| 1. |
- Kotta, Jonne, et al.
(författare)
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Cleaning up seas using blue growth initiatives: Mussel farming for eutrophication control in the Baltic Sea
- 2020
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Ingår i: Science of the Total Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0048-9697 .- 1879-1026. ; 709
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- © 2019 The Authors Eutrophication is a serious threat to aquatic ecosystems globally with pronounced negative effects in the Baltic and other semi-enclosed estuaries and regional seas, where algal growth associated with excess nutrients causes widespread oxygen free “dead zones” and other threats to sustainability. Decades of policy initiatives to reduce external (land-based and atmospheric) nutrient loads have so far failed to control Baltic Sea eutrophication, which is compounded by significant internal release of legacy phosphorus (P) and biological nitrogen (N) fixation. Farming and harvesting of the native mussel species (Mytilus edulis/trossulus) is a promising internal measure for eutrophication control in the brackish Baltic Sea. Mussels from the more saline outer Baltic had higher N and P content than those from either the inner or central Baltic. Despite their relatively low nutrient content, harvesting farmed mussels from the central Baltic can be a cost-effective complement to land-based measures needed to reach eutrophication status targets and is an important contributor to circularity. Cost effectiveness of nutrient removal is more dependent on farm type than mussel nutrient content, suggesting the need for additional development of farm technology. Furthermore, current regulations are not sufficiently conducive to implementation of internal measures, and may constitute a bottleneck for reaching eutrophication status targets in the Baltic Sea and elsewhere.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Nyström Sandman, Antonia, et al.
(författare)
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Grön infrastruktur i havet : landskapsperspektiv i förvaltningen av Sveriges marina områden
- 2020
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- En kartläggning av havets naturkvaliteter har påbörjats genom arbetet med grön infrastruktur. Rapporten undersöker olika scenarier för hur den marina gröna infrastrukturen påverkas av mänskliga aktiviteter i förhållande till olika strategier för förvaltning. Projektet har genomfört tre fallstudier med olika fokus: strandexploatering, trålfiske och klimatförändring. Genom scenariobaserade analyser visar forskarna vilken effekt olika beslut och åtgärder kan få på naturskydds- och miljömål.Det tvärvetenskapliga projektet är ett samarbete mellan experter inom ekologi och juridik. Forskarna beskriver hur lagstiftning, planering och förvaltningsstrategier bör utformas och fungera ihop, och presenterar förslag för att stärka skyddet av den gröna infrastrukturen i Sveriges havsområden.Forskningen har finansierats av Naturvårdsverkets miljöforskningsanslag till stöd för Naturvårdsverket och Havs- och vattenmyndighetens verksamhet.
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| 4. |
- Polovodova Asteman, Irina, 1980, et al.
(författare)
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Spreading of an alien benthic foraminifer in the North Sea: a reason to be worried?
- 2023
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Ingår i: International Congress FORAMS2023, Perugia, Italy, 25-30th June. - Perugia, Italy : Micropress Europe & The Grzybowski Foundation.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In the Skagerrak-Kattegat (eastern North Sea), the alien benthic foraminifer Nonionella sp. T1 (previously referred to as “Nonionella stella”) was reported for the first time in 2011 and 2012 in the Swedish and southern Norwegian fjords, respectively. Based on dated sediment cores its first occurrence can be traced back to the 1980s in the Gullmar Fjord, to the 2000s in the Öresund and to 2010 in the Oslofjord. Since then, Nonionella sp T1 has spread all over the Kattegat and coastal Skagerrak, according to sampling campaigns performed between 2016 and 2022. The species is now highly abundant in the entire Kattegat, including the Öresund, as well as in fjord mouths of the seasonally hypoxic Gullmar Fjord, the oxic Hakefjord and the long-term polluted Idefjord as demonstrated by molecular and morphospecies data. At the same time, Nonionella sp T1 is rare to absent in the Baltic Sea, Skagerrak deep basin and in deep fjords of western and northern Norway. This study shows some preliminary results on the species’ present distribution in the study area and raises questions about the driving factors and potential effects on the local biodiversity.
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| 5. |
- Eriander, Louise, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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The effects of small-scale coastal development on the eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) distribution along the Swedish west coast – Ecological impact and legal challenges
- 2017
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Ingår i: Ocean and Coastal Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0964-5691. ; 148, s. 182-194
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Anthropogenic impacts on coastal areas have led to an increased degradation of marine environments globally. Eelgrass ecosystems are particularly susceptible to human induced stressors as they are sensitive to low light conditions and usually grow in shallow protected areas where pressure from coastal development is high. The extensive decline in coverage of eelgrass along the Swedish Northwest coast since the 1980s has largely been attributed to the effects of coastal eutrophication and overfishing. However, the impact on eelgrass from small-scale coastal development (docks and marinas) has never been investigated in this area. The aim of this study was to assess the local and large-scale effect of shading by docks and marinas on eelgrass habitats along the Swedish NW coast and to investigate the decision process behind small-scale exploitation to identify problems with the current legislation, which allows for continued exploitation of eelgrass. Through field assessments of eelgrass around docks and analysis of available data on eelgrass and dock distribution along the coast, the present study demonstrates that shading from docks reduced eelgrass coverage with on average 42e64% under and adjacent to the docks, and that floating docks affected larger areas and caused a much stronger reduction in eelgrass coverage (up to 100% loss) compared to docks elevated on poles (up to 70% reduction in coverage). The total eelgrass area negatively affected by docks and marinas along the NW coast was estimated to approximately 480 ha, an area corresponding to over 7% of the present areal coverage of eelgrass in the region. The analysis of decisions for dock construction showed that eelgrass was generally not assessed or considered in the decision process and that 69e88% of the applications were approved also in areas where eelgrass was present. Furthermore, marine protected areas only marginally reduced the approval of applications in eelgrass habitats. The continued small-scale development along the Swedish NW coast constitutes a significant threat to the already decimated coverage of eelgrass along the coast and changes in the management practices are needed in order to achieve both national and international goals on environmental status.
