slight, moderate, high, and very high risk covered 9.65%, 25.83%, 24.30%, and 40.22% of the total area, respectively. Our results highlighted the potential of additive linear model and free available medium resolution multi-source remote sensing data in studying natural hazards and disasters mainly under data-scarce or areas of difficult access in developing countries. In addition, restoration and re-vegetation activities of sensitive areas at high risk of wind erosion represent a challenge for researchers and decision-makers.
... It focused on the spatial distribution of human activities and marine ecosystems, in which human impact on global marine ecosystems was assessed through the assignment of intensity of anthropogenic drivers and ecosystem vulnerability weights. This method has since been applied to coral reef ecosystems (Zhang et al. 2006;Selkoe et al. 2009), the California coast ), Canada's Pacific coast (Ban et al. 2010), the Baltic Sea (Korpinen et al. 2012), the North Sea (Andersen et al. 2015), and the Sungai Pulai estuary Hossain et al. 2018), among others. It did not only evaluate the cumulative impacts caused by current human activities on marine ecosystems, but also simulate the ecological impact caused by potential activities. ...
Understanding the level of human impact on the marine environment requires integrated and ecosystem-based assessment. This research proposes a method based on geospatial modeling at the activity level to assess the potential impact of marine utilization on coastal management and conservation. Laizhou Bay in China was selected as a case study. The research identified the spatial distribution of economic sectors and the potential impact of that distribution on important marine ecological management zones. The findings reveal that, from high to low, threats exist in the bay-head, and to the east and west, and that marine ecological zones are over-used for open mariculture because the environmental impact of this activity is believed to be low. This paper reveals the spatial distribution of threats from a variety of marine-area uses on the ecology of Laizhou Bay. The findings provide support for policymakers in the implementation of marine ecological red-line policy and in the management of the utilization of the marine environment.
... Advances in the technology of some marine anthropic activities have improved their efficiency and have allowed humans to exploit deeper areas, representing one of the main threats for deep-sea marine biodiversity (Costello et al., 2010;Mazaris et al., 2019). Different analyses on the cumulative anthropic pressures in different areas of the world have been done using maps of the spatial distribution of different types of anthropic activities (Halpern et al., 2008(Halpern et al., , 2015Korpinen et al., 2012;Tournadre, 2014). These maps generally help to manage the spatial use of human activities in different marine ecosystems and ecologically important areas through an efficient marine spatial planning (Stelzenmüller et al., 2008;Le Pape et al., 2014;Andersen et al., 2018). ...
Multi-species bottom trawl fisheries are one of the human activities with a great impact on the benthic habitats and their associated biota. This study provides estimates of the bottom trawling activity (effort), catches and landings of the main commercial species as well as an estimation of the total revenue (TR) generated inside a mud volcano field located in the Spanish margin of the Gulf of Cádiz, during a time series from 2007 to 2012. To date, no studies have been carried out to analyse the temporal evolution of bottom trawling activity and TR in a mud volcano fied, or the economic consequences of possible potential bottom trawling regulation of certain sectors harbouring vulnerable and/or threatened habitats. In this study, Vessel Monitoring System data, logbooks and sales slips were used. The spatial distribution of the bottom trawling activity, catches and TR were related to the seafloor morphology and specific bottom types of the mud volcano field. During the time series, a high bottom trawling activity and associated catches was detected in flat sandy and muddy bottoms, including the Anastasya sector and between the Guadalquivir and Cádiz Diapiric Ridges. Low bottom trawling activity and catches were detected in the deepest areas but also in areas with hard and detritic bottoms such as Gazul and Chica sectors as well as in the Diapiric Ridges. A similar spatial pattern was detected for the TR asociated with these bottom trawling fisheries. An increase in bottom trawling activity was detected during the time series, mainly at the end, probably for increasing the TR and mantaining the economic profit due to the instability and increases in fuel prices and offset the increased costs. Based on the obtained information, bottom trawling regulations should be implemented in certain sectors harboring singular and/or threatened habitats and species. In some of these sectors, a low TR from bottom trawling was detected and, bottom trawling regulation may potentially have a low socioeconomic impact. This specific bottom trawling regulation could provide a sustainable balance between bottom trawling activities and habitat conservation in this mud volcano field according to the aims of the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) and the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EEC).
... Between these extremes, there are several options to integrate and present information, each with its own requirements, pros and cons. Halpern et al. 2008, Korpinen et al. 2012, Solheim et al. 2012 Or: 8.a combination of all/some of these when there are insufficient data in some areas or for some descriptors or indicators It could be argued that the 11 Descriptors together summarize the way in which the ecosystem functions. As MS have to consider each of the descriptors to determine good environmental status, this could be interpreted as a requirement to achieve GES for each of these descriptors. ...
This report is based on an analysis of national approaches that Member States (MS) have
taken in their reporting under Articles 8, 9 and 10 of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), with respect to geographical scaling and aggregation rules, and provides advice for the development of broad EU guidance for coherent geographic scales in assessment and monitoring of GES and for sets of aggregation rules (such as to aggregate data from monitoring for assessments and across criteria for a GES Descriptor).
The objectives of this project were to analyse and compare the national approaches
regarding the spatial scales for the environmental assessment of their marine waters, to
analyse which aggregation rules have been applied, and to develop guidance for coherent
geographic scales and aggregation rules.
An analysis of MS approaches was reported in November 2013 and is included in an Annex to this report. The results were discussed in a WG GES workshop in Brussels in October 2013. This report builds on the results of the workshop and the analysis and presents a next step in the development of guidelines.
Aggregation inevitably causes the loss of information, but information needs can differ,
depending on the purpose and may require different levels of aggregation. Environmental
assessments address different information needs at different levels and spatial scales, from relatively small spatial scales and low levels of integration to inform on suitable management measures, up to assessments at the level of (sub)regions to follow policy implementation.
Assessment scales should be defined taking into account both ecological considerations such as hydrodynamic and physical-chemical characteristics and biogeography, as well as management perspectives: provide a robust and adequate assessment of environmental state, enable the identification and evaluation of management measures. Spatial assessment scales could be different, depending on the issue, ranging from small scales in the case of local pressures or specific habitats to marine (sub)region or larger scales in the case of wide-spread pressures or species with a large distributional range (e.g. cetaceans).
A method is proposed to develop a system of assessment scales that are nested in a
hierarchical way, similar to the approach that has been developed for the Baltic Sea by
HELCOM. This could be part of an adaptive management approach where scales can be
applied that are suited for the needs of a specific assessment method, allow aggregation to larger scales, while a pragmatic optimization would help to keep the number of assessment areas manageable.
An overview is given of aggregation methods that can be used to combine indicators and
criteria within a descriptor. General criteria to decide on the most appropriate aggregation rule are discussed. The 'one-out-all-out' method that is applied in the Water Framework Directive is applicable in some cases, but is not in all cases a suitable approach.
Several methods are discussed that can be used to aggregate assessments across
descriptors.
... Global coastal and marine water quality has become a matter of grave concern due to the adverse global effects resulting from human activities and natural stresses (Korpinen et al., 2012;Solan and Whiteley, 2016). Some of these stressors include an imbalance of nutrients on agricultural land caused by the application of adverse chemical fertilizers, as well as contamination by animal waste, industrial sludge, and sewage water (Hunter et al., 2012). ...
Understanding public preferences and evaluating the river basin are essential for effective river basin management , and enhancing its environmental attributes can provide considerable non-market benefits. As such, the study explores the heterogeneity in people's preferences and rankings of river ecosystem services based on their willingness to pay (WTP) to upgrade these services. A research survey was conducted throughout the river basin using a choice experiment approach. In this study, we evaluated the impact of study area elevation (a spatial attribute) on residents' willingness to pay for rehabilitation of environmental attributes. The study incorporates 6 ecological attributes in order to examine the differences in people's willingness to pay at various elevation levels. A total of five cities and 33 surrounding villages and townships were surveyed, while five elevation groups were made on an ad hoc basis to split samples, i.e., 1000-1600 m, ≤1600-2200 m, ≤2200-2800 m, > 2800-3400 m, and 3400-4000 m. The results of the mixed logit model recognized that people living at different elevations value rehabilitation of varying environmental attributes differently. For example, the inhabitants in Group 1 (1000-1600 mm) are willing to pay RMB 6.70 per year for biodiversity upgrades; while the WTP of the people for the same attributes is RMB 32.68 in Group 5 (3400-4000 mm). The Krinsky Robb approach confirmed that agricultural product quality and greenhouse gases (GHGs) were the most highly valued attributes, with a willingness to pay of RMB 90.40 and RMB 47.17, respectively. Applying these results as a reference for sustainable improvements and uplift of deteriorated ecological qualities is an example of how they may be helpful in bettering the world.
