Journal article
Temporal development of coastal ecosystems in the Baltic Sea over the past two decades
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences1
AtlantNIRO2
Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management3
Stockholm University4
University of Tartu5
Fishery Resources Research Department6
National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark7
Section for Ecosystem based Marine Management, National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Technical University of Denmark8
Finnish Environment Institute9
Sea Fisheries Institute10
Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute11
...and 1 moreCoastal areas are among the most biologically productive aquatic systems worldwide, but face strong and variable anthropogenic pressures. Few studies have, however, addressed the temporal development of coastal ecosystems in an integrated context. This study represents an assessment of the development over time in 13 coastal ecosystems in the Baltic Sea region during the past two decades.
The study covers between two to six trophic levels per system and time-series dating back to the early 1990s. We applied multivariate analyses to assess the temporal development of biological ecosystem components and relate these to potential driving variables associated with changes in climate, hydrology, nutrient status, and fishing pressure.
Our results show that structural change often occurred with similar timing in the assessed coastal systems. Moreover, in 10 of the 13 systems, a directional development of the ecosystem componentswas observed. The variables representing key ecosystem components generally differed across systems, due to natural differences and limitation to available data.
As a result of this, the correlation between the temporal development of the biological components in each area and the driving variables assessed was to some extent area-specific. However, change in nutrient status was a common denominator of the variables most often associated with changes in the assessed systems.
Our results, additionally, indicate existing strengths as well as future challenges in the capacity of currently available monitoring data to support integrated assessments and the implementation of an integrated ecosystem-based approach to the management of the Baltic Sea coastal ecosystems
Language: | English |
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Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
Year: | 2015 |
Pages: | 2539-2548 |
ISSN: | 10959289 and 10543139 |
Types: | Journal article |
DOI: | 10.1093/icesjms/fsv143 |
ORCIDs: | Dinesen, Grete E. |