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| 6. |
- Andersson, Gerhard, 1966-, et al.
(författare)
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Development of a new approach to guided self-help via the Internet : The Swedish experience
- 2008
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Ingår i: Journal of technology in human services. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1522-8835 .- 1522-8991. ; 26:2-4, s. 161-181
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article describes the development and empirical status of guided Internet-delivered self-help. The treatment approach combines the benefits of bibliotherapy with book-length text materials and the support given online via web pages and e-mail. Interactive features such as online registrations, tests, and online discussion forums are also included. Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) guided the research and clinical implementations of this approach, as it lends itself more easily to the self-help format compared with other presently available psychotherapy approaches. We include an overview of the research, current issues and research in service delivery, lessons learned through a program of research, and directions for future investigations
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| 7. |
- Anton, Victor, et al.
(författare)
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An open-source, citizen science and machine learning approach to analyse subsea movies
- 2021
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Ingår i: Biodiversity Data Journal. - 1314-2828. ; 9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background The increasing access to autonomously-operated technologies offer vast opportunities to sample large volumes of biological data. However, these technologies also impose novel demands on ecologists who need to apply tools for data management and processing that= are efficient, publicly available and easy to use. Such tools are starting to be developed for wider community and here we present an approach to combine essential analytical functions for analysing large volumes of image data in marine ecological research. New information This paper describes the Koster Seafloor Observatory, an open-source approach to analysing large amounts of subsea movie data for marine ecological research. The approach incorporates three distinct modules to: manage and archive the subsea movies, involve citizen scientists to accurately classify the footage and, finally, train and test machine learning algorithms for detection of biological objects. This modular approach is based on open-source code and allows researchers to customise and further develop the presented functionalities to various types of data and questions related to analysis of marine imagery. We tested our approach for monitoring cold water corals in a Marine Protected Area in Sweden using videos from remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs). Our study resulted in a machine learning model with an adequate performance, which was entirely trained with classifications provided by citizen scientists. We illustrate the application of machine learning models for automated inventories and monitoring of cold water corals. Our approach shows how citizen science can be used to effectively extract occurrence and abundance data for key ecological species and habitats from underwater footage. We conclude that the combination of open-source tools, citizen science systems, machine learning and high performance computational resources are key to successfully analyse large amounts of underwater imagery in the future.
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| 8. |
- Bergström, Per, 1980, et al.
(författare)
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Biodeposits from Mytilus edulis: a potentially high-quality food source for the polychaete, Hediste diversicolor
- 2019
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Ingår i: Aquaculture International. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0967-6120 .- 1573-143X. ; 27, s. 89-104
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Previous studies have shown clearly that the deposit feeding polychaete, Hediste diversicolor, can promote oxygenation of sediments exposed to excess loads of mussel faeces. In this experimental study, we explicitly test their utility as food for H. diversicolor to survive and grow on. Furthermore, in order to understand the consequences of experimental manipulations, we also evaluated effects on chemical fluxes in and out of the sediment. The results show strong differences in growth but no difference in short-term survival. Fed only on mussel faeces, the polychaetes grew on average 17% in wet weight after a period of 10days, compared to 3% when given equivalent amounts of organic matter from the natural sediments. Addition of faeces to natural sediments resulted in 19–20% growth, thus suggesting an approximate additive effect of the two food sources. Chemical analyses showed that, oxygen consumption increased with load of organic material irrespective of origin, faecal material caused higher fluxes of ammonia compared to natural organic material, but neither oxygen consumption nor nutrient fluxes were affected by the ashing of sediments. In contrast, fluxes of silicate increased as a consequence of ashing but were not affected by the addition of mussel faeces. Thus, despite risks of experimental artefacts due to ashing of sediments, the results show that oxygen and nutrient dynamics responded to manipulations of organic material and not to the potential modification of sediment structure. Therefore, the observed effects on growth of H. diversicolor can be safely interpreted as caused by differences in amount and quality of organic material. Mussel faeces is a high-quality food source for this species of polychaete and, in combination with ample evidence from previous studies that bioturbation, we conclude that H. diversicolor is a suitable candidate in further efforts to develop technical solutions based on bioturbation for mitigation of adverse effects on benthic environments in connection with mussel-farming.