... This study was conducted in August-September 2020 in Forsmark, Sweden (60 • 24 ′ 12 ′′ N 18 • 10 ′ 0 ′′ E), next to a coastal area of the Baltic Sea. The brackish semi-enclosed Baltic Sea is threatened not only by climate change, but also by overfishing, runoff, pollution, and eutrophication (Korpinen et al., 2012;Andersson et al., 2015). In many areas of the Baltic Sea, seasonal eutrophication episodes have increased since the 1950s following the increased use of fertilizers, concurrent with expansions in agriculture and meat production (Österblom et al., 2007;Andersen et al., 2017;Heiskanen et al., 2019). ...
Shallow coastal areas often have high productivity and diversity, in part due to the high availability of light and nutrients. At the same time, they are exposed to multiple environmental pressures, such as browning and eutrophication. Browning is mainly caused by runoff bringing coloured dissolved organic matter (CDOM), reducing light availability in waters, whereas eutrophication is caused by high nutrient loading, leading to eutrophication symptoms such as algal blooms. Existing variation and further change in light and nutrients of coastal areas could have large implications for aquatic food webs, including fish. For instance, reduced light might alter food availability and reduce foraging abilities, whereas increased nutrient supply might, depending on the extent, increase food availability. In this study, we performed a mesocosm experiment, including benthic and pelagic communities, together with young-of-the-year three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) as predators. The three-spined stickleback is not only a common model organism but also an increasingly common and important mesopredator in the Baltic Sea. We examined the extent to which browning and nutrient-enrichment, alone and in combination, influenced the density, biomass, and composition of stickleback prey, and diet choice, body growth and condition of the stickleback. Stickleback body growth was positively affected by nutrient-enrichment, probably because of a positive bottom-up effect with increased primary production, as evident in the much higher chlorophyll-a concentrations in the pelagic habitat, and increased food availability. In contrast, there was a marginal negative effect of browning on stickleback body growth and condition, most likely due to negative effects of reduced visibility on feeding rates. We also found that prey availability increased with nutrient-enrichment but not with browning. Interestingly, nutrient-enrichment counteracted the negative effects of browning when combined. Our findings add novel understandings about the potential for both eutrophication and browning to affect coastal food webs and fish body growth in the Baltic Sea.
... These areas have wellestablished populations of Rhithropanopeus harrisii (Fowler et al., 2013), but also the recently introduced crustacean Sinelobus vanhaareni (Gagnon et al., 2022) and Palaemon elegans (Haahtela, 2011) are very common. The area is highly impacted by different human activities (Korpinen et al., 2012) such as shipping and recreational boating, which may act as vectors for non-indigenous species (Gagnon et al., 2022). Although the non-indigenous R. harrisii was not found in our samples in good status areas, some individuals were seen during sampling in Eastern Åland and sightings have been recorded also in the outer Archipelago Sea (Katajisto et al., 2020). ...
Fucus vesiculosus (here Fucus) is a key species on rocky shores of the Baltic Sea, providing habitat for a diverse invertebrate community. While the invertebrate species within Fucus belts and their general distribution in the Baltic Sea are well known, much less is known about variation in invertebrate abundances and in community composition on different spatial scales. With requirements to monitor the status of marine habitats and communities, knowledge on species variation across environmental gradients is increasingly important. Knowledge on the abundances of different grazer species is also needed to evaluate the effects of fauna on Fucus on different spatial scales.
In this study, a large-scale field campaign in seven geographically distinct areas along the Baltic Sea coast was conducted to assess variation in Fucus-associated invertebrate communities along eutrophication gradients (areas classified as either good, moderate or poor status). In addition, local scale exposure effects on invertebrate communities were studied. Eutrophication-related variation in invertebrate communities was found, with generally lower species abundances in the good status areas compared to areas in poor or moderate status. Especially in poor status areas, Fucus hosted high abundances of gammarids and chironomids. No specific taxa clearly functioned as an indicator for the eutrophication status and Pielou's evenness was similar across studied areas. However, lower Shannon diversity and number of taxa were found in areas where the status of Fucus is poor. Furthermore, abundances of some taxa, e.g. Idotea spp. isopods and Theodoxus fluviatilis snails were lower in areas where the non-indigenous Rhithropanopeus harrisii has been observed. On a local scale, exposed sides of small islands had less T. fluviatilis. This study took the first step to unravel spatial patterns in Fucus-associated invertebrate fauna, and the results illustrate how different environmental and biotic drivers shape these communities both on large and local scales.
... The Baltic Sea is a sensitive sea with brackish water, low biodiversity and high anthropogenic impact. The large number of vessels combined with a slow water exchange rate of approximately 30 years makes it environmentally relevant to minimize the use of biocidal antifouling paints on both recreational and commercial vessels in this semi-enclosed sea (Korpinen et al., 2012). ...
... Alternatively direct maps of ichthyoplakton, zooplankton and higher trophic levels based on data synthesis are becoming increasingly available, (e.g., Beauchard et al., 2017;Beauchard and Troupin, 2018b). A consistent demonstration was suggested by the HELCOM Baltic Sea Impact Index (Halpern et al., 2008;Korpinen et al., 2010Korpinen et al., , 2012, which combines such species maps with a sensitivity matrix, based mainly on expert knowledge. Another important sensitivity map is that of the vulnerability of benthic ecosystems to sunken marine litter (Beauchard and Troupin, 2018a), which should be overlayed with the sinking flux F(x) = λ(x) P(x) that is an important auxiliary output from Eulerian/Lagrangian transport calculations. ...
Litter cleanup and disposal management in the marine environment are increasingly subject to public scrutiny, government regulation and stakeholder initiatives. In practice, ongoing efforts and new investment decisions, for example in new cleanup technologies, are constrained by financial and economic resources. Given budgetary restrictions, it is important to optimize decision-making using a scientific framework that takes into account the various effects of investments by combining multiple scientific perspectives and integrating these in a consistent and coherent way. Identifying optimal levels of marine litter cleanup is a challenge, because of its cross-disciplinary nature, involving physics, environmental engineering, science, and economics. In this paper, we propose a bridge-building, spatial cost-benefit optimization framework that allows prioritizing where to apply limited cleanup efforts within a regional spatial network of marine litter sources, using input from the maturing field of marine litter transport modeling. The framework also includes ecosystem functioning in relation to variable litter concentrations, as well as the potentially non-linear cost-efficiency of cleanup technologies. From these three components (transport modeling, ecosystem functioning, cleanup-effectiveness), along with litter source mapping, we outline the optimal cleanup solution at any given ecological target or economic constraint, as well as determine the cleanup feasibility. We illustrate our framework in a Baltic and Mediterranean Sea case study, using real data for litter transport and cleanup technology. Our study shows that including pollution Green's functions is essential to assess the feasibility of cleanup and determine optimal deployment of cleanup investments, where the presented framework combines physical, economical, technological and biological data consistently to compare and rank alternatives.
... The anthropogenic pressures impacting the sea fl oor have increased since various underwater construction projects have increased on top of the demersal fi shing activities, which have ploughed the sea fl oor already for decades. The core indicator for the cumulative impacts of anthropogenic pressures on the sea fl oor was adapted from the Baltic Sea Pressure Index (HELCOM 2010 c, Korpinen et al. 2012) to pressures particularly affecting benthic habitats. ...