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| 9. |
- Bergström, Per, 1980
(författare)
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Blue Oceans with Blue Mussels - Management and planning of mussel farming in coastal ecosystems
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Eutrophication is one of the largest and most serious global threats to the marine environment. The effect of eutrophication has become increasingly clear during recent time, and major economic and political efforts are being made to tackle its causes and consequences in Sweden and its surrounding seas. Mainly, it is the dramatic increase in the supply of nitrogen and phosphorus that has several undesirable effects on marine ecosystems. More and more emphasis is placed on how to utilize the natural processes in restoration measures of eutrophic coastal areas. One such proposition is to use mussel-farms with substantial capacity for filter-feeding to “clean” coastal waters by assimilation of particulate material and removal of potentially large amounts of nutrients from coastal areas at harvest. In this thesis, several aspects of mussel farming have been studied in a series of experiments as a step in the process to develop and evaluate the concept of mussel farming as restoration measurement in eutrophic coastal areas. The experiments were designed and attempts made to evaluate three major issues 1) effects of mussel farming on water quality, 2) spatial patterns of growth and 3) mitigation of negative effects in sediments beneath mussel farms. The first issue was attempted to evaluate using a before-after control-impact design with two mussel farms and two reference locations. Transplanted mussels were used to investigate spatial and temporal variability and thus the predictability of mussel growth. Predictive models were then developed and evaluated with the best model implemented into GIS, producing a map of predicted growth. In a series of field and laboratory experiments the survival and growth of a bioturbating polychaete on mussel faeces and the impacts on nutrient and oxygen fluxes across sediment-water interface of its activities were evaluated. Due to loss of mussels, presumably because of predation, the planned evaluation of local effects of mussel farming and its potential as a mitigation tool was not possible. This shows that the use of mussel farming in mitigation efforts is quite unpredictable and development of techniques used are needed. However, the extensive data collected can be used to evaluate spatial and temporal variability of the sampled parameters and provide important information for future attempts to evaluate effects of action programs. The studies show that growth is highly variable both between sites and times, both between and within years. Despite the variability there is some predictability in terms of growth in soft tissue, while for growth in shell length it is more difficult. Prediction of growth indicates that about 15 % of the investigated area belongs to the highest growth class. The highest growth rates were generally observed in the innermost areas, in fjords and other protected areas. These are also the areas that are in most need of restoration activities. This fact, from the perspective of utilizing mussel farming in mitigation efforts, is positive. The studies also point on the importance of understanding the complex systems in coastal areas. One environmental variable does not always influence the growth in the same manner. The influence may vary between both levels of growth and levels of the variable itself but also depends on other environmental factors within the system. Further improvement of growth prediction requires refinements of predictors with regard to both the nature and quality. As perhaps the greatest negative impact of mussel farming, it is important to minimize the effect of biodeposition on the sediment. The results indicate that the use of natural processes such as bioturbation may be a possibility. The polychaete Hediste diversicolor showed improved growth while a positive effect on the decomposition of organic matter was obtained with an improved sediment environment as a result. The effect was mainly indirect presumably through increased microbial activity due to the mechanical impact on the sediment by the polychaetes. In summary, this thesis provides important insights into several aspects of the potential and sustainability of mussel farming as a mitigation tool and the results provide a base for scientifically based planning of aquaculture. Under the right conditions, mussel farming has the potential to be a useful and sustainable mitigation method but due to the complexity of the system it can be quite unpredictable and further studies are needed. The use of bioturbation by polychaetes, and possibly other organisms, has the potential to mitigate sediments negatively impacted by mussel farms and thus has the potential to be an important component in future mitigation measure using mussel farming. However, technical developments are needed before the approach can be used in practice.
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| 10. |
- Bergström, Per, 1980, et al.
(författare)
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Deposition of shells modify nutrient fluxes in marine sediments: effects of nutrient enrichment and mitigation by bioturbation below mussel farms
- 2020
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Ingår i: Aquaculture Environment Interactions. - : Inter-Research Science Center. - 1869-215X .- 1869-7534. ; 12, s. 315-325
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Farming of extractive species such as filter feeding bivalves has been proposed as a potential method to mitigate impacts of eutrophication in marine environments. For such efforts to be sustainable, potential negative effects from mussel farms, such as accumulation of biodeposits in sediment below them, need to be considered and addressed. Benthic burrowing macrofauna strongly influence biogeochemical processes in soft bottom marine habitats by sediment reworking and irrigation and, thus, have the potential to mitigate some of the negative impacts. However, not all biodeposits are organic matter; shells that accumulate on and in the sediment below mussel farms also have the potential to influence processes in the sediment, the activity of bioturbators and the fluxes across the sediment-water interface. In this study, we evaluated the mitigation potential of the bioturbating polychaete Hediste diversicolor in sediments enriched with mussel waste material and the relative impact of mussel shells within the sediment matrix. The polychaetes generally increased fluxes and sediment oxygen uptake. With an observed tendency of increased fluxes of nutrients in sediments containing shells compared to sediments without, the results indicate that the accumulation of shell has a potential to further increase the mitigative effect of the polychaetes by influencing the solute fluxes across the sediment-water interface.
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