... Previous studies on the semi-enclosed seas, including the Bohai Sea and the Maowei Sea, showed high levels of microplastic pollution, with microplastic abundance up to 7,000 items m −3 Zhu et al., 2019). They indicated that semi-enclosed seas are particularly susceptible to trapping microplastics, due to the emission of micropollutants from industrial and domestic uses, slow flushing, and restricted water exchange (Korpinen et al., 2012;Li et al., 2018;Schmidt et al., 2020). The microplastic abundance in the near-surface layers of the southern and central regions of the Baltic Sea was significantly higher than in the northern region in this study. ...
Microplastic pollution in semi-enclosed seas is gaining attention since microplastics are more likely to accumulate there. However, research on the vertical distribution of microplastics and impact factors is still limited. In this study, we focus on the Baltic Sea, which has distinguished salinity stratification, and we assume that the resulting strong density stratification (halocline) can influence the vertical distribution of microplastics in the water column. Therefore, we analyzed the vertical abundance distribution, the composition, and the sizes of microplastics (27.3–5,000.0 μm) in the Baltic Sea. The results showed that microplastics comprising fibers, fragments, and films occurred throughout the water column at an abundance of 1.1–27.7 items L ⁻¹ . The abundance of microplastics (3.2–27.7 items L ⁻¹ ) at haloclines was significantly higher than those at other water depths except the near surfaces ( p < 0.05), contributing 24.1–53.2% of the microplastics in the whole water column. Small microplastics (<100 μm) were more likely to accumulate in the water layers above halocline. Moreover, the current with high turbidity might be another carrier of microplastics in the near-bottom water layer due to its strong correlation with microplastics abundance. This study provides valuable evidence for the accumulation trend of microplastics in water columns and its influencing factors in the semi-enclosed marginal sea. Further research on the vertical distribution of microplastics under the control of multiple factors should be conducted in the future.
... Degradation of coastal habitats has been observed world-wide (Lotze et al., 2006), but the coastline of the Baltic Sea is particularly disturbed by pervasive human activity (Elmgren, 2001;Korpinen et al., 2012). Over the course of the 20th century, intense benthic trawling and eutrophication resulted in a dramatic change in the percentage cover and species composition of submerged vegetation in the Baltic Sea (Gibson et al., 2007;Olsen et al., 2007). ...
The European Fish Ageing Network (EFAN) funded by the European Union, is reviewed, and assessed after a 20-year hiatus. The large number of scientists and technicians involved in this independent and informal network, and the time invested (four years), provided a significant advance in fish age estimation and methodologies. The results presented are based on two survey questionnaires sent to EFAN members, specifically to those who had been most actively involved in the programme. Overall, EFAN can be considered as successful as it fulfilled the aim of the FAIR (Fostering Awareness Inclusion and Recognition) program in improving collaboration both at a national and European levels in the field of sclerochronology. Adding to the success was that many survey participants reported a positive impact on both their creativity and scientific careers, particularly participants from university environments and the female members, and around 50% of the participants continued in their age-related research careers. These factors, as well as the positive scientific impact EFAN has had in various European countries (n = 16), point to a very successful programme. The aim of improving what is an objective approach required to interpret growth increments in calcified structures (otoliths) in fishes, is reflected in the various tools developed by EFAN, all of which are found in the many reports produced by the Network. Examples are seen in the quality control approach by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), where tools developed by EFAN have been key to their fisheries management approach. Our general impression is that a project with a lifetime of around four years in principle provides a suitable time period to develop age estimation tools, quality control routines, and working procedures to improve the use of fish age data for fish stock assessments. We argue however, that developing a functioning network requires more time than a conventional project. Therefore, to fully meet the aims of projects such as EFAN, a period of between 10 and 15 years is a more appropriate time frame for these types of programmes to run. A longer time scale can help ensure recommendations are regularly followed, can provide more confidence in on-going routine age estimation data, and so achieve a significant improvement in the application of ageing methods. In turn a more accurate and robust scientific outcome would be available for European fish stock assessments.
Coastal ecosystems are biologically productive, and their diversity underlies various ecosystem services to humans. However, large-scale species richness (SR) and its regulating factors remain uncertain for many organism groups, owing not least to the fact that observed SR (SRobs) depends on sample size and inventory completeness (IC). We estimated changes in SR across a natural geographical gradient using statistical rarefaction and extrapolation methods, based on a large fish species incidence dataset compiled for shallow coastal areas (
Humans have always viewed the marine environment as an important resource including using the marine environment to dispose of their waste. In order to protect the marine environment and manage the activities, various national legislative approaches have been implemented to address the requirements of the international London Protocol/ London Convention (LPLC). The LPLC aims to prevent and reduce pollution of the sea associated with dumping of wastes and other matter. Although not a prerequisite of the London Protocol, regional and national regulatory frameworks require that assessments for disposing waste at sea include a cumulative effects context considering the effects from other marine activities occurring in a given area. Here we review a selection of cumulative effect assessment approaches and principles that could be applied to enhance the assessment requirements of the LPLC. We recommend that those countries that are parties to the LCLP consider which CEA approach is of most applicable to their own country and activities, perhaps a combination, and ensure robust assessments are carried out to ensure the marine environment is as sustainably managed as possible.
Like most ocean regions today, the European and contiguous seas experience cumulative impacts from local human activities and global pressures. They are largely in poor environmental condition with deteriorating trends. Despite several success stories, European policies for marine conservation fall short of being effective. Acknowledging the challenges for marine conservation, a four-year multi-national network, MarCons, supported collaborative marine conservation efforts to bridge the gap between science, management and policy, aiming to contribute in reversing present negative trends. By consolidating a large network of more than 100 scientists from 26 countries, and conducting a series of workshops over four years (2016-2020), MarCons analysed challenges, opportunities and obstacles for advancing marine conservation in the European and contiguous seas. Here, we synthesize the major issues that emerged from this analysis and make 12 key recommendations for policy makers, marine managers, and researchers.
To increase the effectiveness of marine conservation planning, we recommend (1) designing coherent networks of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the framework of marine spatial planning (MSP) and applying systematic conservation planning principles, including re-evaluation of existing management zones, (2) designing MPA networks within a broader transboundary planning framework, and (3) implementing integrated land-freshwater-sea approaches.
To address inadequate or poorly informed management, we recommend (4) developing and implementing adaptive management plans in all sites of the Natura 2000 European conservation network and revising the Natura 2000 framework, (5) embedding and implementing cumulative effects assessments into a risk management process and making them operational, and (6) promoting actions to reach ‘good environmental status’ in all European waters.
To account for global change in conservation planning and management, we further recommend (7) developing conservation strategies to address the impacts of global change, for example identifying climate-change refugia as high priority conservation areas, and (8) incorporating biological invasions in conservation plans and prioritizing management actions to control invasive species.
Finally, to improve current practices that may compromise the effectiveness of conservation actions, we recommend (9) reinforcing the collection of high-quality open-access data, (10) improving mechanisms for public participation in MPA planning and management, (11) prioritizing conservation goals in full collaboration with stakeholders, and (12) addressing gender inequality in marine sciences and conservation.
The diversity of macro and meiobenthos was documented in order to assess the ecosystem health of an anthropogenically impacted coastal ecosystem for the first time along the southwest coast of Tamil Nadu. Offshore sediment and water samples (n=63) were collected from 14 sampling stations using the grid sampling method. Water and sediment samples were analysed for environmental variables such as pH, temperature, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), salinity, sulphate, dissolved oxygen (DO), carbohydrate (CHO), protein, lipid, labile organic matter (LOM), total organic carbon (Corg), total organic matter (TOM) and sediment texture using standard methods. Benthic macro and meiobenthos were isolated and identified using standard identification keys. A total of 5 phyla of macrobenthos with 29 species and 5 phyla of benthos with 60 species were identified in the study area. Relative abundance analysis showed that the largest numbers of species belonged to polychaeta for macrobenthos and foraminifera for meiobenthos. Redundancy analysis indicated that sediment carbohydrate content was the highest determining factor for explaining variation in the diversity of benthos. AMBI & M-AMBI results revealed that among the 14 stations, 2 were categorized as “poor” and 9 as “bad”. Multiple anthropogenic activities in the coastal environment leading to increased organic matter input, have resulted in a decline in the ecosystem health of this region which warrants for site-specific management to control organic pollution.
The harbor porpoise, Phocoena phocoena , is the only cetacean regularly occurring in the Baltic Sea. During the last decades, several anthropogenic activities have affected porpoises in the Baltic region. Most notably is bycatch in static fishing gear, such as gill nets, which is the main human-induced cause of death in odontocetes. There is still considerable uncertainty about which factors influence the amount of bycatch. In the present study, we reviewed bycatch data collected from 1987 to 2016 from the south-western Baltic Sea. There was a significant difference in bycatch due to seasonality and region, and there was a higher bycatch rate in juveniles than in adults. The only abiotic factor associated with bycatch was the lunar cycle, with more animals bycaught during a full moon. These results improve our understanding of which biotic and abiotic factors are associated with bycatch of Baltic harbor porpoises, which can be used to strengthen conservation endeavors such as managing fishing efforts.
Abstract Improving the health of coastal and open sea marine ecosystems represents a substantial challenge for sustainable marine resource management, since it requires balancing human benefits and impacts on the ocean. This challenge is often exacerbated by incomplete knowledge and lack of tools that measure ocean and coastal ecosystem health in a way that allows consistent monitoring of progress towards predefined management targets. The lack of such tools often limits capabilities to enact and enforce effective governance. We introduce the Baltic Health Index (BHI) as a transparent, collaborative and repeatable assessment tool. The Index complements existing, more ecological‐oriented, approaches by including a human dimension on the status of the Baltic Sea, an ecosystem impacted by multiple anthropogenic pressures and governed by a multitude of comprehensive national and international policies. Using a large amount of social–ecological data available, we assessed the health of the Baltic Sea for nine goals that represent the status towards set targets, for example, clean waters, biodiversity, food provision, natural products extraction and tourism. Our results indicate that the overall health of the Baltic Sea is suboptimal (a score of 76 out of 100), and a substantial effort is required to reach the management objectives and associated targets. Subregionally, the lowest BHI scores were measured for carbon storage, contaminants and lasting special places (i.e. marine protected areas), albeit with large spatial variation. Overall, the likely future status of all goals in the BHI averaged for the entire Baltic Sea is better than the present status, indicating a positive trend towards a healthier Baltic Sea. However, in some Baltic Sea basins, the trend for specific goals was decreasing, highlighting locations and issues that should be the focus of management priorities. The BHI outcomes can be used to identify both pan‐Baltic and subregional scale management priorities and to illustrate the interconnectedness between goals linked by cumulative pressures. Hence, the information provided by the BHI tool and its further development will contribute towards the fulfilment of the UN Agenda 2030 and its Sustainability Development Goals. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
This paper discusses trends in recent academic literature on cumulative effects assessment (CEA) in the field of environmental impact assessment (IA). We performed an inductive, thematic analysis of peer-reviewed literature published between 2008 and 2018. We find that most academic research on CEA originates in North America, and much of it is situated in periodicals other than the leading IA journals. There is agreement that CEA is still not well understood conceptually and there remains a need for procedural guidance as support for practitioners. Support for regional and strategic approaches to CEA remains strong. Our review of the literature also shows that, increasingly, researchers advocate estimating relative ecosystem vulnerability to anthropogenic activities by aggregating stressors and differentiating the most heavily disturbed valued components and impact zones. The paper concludes with our suggestions to strengthen CEA scholarship globally.
Tämä raportti vastaa merialuesuunnittelun tarpeisiin tarjoamalla olosuhteisiin räätälöidyn pohdinnan siitä, kuinka ekosysteemilähestymistapaa on hyvä soveltaa, jotta merialuesuunnitelmalle asetettu ympäristötavoite edistää meriympäristön hyvää tilaa saavutetaan. Merialuesuunnittelussa pyritään kokonaisvaltaisilla suunnitteluratkaisuilla tukemaan sellaisia kehityskulkuja, joiden avulla merellä tapahtuva ihmistoiminnan paine pysyy meriympäristön kannalta kohtuullisena, ja joilla turvataan ekosysteemien kyky reagoida ihmisen toiminnasta aiheutuviin muutoksiin.
Ecological restoration is a set of actions that are conducted to restore nature to a previous state after harmful human impacts. In coastal and marine environments, it may concern transplanting eelgrass shoots or coldwater corals, reconstructing coastal wetlands, or adding nutrient binding substances to counteract remaining eutrophication effects from earlier human activities. Restoration is an active measure, which aims at restoring ecosystems to historically pristine conditions and can be seen as the process to assist the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged or detroyed. The experience with ecological restoration in marine environments is, however, limited, and a rule of thumb is that it is less costly to prevent environmental damage in the coastal zone than to later restore environments. Another rule of thumb is that the activities and pressures originally causing the disturbance/loss should first be remedied in order for restoration measures to be effective.
This report aims to provide a rather detailed overview of experiences with ecological restoration in coastal and marine environments, with a particular focus on Sweden. Hopefully, the report will be useful for managers and decision makers and constitute the basis for future restoration projects.
Many people and societies, in Sweden as well as globally, receive great joy and benefits from shallow coastal waters and their ecosystems. Several types of human activities concurrently and continuously affect these ecosystems. The physical activities affecting coastal ecosystems include coastal exploitation, marine production of energy, extraction of living and non-living resources, cultivation of living resources, transport, marine tourism and leisure, security and defence, etcetera. These activities are leading to typical pressures on the coastal environment as loss of or disturbance of benthic habitats, changes in turbidity, smothering, littering, electromagnetic changes, noise changes, light changes, introduction of barriers for species movement, contact/collision, visual disturbance, but also hydrographical, chemical and biological changes.
Through the use of the DPSIR-framework, this report provides a broad overview of the main human physical activities and their effects on coastal ecosystems, with a particular focus on Swedish conditions. In addition, the report analyses biological effects, state changes, exerted by physical activities on coastal ecosystems, and how sensitive different types of key habitats and ecosystem components are to the main physical activities, and what consequences this may have for marine ecosystem services. The analyses are both descriptive and quantitative. Relationships between activities and pressures, between activities and ecosystem components, between activities and habitats, between activities and ecosystem services, between pressures and the sensitivities of important habitats are presented in separate appendices. It is also
presented which water depths and which sea areas that are especially affected by certain
physical activities, which physical activities that can have cumulative impact with other physical activities on the environment as well as which physical activities that can have cumulative impact on the environment with different non-physical pressures.
Hopefully, the report can broaden the understanding of the structure and function of coastal ecosystems and the physical pressures affecting them. Moreover, the analysis may form the basis for identifying and strengthening a functional marine green infrastructure, as well as for physical planning and ecosystem-based management.
Coastal regions support the most threatened ecosystems on Earth, and anthropogenic activities have been significantly affecting both habitat structure and ecological quality. Understanding the dynamics of ecological response to multiple stresses is a precondition for management and restoration of largely disturbed coastal ecosystems. Among diverse taxa in coastal regions, benthic organisms are widely recognized as promising targets for assessing ecological causes and consequences of anthropogenic activity-derived stressors, such as environmental pollution. However, spatial and local environmental factors play important but different roles in shaping community structure of different benthic taxa, mainly owing to their distinct body size, mobility, and metabolic capacity. Here, we applied metabarcoding, coupled with physicochemical analyses, to determine the benthic microbial community composition in a typical subtropical coast area, Beibu Gulf in Southern China. Stochastic processes were found as the dominant ecological driver in shaping the community assembly of both bacteria and fungi. Moreover, environmental factors explained a considerable portion of variation in bacterial communities, while spatial factors were more influential in structuring larger body size and weak mobility fungal communities. Mantel tests and network analysis revealed significant relationships between several environmental variables and bacterial communities. More importantly, the concentrations of heavy metals, particularly Cr and Zn, could be predicted using the constructed random forest model based on bacterial communities. The results obtained here provide new insights into causes and consequences of various factors for influencing healthy coasts, thus further clearing the road to the integration of biological information into routine ecological monitoring of coastal ecosystems.
Decision-support tools (DSTs) synthesize complex information to assist environmental managers in the decision-making process. Here, we review DSTs applied in the Baltic Sea area, to investigate how well the ecosystem approach is reflected in them, how different environmental problems are covered, and how well the tools meet the needs of the end users. The DSTs were evaluated based on (i) a set of performance criteria, (ii) information on end user preferences, (iii) how end users had been involved in tool development, and (iv) what experiences developers/hosts had on the use of the tools. We found that DSTs frequently addressed management needs related to eutrophication, biodiversity loss, or contaminant pollution. The majority of the DSTs addressed human activities, their pressures, or environmental status changes, but they seldom provided solutions for a complete ecosystem approach. In general, the DSTs were scientifically documented and transparent, but confidence in the outputs was poorly communicated. End user preferences were, apart from the shortcomings in communicating uncertainty, well accounted for in the DSTs. Although end users were commonly consulted during the DST development phase, they were not usually part of the development team. Answers from developers/hosts indicate that DSTs are not applied to their full potential. Deeper involvement of end users in the development phase could potentially increase the value and impact of DSTs. As a way forward, we propose streamlining the outputs of specific DSTs, so that they can be combined to a holistic insight of the consequences of management actions and serve the ecosystem approach in a better manner.
This study addresses ongoing concerns over the effects of mobile fishing gear on benthic communities. Using side-scan sonar, bottom photographs and fishing records, we identified a set of disturbed and undisturbed sites on the gravel pavement area of northern Georges Bank in the northwest Atlantic. Replicate samples of the megafauna were collected with a 1 m Naturalists' dredge on 2 cruises in 1994. Compared with the disturbed sites, the undisturbed sites had higher numbers of organisms, biomass, species richness and species diversity; evenness was higher at the disturbed sites. Undisturbed sites were characterized by an abundance of busby epifaunal taxa (bryozoans, hydroids, worm tubes) that provide a complex habitat for shrimps, polychaetes, brittle stars, mussels and small fish. Disturbed sites were dominated by larger, hard-shelled molluscs, and scavenging crabs and echinoderms. Many of the megafaunal species in our samples have also been identified in stomach contents of demersal fish on Georges Bank; the abundances of at least some of these species were reduced at the disturbed sites.
During August 1988, effects of mussel dredging and bottom trawling on particulate material, internal nutrient loads, and oxygen balance were examined at 3 shallow locations in Limfjorden, Denmark. Water samples were taken simultaneously from areas exposed to fishing activities and from unused control areas. Sampling was carried out before fishing and 0 (immediately after fishing), 30, and 60 min after fishing. Sampling and control areas, which were situated close to one another, each covered 160 000 m2 and included 9 sampling stations and 3 depths. Immediately after mussel dredging, suspended particulate material increased significantly, but 30 min after dredging these differences had decreased and had returned to the start level after 60 min. The effect per dredged m2 (1850 m2) extrapolated to the total area (160 000m2 was 1470 g suspended particulate material per m2 dredged, corresponding to an increase of 1361 % on the average suspended particulate material in the water column before dredging. Similar values for eel trawling from 2 different stations gave 960 and 1000 %, respectively. Oxygen decreased significantly after mussel dredging and average ammonia content increased, but large horizontal variations in the ammonia content prevented detailed interpretation of these increases. Changes in other nutrients were small. Changes in particulate matter and nutrients were also observed at 2 stations on a day with high (15 m s-1) followed by a day with low wind velocity (3 m s-1). Particulate matter and total phosphorus were markedly higher on the windy day. A significant proportion of dredging and trawling in the Limfjord takes place during summer, when wind speeds are mostly low, nutrients are low, and oxygen consumption and temperatures are high. During these periods, trawling and particularly dredging reduce the water quality by increasing internal nutrient loads, oxygen consumption, and possibly phytoplankton primary production. An extended evaluation of the ecological role of dredging and trawling requires an estimate of intensity of, and more information on the role of, natural wind-stress.
Fishers have been complaining about the effects of bottom trawl gear on the marine environment since at least the 14th century. Trawl gear affects the environment in both direct and indirect ways. Direct effects include scraping and ploughing of the substrate, sediment resuspension, destruction of benthos, and dumping of processing waste. Indirect effects include post‐fishing mortality and long‐term trawl‐induced changes to the benthos. There are few conclusive studies linking trawling to observed environmental changes since it is difficult to isolate the cause. However, permanent faunal changes brought about by trawling have been recorded. Research has established that the degree of environmental perturbation from bottom trawling activities is related to the weight of the gear on the seabed, the towing speed, the nature of the bottom sediments, and the strength of the tides and currents. The greater the frequency of gear impact on an area, the greater the likelihood of permanent change. In deeper water where the fauna is less adapted to changes in sediment regimes and disturbance from storm events, the effects of gear take longer to disappear. Studies indicate that in deep water (>1000 m), the recovery time is probably measured in decades.
Halpern et al. (Reports, 15 February 2008, p. 948) integrated spatial data on 17 drivers of change in the oceans to map the global distribution of human impact. Although fishery catches are a dominant driver, the data reflect activity while impacts occur at different space and time scales. Failure to account for this spatial disconnection could lead to potentially misleading conclusions. A s spatial planning and legislation, which has long been applied to human activity on land, extends out into the marine environment, the need for a synthesis of the human impacts on the seas and oceans becomes ever more urgent. Thus, the initiative reported by Halpern et al. (1) is extremely timely and welcome. However, the task is a formidable one, and the results highlight some of the chal-lenges that still need to be overcome. Halpern et al. (1) estimated impacts on the oceans from a range of human activities, in-cluding various methods of fishing that are among the most important factors affecting the ecological state of many large marine ecosys-tems (2, 3). Spatial disaggregations (½° latitude by ½° longitude) of 1999 to 2003 regional land-ings data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (4) were used as measures of fishing activity. Spatial
Bottom trawling causes chronic and widespread disturbance to the seabed in shallow shelf seas and could lead to changes in the trophic structure and function of benthic communities, with important implications for the processing of primary production and the wider functioning of the marine ecosystem. We studied the effects of bottom trawling on the trophic structure of infaunal and epifaunal benthic communities in 2 regions (Silver Pit and Hills) of the central North Sea. Within each region, we quantified long-term (over 5 yr) differences in trawling disturbance at a series of sites (using sightings data from fishery protection flights), and related this to differences in the biomass and trophic structure of the benthic community. There were 27- and 10-fold differences in levels of beam trawl disturbance among the Silver Pit and Hills sites respectively, and we estimated that the frequency with which the entire area of the sites was trawled ranged from 0.2 to 6.5 times yr(-1) in the Silver Pit and 0.2 to 2.3 times yr(-1) in the Hills. The impacts of fishing were most pronounced in the Silver Pit region, where the range of trawling disturbance was greater. Infaunal and epifaunal biomass decreased significantly with trawling disturbance. Within the infauna, there were highly significant decreases in the biomass of bivalves and spatangoids (burrowing sea-urchins) but no significant change in polychaetes. Relationships between trophic level (estimated using nitrogen stable isotope composition, delta N-15) and body mass (as log(2) size classes) were rarely significant, implying that the larger individuals in this community did not consistently prey on the smaller ones. For epifauna, the relationships were significant, but the slopes or intercepts of the fitted linear regressions were not significantly related to trawling disturbance. Moreover, mean delta N-15 Of the sampled infaunal and epifaunal communities were remarkably consistent across sites and not significantly related to trawling disturbance. Our results suggest that chronic trawling disturbance led to dramatic reductions in the biomass of infauna and epifauna, but these reductions were not reflected in changes to the mean trophic level of the community, or the relationships between the trophic levels of different sizes of epifauna. The trophic structure of intensively trawled benthic invertebrate communities may be a robust feature of this marine ecosystem, thus ensuring the efficient processing of production within those animals that have sufficiently high intrinsic rates of population increase to withstand the levels of mortality imposed by trawling.
The eutrophication status of the entire Baltic Sea is classified using a multi-metric indicator-based assessment tool. A total
of 189 areas are assessed using indicators where information on reference conditions (RefCon), and acceptable deviation (AcDev)
from reference condition could be combined with national monitoring data from the period 2001–2006. Most areas (176) are classified
as ‘affected by eutrophication’ and only two open water areas and 11 coastal areas are classified as ‘unaffected by eutrophication’.
The classification is made by application of the recently developed HELCOM Eutrophication Assessment Tool (HEAT), which is
described in this paper. The use of harmonized assessment principles and the HEAT tool allows for direct comparisons between
different parts of the Baltic Sea despite variations in monitoring activities. The impaired status of 176 areas is directly
related to nutrient enrichment and elevated loads from upstream catchments. Baltic Sea States have implemented nutrient management
strategies since years which have reduced nutrient inputs. However, eutrophication is still a major problem for large parts
of the Baltic Sea. The 2007 Baltic Sea Action Plan is projected to further reduce nutrient inputs aiming for a Baltic Sea
unaffected by eutrophication by 2021.
KeywordsEutrophication–Baltic Sea–Assessment–HEAT–Nutrients–Ecological status–Nutrient management strategies
Eelpouts (Zoarces viviparus), a viviparous fish, were sampled in Danish coastal waters during October and November 2001 and 2002, in ten different areas, which are receiving effluents from cities and industry to more or minor degree. The presence of gross abnormalities in eelpout broods has been suggested to be a useful biomarker of the impact of hazardous substances on fish reproduction in the marine environment as chronic exposure to various substances has the potential to induce severe developmental defects in fish embryos and larvae. Relatively high frequencies of female eelpouts (20–53) with elevated levels (>5) of larvae with developmental defects in the broods were found in four shallow fjords with effluents from larger cities and industry compared to areas. Deformations like spiral or bend shapes of the spinal axis, cranio-facial defects, eye lesions or loss of eyes were the dominating types. In some ofthe areas with the highest incidences of developmental defects, the adults had significantly enlarged livers, which may also be a possible effect caused by contaminant exposure. In two of the areas, relatively high frequencies of the broods contained larvae, which had died late but without any visible developmental defects. These two areas were affected by severe oxygen depletion prior to sampling time suggesting that examination of broods in the eelpout may include not only impact of hazardous substances but also effect of eutrophication-related problems on fish reproduction in the marine environment.
Human-mediated disturbances such as fishing, habitat modification, and pollution have resulted in significant shifts in species
composition and abundance in marine ecosystems which translate into degradation of food-web structure. Here, we used a comparative
ecological modelling approach and data from two food webs (North-Central Adriatic and South Catalan Sea) and two time periods
(mid-late 1970s and 1990s) in the Mediterranean Sea to evaluate how changes in species composition and biomass have affected
food-web properties and the extent of ecosystem degradation. We assembled species lists and ecological information for both
regions and time periods into stochastic structural and mass-balance food-web models, and compared the outcomes of 22 food-web
properties. Our results show strong similarities in structural food-web properties between the North-Central Adriatic and
South Catalan Seas indicating similar ecosystem structure and levels of ecological degradation between regions and time periods.
In contrast, a comparison with other published marine food webs (Caribbean, Benguela, and US continental shelf) suggested
that Mediterranean webs are in an advanced state of ecological degradation. This was reflected by lower trophic height, linkage
density, connectance, omnivory, species involved in looping, trophic chain length and fraction of biomass at higher trophic
levels, as well as higher generality and fraction of biomass at lower trophic levels. An analysis of robustness to simulated
species extinction revealed lower robustness to species removals in Mediterranean webs and corroborated their advanced state
of degradation. Importantly, the two modelling approaches used delivered comparable results suggesting that they both capture
fundamental information about how food webs are structured.
The ecosystems of coastal and enclosed seas are under increasing anthropogenic pressure worldwide, with Chesapeake Bay, the
Gulf of Mexico and the Black and Baltic Seas as well known examples. We use an ecosystem model (Ecopath with Ecosim, EwE)
to show that reduced top-down control (seal predation) and increased bottom-up forcing (eutrophication) can largely explain
the historical dynamics of the main fish stocks (cod, herring and sprat) in the Baltic Sea between 1900 and 1980. Based on
these results and the historical fish stock development we identify two major ecological transitions. A shift from seal to
cod domination was caused by a virtual elimination of marine mammals followed by a shift from an oligotrophic to a eutrophic
state. A third shift from cod to clupeid domination in the late 1980s has previously been explained by overfishing of cod
and climatic changes. We propose that the shift from an oligotrophic to a eutrophic state represents a true regime shift with
a stabilizing mechanism for a hysteresis phenomenon. There are also mechanisms that could stabilize the shift from a cod to
clupeid dominated ecosystem, but there are no indications that the ecosystem has been pushed that far yet. We argue that the
shifts in the Baltic Sea are a consequence of human impacts, although variations in climate may have influenced their timing,
magnitude and persistence.
Effective and comprehensive regional-scale marine conservation requires fine-grained data on the spatial patterns of threats
and their overlap. To address this need for the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (Monument) in Hawaii, USA, spatial
data on 14 recent anthropogenic threats specific to this region were gathered or created, including alien species, bottom
fishing, lobster trap fishing, ship-based pollution, ship strike risks, marine debris, research diving, research equipment
installation, research wildlife sacrifice, and several anthropogenic climate change threats i.e., increase in ultraviolet
(UV) radiation, seawater acidification, the number of warm ocean temperature anomalies relevant to disease outbreaks and coral
bleaching, and sea level rise. These data were combined with habitat maps and expert judgment on the vulnerability of different
habitat types in the Monument to estimate spatial patterns of current cumulative impact at 1ha (0.01km2) resolution. Cumulative impact was greatest for shallow reef areas and peaked at Maro Reef, where 13 of the 14 threats overlapped
in places. Ocean temperature variation associated with disease outbreaks was found to have the highest predicted impact overall,
followed closely by other climate-related threats, none of which have easily tractable management solutions at the regional
scale. High impact threats most tractable to regional management relate to ship traffic. Sensitivity analyses show that the
results are robust to both data availability and quality. Managers can use these maps to (1) inform management and surveillance
priorities based on the ranking of threats and their distributions, (2) guide permitting decisions based on cumulative impacts,
and (3) choose areas to monitor for climate change effects. Furthermore, this regional analysis can serve as a case study
for managers elsewhere interested in assessing and mapping region-specific cumulative human impacts.
Analysis of cumulative human impacts in the marine environment is still in its infancy but developing rapidly. In this study, existing approaches were expanded upon, aiming for a realistic consideration of cumulative impacts at a regional scale. Thirty-eight human activities were considered, with each broken down according to stressor types and a range of spatial influences. To add to the policy relevance, existing stressors within and outside of conservation areas were compared. Results indicate the entire continental shelf of Canada's Pacific marine waters is affected by multiple human activities at some level. Commercial fishing, land-based activities and marine transportation accounted for 57.0%, 19.1%, and 17.7% of total cumulative impacts, respectively. Surprisingly, most areas with conservation designations contained higher impact scores than the mean values of their corresponding ecoregions. Despite recent advances in mapping cumulative impacts, many limitations remain. Nonetheless, preliminary analyses such as these can provide information relevant to precautionary management and conservation efforts.
In the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Bothnia is the only sub-basin with only minor effects of eutrophication mainly due to physical factors. Most evaluations of the state of the Gulf of Bothnia are based on offshore investigations. In the present study the coastal zone of the eastern Gulf of Bothnia is analysed. Long-term data (1980–2007) of total nitrogen and phosphorus, turbidity and oxygen are analysed using principal component analysis (PCA) for spatial and temporal patterns in the trophic situation. The coastal zone is divided into six regions: inner and outer areas of the Bothnian Sea and the Quark, and the outer areas of the southern and northern Bothnian Bay. The results show a degradation of water quality from north to south, and from outer to inner coastal areas. Eutrophication changes from an almost non-existing problem in the Bothnian Bay in the north to clear signs of nutrient over-enrichment in the Bothnian Sea. This shows that even if eutrophication in the Gulf of Bothnia is not serious, the increasing trends in nutrient levels should be seen as warning signals for the future, and remedies to combat eutrophication should be taken rapidly.
Protecting the world’s freshwater resources requires diagnosing threats over a broad range of scales, from global to local. Here we present the first worldwide synthesis to jointly consider human and biodiversity perspectives on water security using a spatial framework that quantifies multiple stressors and accounts for downstream impacts. We find that nearly 80% of the world’s population is exposed to high levels of threat to water security. Massive investment in water technology enables rich nations to offset high stressor levels without remedying their underlying causes, whereas less wealthy nations remain vulnerable. A similar lack of precautionary investment jeopardizes biodiversity, with habitats associated with 65% of continental discharge classified as moderately to highly threatened. The cumulative threat framework offers a tool for prioritizing policy and management responses to this crisis, and underscores the necessity of limiting threats at their source instead of through costly remediation of symptoms in order to assure global water security for both humans and freshwater biodiversity.
Ecological extinction caused by overfishing precedes all other pervasive human disturbance to coastal ecosystems, including
pollution, degradation of water quality, and anthropogenic climate change. Historical abundances of large consumer species
were fantastically large in comparison with recent observations. Paleoecological, archaeological, and historical data show
that time lags of decades to centuries occurred between the onset of overfishing and consequent changes in ecological communities,
because unfished species of similar trophic level assumed the ecological roles of overfished species until they too were overfished
or died of epidemic diseases related to overcrowding. Retrospective data not only help to clarify underlying causes and rates
of ecological change, but they also demonstrate achievable goals for restoration and management of coastal ecosystems that
could not even be contemplated based on the limited perspective of recent observations alone.
The reproduction of white-tailed sea eagles was monitored in 1964-1999 in 3 differently contaminated sub-populations: Baltic Sea coast (Bp), inland central Sweden (Ip) and Lapland (Lp). 249 dead eggs from 205 clutches were obtained for analyses of DDE and PCBs and for eggshell measurements. A desiccation index (Di) value was calculated for each egg as a measure of water loss through the shell. In the highly contaminated Bp, p,p'-DDE concentrations in the eggs decreased continuously and 5-fold during the study period and PCB concentrations decreased 3-fold from the mid 1980s. The PCB pattern changed slightly over time towards more high-chlorinated congeners but the relative toxicity of the PCB mixture, expressed as 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin equivalents (TEQ), remained constant and TEQ can be assumed to have decreased in a similar way as PCB over time. Productivity (P), shell thickness (St), shell index (Si) and Di increased over time in the Bp but no change in Di or productivity occurred in the Lp, where residue concentrations were 5-8 times lower. P of the Bp was not correlated to St or Si but was negatively correlated to Di, DDE and PCB. An S-shaped dose-response relationship was indicated between P and DDE. After 1988, when the PCB/DDE ratio was considerably higher than previously, PCB but not DDE concentrations were significantly higher in eggs with dead embryos as compared to undeveloped eggs, implying lethal concentrations of PCB, and a LOEL of 320 pg g-1 TEQ is suggested for embryo mortality. In a subset of 21 eggs, representing productive and unproductive females, analyzed for a selection of coplanar PCB congeners, tris(4-chlorophenyl) methanol and bis(4-chlorophenyl) sulphone, there was no evidence for a correlation between P and any of these compounds. A reduction in residue concentrations in old females did not lead to increased P or improved Di-values, indicating a remaining effect from a previous, higher exposure to contaminants. The inability to reproduce included a high rate of undeveloped eggs, indicating effects at a prezygotic stage. P showed the strongest correlation with Di, and Di was most strongly correlated to DDE. Thus, the remaining effect of previous exposure resulted in a stronger correlation to the symptom (Di) rather than to the suggested causative agent (DDE). LOEL values for depressed P were estimated at 120 micrograms g-1 DDE and 500 micrograms g-1 PCB (lipid basis). It is concluded that the major reason for depressed P during the study period was DDE, but that effects also from PCB were largely concealed by the effects from DDE.
The management and conservation of the world's oceans require synthesis of spatial data on the distribution and intensity of human activities and the overlap of their impacts on marine ecosystems. We developed an ecosystem-specific, multiscale spatial model to synthesize 17 global data sets of anthropogenic drivers of ecological change for 20 marine ecosystems. Our analysis indicates that no area is unaffected by human influence and that a large fraction (41%) is strongly affected by multiple drivers. However, large areas of relatively little human impact remain, particularly near the poles. The analytical process and resulting maps provide flexible tools for regional and global efforts to allocate conservation resources; to implement ecosystem-based management; and to inform marine spatial planning, education, and basic research.
Protecting the worlds freshwater resources requires diagnosing threats over a broad range of scales, from global to local. Here we present the first worldwide synthesis to jointly consider human and biodiversity perspectives on water security using a spatial framework that quantifies multiple stressors and accounts for downstream impacts. We find that nearly 80% of the worlds population is exposed to high levels of threat to water security. Massive investment in water technology enables rich nations to offset high stressor levels without remedying their underlying causes, whereas less wealthy nations remain vulnerable. A similar lack of precautionary investment jeopardizes biodiversity, with habitats associated with 65% of continental discharge classified as moderately to highly threatened. The cumulative threat framework offers a tool for prioritizing policy and management responses to this crisis, and underscores the necessity of limiting threats at their source instead of through costly remediation of symptoms in order to assure global water security for both humans and freshwater biodiversity.
The number of marine species at risk of extinction is rising. Understanding the threats that contribute to extinction risk in the seas is thus critical to conservation. When major threats to marine, estuarine, and diadromous species on the US Endangered Species Act and IUCN Red lists were ranked according to the number of species they affect, strong consensus in the ranking of threats across species and between institutions emerged. Overexploitation is the most frequent threat to vulnerable marine species, with approximately half of threatened species caught as bycatch in fisheries. Habitat degradation, the primary threat to terrestrial species, ranks second in impact on marine species. Loss of listed marine species would probably affect ecosystem function and delivery of ecosystem services because many of these species are strong interactors, including ecosystem engineers, taxa that provide important nutrient links between terrestrial and marine ecosystems, and a disproportionate number of high trophic-level predators.
BERLIN--
Edelgard Bulmahn has been a major force in German science and higher education since becoming research minister in 1998. She
has proposed an overhaul of Germany's university rules--seeking merit pay and "junior professorships" that would free young
scientists to pursue independent research--that has polarized the academic community. In a 9 April interview with
Science
in her Berlin office, Bulmahn discussed these and other topics in laying out her vision for German research.
Bottom trawling and use of other mobile fishing gear have effects on the seabed that resemble forest clearcutting, a terrestrial disturbance recognized as a major threat to biological diversity and economic sustainability. Structures in marine benthic communities are generally much smaller than those in forests, but structural complexity is no less important to their biodiversity. Use of mobile fishing gear crushes, buries, and exposes marine animals and structures on and in the substratum, sharply reducing structural diversity. Its severity is roughly comparable to other natural and anthropogenic marine disturbances. It also alters biogeochemical cycles, perhaps even globally. Recovery after disturbance is often slow because recruitment is patchy and growth to maturity takes years, decades, or more for some structure-forming species. Trawling and dredging are especially problematic where the return interval—the time from one dredging or trawling event to the next—is shorter than the time it takes for the ecosystem to recover; extensive areas can be trawled 100–700% per year or more. The effects of mobile fishing gear on biodiversity are most severe where natural disturbance is least prevalent, particularly on the outer continental shelf and slope, where storm-wave damage is negligible and biological processes, including growth, tend to be slow. Recent advances in fishing technology (e.g., rockhopper gear, global positioning systems, fish finders) have all but eliminated what were de facto refuges from trawling. The frequency of trawling (in percentage of the continental shelf trawled per year) is orders of magnitude higher than other severe seabed disturbances, annually covering an area equivalent to perhaps half of the world’s continental shelf, or 150 times the land area that is clearcut yearly. Mobile fishing gear can have large and long-lasting effects on benthic communities, including young stages of commercially important fishes, although some species benefit when structural complexity is reduced. These findings are crucial for implementation of “Essential Fish Habitat” provisions of the U.S. Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act which aim to protect nursery and feeding habitat for commercial fishes. Using a precautionary approach to management, modifying fishing methods, and creating refuges free of mobile fishing gear are ways to reduce effects on biological diversity and commercial fish habitat.
Perturbaciones del Lecho Marino por Artes de Pesca Móbiles: Una Comparación con la Tala Forestals
Los arrastres de fondo y el uso de otras artes de pesca móviles tienen efectos en el lecho marino que se asemejan a la tala total de bosques, que es a su vez una pertubación terrestre reconocida como una de las mayores amenazas a la diversidad biológica y la sustentabilidad económica. Las estructuras en comunidades marinas bénticas son generalmente mucho más pequeñas que aquellas en los bosques, pero la complejidad estructural no es menos importante que la biodiversidad. El uso de artes de pesca móviles quiebra, sepulta y expone animales marinos y estructuras sobre y en el substrato, reduciendo marcadamente la diversidad estructural. Su severidad es burdamente comparable con otras perturbaciones marinas de orden natural o antropogénico. Tambien altera los ciclos biogeoquímicos, de hecho a nivel mundial. La recuperación después de una pertubación es frecuentemente lenta debido a que el reclutamiento es por parches y el crecimiento para alcanzar la madurez toma años, décadas o aún más para algunas especies que forman estructuras. Los arrastres de fondo y dragados son especialmente problemáticos donde el intervalo de retorno (tiempo entre un evento de dragado o arrastre y otro) es más corto que el tiempo que toma a un ecosistema recuperarse;árears extensas son arrastradas entre un 100 y 700% por año o mas. Los efectos de las artes de pesca móviles en la biodiversidad son más severos cuando las perturbaciones naturales son menos prevalentes, particularmente en las afueras de la plataforma continental y la pendiente, donde el daño del oleaje por tormentas es negligible y los procesos biológicos (incluyendo crecimiento) tienden a ser lentos. Recientes avances en tecnología pesquera (e.g., sistemas de posicionamiento global, detectores de peces) aparentemente tienen todo, pero eliminan lo que de facto fueran refugios contra arrastres. La frecuencia de los arrastres (en porcentaje de la plataforma continental arrastrada por año) es órdenes de magnitud mayor que otras perturbaciones severas al lecho marino, anualmente la cobertura de área es equivalente quizá a la mitad de la plataforma continental marina, o 150 veces el área de tierra que es talada anualmente. Las artes de pesca móviles pueden tener impactos grandes y de larga duración en las comunidades bentónicas, incluyendo estadios jóvenes de peces de importancia comercial, aunque algunas especies se benefician cuando la complejidad estructural es reducida. Estos descubrimientos son cruciales para la implementación de el “hábitat esencial para peces” del Acta de Conservación y Manejo de Pesquerias Magnuson-Stevens de los Estados Unidos y que pretende establecer hábitats de reproducción y alimentación para peces comerciales. El uso de una aproximación precautoria de manejo, la modificación de métodos de pesca y la creación de refugios libres de artes de pesca móviles son formas para reducir los efectos en la diversidad biológica y el hábitat para peces comerciales.
Quantitative assessment of the spatial patterns of all human uses of the oceans and their cumulative effects is needed for implementing ecosystem-based management, marine protected areas, and ocean zoning. Here, we apply methods developed to map cumulative impacts globally to the California Current using more comprehensive and higher-quality data for 25 human activities and 19 marine ecosystems. This analysis indicates where protection and threat mitigation are most needed in the California Current and reveals that coastal ecosystems near high human population density and the continental shelves off Oregon and Washington are the most heavily impacted, climate change is the top threat, and impacts from multiple threats are ubiquitous. Remarkably, these results were highly spatially correlated with the global results for this region (R2= 0.92), suggesting that the global model provides guidance to areas without local data or resources to conduct similar regional-scale analyses.
Coastal marine habitats at the interface of land and sea are subject to threats from human activities in both realms. Researchers have attempted to quantify how these various threats impact different coastal ecosystems, and more recently have focused on understanding the cumulative impact from multiple threats. Here, the top threats to coastal marine ecosystems and recent efforts to understand their relative importance, ecosystem-level impacts, cumulative effects, and how they can best be managed and mitigated, are briefly reviewed. Results of threat analysis and rankings will differ depending on the conservation target (e.g., vulnerable species, pristine ecosystems, mitigatable threats), scale of interest (local, regional, or global), whether externalities are considered, and the types of management tools available (e.g., marine-protected areas versus ecosystem-based management). Considering the cumulative effect of multiple threats has only just begun and depends on spatial analysis to predict overlapping threats and a better understanding of multiple-stressor effects and interactions. Emerging conservation practices that hold substantial promise for protecting coastal marine systems include multisector approaches, such as ecosystem-based management (EBM), that account for ecosystem service valuation; comprehensive spatial management, such as ocean zoning; and regulatory mechanisms that encourage or require cross-sector goal setting and evaluation. In all cases, these efforts require a combination of public and private initiatives for success. The state of our ecological understanding, public awareness, and policy initiatives make the time ripe for advancing coastal marine management and improving our stewardship of coastal and marine ecosystems.
Two mathematical methods to assess the "health status" of flounder (Platichthys flesus), eelpout (Zoarces viviparus) and blue mussel (Mytilus spp.) populations of the Baltic Sea were applied on selected biomarker data collected during the EU project "BEEP" (Biological Effects of Environmental Pollution on Marine Coastal Ecosystems). The Bioeffect Assessment Index (BAI) and the Integrated Biomarker Index (IBR) combine different biomarkers to single values, which can be used to describe the toxically-induced stress level of populations in different areas. Both indices determined here produced essentially similar results, which in most cases agreed with the known contamination levels in the different study areas. Advantages and limitations of index applications and interpretations are critically discussed. The use of indices provides comprehensive information about biological effects of pollution in marine organisms and may therefore serve as a useful tool for environmental management by ranking the pollution status of marine coastal areas.
Marine ecosystems are threatened by a suite of anthropogenic stressors. Mitigating multiple threats is a daunting task, particularly when funding constraints limit the number of threats that can be addressed. Threats are typically assessed and prioritized via expert opinion workshops that often leave no record of the rationale for decisions, making it difficult to update recommendations with new information. We devised a transparent, repeatable, and modifiable method for collecting expert opinion that describes and documents how threat,,; affect marine ecosystems. Experts were asked to assess the functional impact, scale, and frequency of a threat to an ecosystem; the resistance and recovery time of an ecosystem to a threat; and the certainty of these estimates. To quantify impacts of 38 distinct anthropogenic threats on 23 marine ecosystems, we surveyed 135 experts from 19 different countries. Survey results showed that all ecosystems are threatened by at least nine threats and that nine ecosystems are threatened by >90% of existing threats. The greatest threats (highest impact scores) were increasing sea temperature, demersal destructive fishing, and point-source organic pollution. Rocky reef, coral reef, hard-shelf, mangrove, and offshore epipelagic ecosystems were identified as the most threatened. These general results, however, may be partly influenced by the specific expertise and geography of respondents, and should be interpreted with caution. This approach to threat analysis can identify the greatest threats (globally or locally), most widespread threats, most (or least) sensitive ecosystems, most (or least) threatened ecosystems, and other metrics of conservation value. Additionally, it can be easily modified, updated as new data become available, and scaled to local or regional settings, which would facilitate informed and transparent conservation priority setting.
Anthropogenic disturbances intertwined with climatic changes can have a large impact on the upper trophic levels of marine ecosystems, which may cascade down the food web. So far it has been difficult to demonstrate multi-level trophic cascades in pelagic marine environments. Using field data collected during a 33-year period, we show for the first time a four-level community-wide trophic cascade in the open Baltic Sea. The dramatic reduction of the cod (Gadus morhua) population directly affected its main prey, the zooplanktivorous sprat (Sprattus sprattus), and indirectly the summer biomass of zooplankton and phytoplankton (top-down processes). Bottom-up processes and climate-hydrological forces had a weaker influence on sprat and zooplankton, whereas phytoplankton variation was explained solely by top-down mechanisms. Our results suggest that in order to dampen the occasionally harmful algal blooms of the Baltic, effort should be addressed not only to control anthropogenic nutrient inputs but also to preserve structure and functioning of higher trophic levels.
Abrasion and resuspension by bottom-trawling have been estimated as par-ticularly destructive in the Baltic Sea
- Tjensvoll
ICES, 2008; ASCOBANS-HELCOM database, 2011). Abrasion and resuspension by bottom-trawling have been estimated as par-ticularly destructive in the Baltic Sea (Riemann and Hoffmann, 1991; Tjensvoll et al., 2009) and globally (Watling and Norse, 1998).
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