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- Bergström, Lena, et al.
(författare)
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Interim Report of the ICES/HELCOM Working Group on Integrated Assessments of the Baltic Sea (WGIAB) : 18-22 April 2016 Helsinki, Finland
- 2016
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The ICES/HELCOM Working Group on Integrated Assessments of the Baltic Sea (WGIAB) meeting was held in Helsinki (Finland), 18-22 April 2016. The meeting was attended by 26 participants from five countries and chaired by Laura Uusitalo, Fin-land, Saskia Otto, Germany, Martin Lindegren, Denmark, and Lena Bergström, Swe-den. This was the first year of the new three-year Terms of Reference (ToR) for WGIAB. The main working activities in 2016 were to A) develop the trait-based ap-proach of understanding the ecosystem function, and B) explore the social-ecological system, including indicator development, revising the conceptual model, and devel-oping case studies. As a primary outcome of the ToR A, we built on our previous work on integrated ecosystem assessments (IEAs) in the Baltic Sea, but extended it beyond considering changes in abundances of a few dominant species, to accounting for community-wide changes in a number of key traits across multiple trophic levels. These traits represent various ecosystem functions upon which we derive important ecosystem services. By investigating temporal changes in the community weighted mean traits of phyto-plankton, zooplankton, zoobenthos, and fish, we demonstrated whether trait reor-ganizations at the level of entire communities occurred in the Central Baltic Sea as a result of the 1980s regime shift. Using in total 29 traits combined for all groups we found indications of two breakpoints across all four taxonomic groups over the last decades, i.e. one around 1990 and one around 2000. Further work will focus on ex-ploring the nature of the changes in trait composition and on standardizing the num-ber of traits and data types (i.e. binary, continuous or categorical) across taxonomic group.In addition, we collected data on key functional groups and abiotic variables in all main sub-basins of the Baltic Sea, setting the stage for a cross-regional comparison of temporal patterns and trends in lower trophic level in the face of recent develop-ments in climate-related drivers.With reference to Tor B, to explore how social indicators could be used in parallel with biological indicators in an integrated assessment framework, we developed a conceptual model of interrelationships between ecosystem and society. We used the model as a basis for mapping factors to be accounted for in the ecosystem-based management using the Baltic salmon and clupeid species as case studies. The models depict 1) the structure of the foodweb relevant to the target species, 2) the key com-munity level and population traits that contribute to the state of the species, 3) main pressures affecting the foodweb and their effects on the species, 4) key management measures, and 5) benefits that the species can produce for society.To support the development of Ecosystem Overview the group members evaluated the probability of occurrence and the magnitude of the effect of 15 pressures occur-ring in the Baltic Sea. The top five pressures identified were input of nutrients, in-creased temperature, decreased salinity, input of hazardous substances, and input or spread of non-indigenous species.The work will continue intersessionally and the next meeting of WGIAB is planned to be held in Lisbon, Portugal, back-to-back with WGCOMEDA and WGEAWESS.
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| 2. |
- Bergström, Lena, et al.
(författare)
-
Report of the ICES/HELCOM Working Group on Integrated Assessments of the Baltic Sea (WGIAB)
- 2015
-
Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The ICES/HELCOM Working Group on Integrated Assessments of the Baltic Sea(WGIAB) was established in 2007 as a forum for developing and combining ecosystembasedmanagement efforts for the Baltic Sea. The group intends to serve as a scientificcounterpart and support for the ICES Baltic Fisheries Assessment Working Group(WGBFAS) as well as for efforts and projects related to Integrated Ecosystem Assessments(IEA) within ICES and HELCOM. The group works in cooperation with similargroups within the ACOM/SCICOM Steering Group on Integrated Ecosystem Assessments(SSGIEA).The 2015 WGIAB meeting was held in Cádiz, Spain, from 9–13 March, back-to-backwith the meeting of its counterpart in the Working Group on Ecosystem Assessmentof Western European Shelf Seas (WGEAWESS). The meetings had joint sessions as wellas WG specific work, and some participants effectively participated in both meetings.The WGIAB meeting was attended by 27 participants from nine countries. The meetingwas chaired by Christian Möllmann, Germany, Laura Uusitalo, Finland and Lena Bergström,Sweden.This was the last year of the ongoing three-year Terms of Reference (ToR) for WGIAB.The main working activities in 2015 were to i) conduct studies on Baltic Sea ecosystemfunctioning with the goal to publish case studies from different parts of the Baltic Seain peer-reviewed journals, ii) work on the demonstration exercise to develop ecosystem-based assessment and advice for Baltic fish stocks focusing on cod (DEMO) withmultiple approaches, iii) plan further how to integrate the social and economic aspectsmore tightly in the WGIAB work, and iv) discuss the future focus and format of theWGIAB work.The Baltic ecosystem functioning activity focused on identifying and exploring keytrends and linkages in the Baltic Sea foodweb. This was pursued by presentation andfurther discussion of ongoing intersessional work on foodweb modelling and integratedanalyses, and by exercises to develop conceptual models Baltic Sea foodwebsand the links to ecosystem function. Long-term monitoring datasets on the abiotic andbiotic parts of the Baltic Sea Proper ecosystem were updated for use in the continuedwork to develop environmental indicators for fisheries and marine management.The focus of the DEMO 3 (DEMOnstration exercise for Integrated Ecosystem Assessmentand Advice of Baltic Sea cod) was on finding a way to use the results from theDEMO1 and DEMO2 workshops in short and midterm projections/scenarios of Balticcod dynamics based on different types of modelling, as well as designing methodologyand modelling data for practical implementation of Integrated Advice for Baltic cod.The WGIAB was positively inclined towards including social and economic aspectsinto the integrated assessment. Openings to this path were provided by presentationon ongoing project work, and discussing their linkages to ecological aspects. It wasseen as crucial that experts on social and economic analysis should be included andtake an active part in the future work of the group.The group concluded that its upcoming work should focus more closely on functionaldiversity, which was identified as a recurring issue in the Baltic Sea. This approach wasalso identified as a useful connection point between scientific and management aspectsin order for the group to continue serving as a forum for developing ecosystem-basedmanagement efforts in the Baltic Sea. A focus on functional diversity was also seen as2 | ICES WGIAB REPORT 2015a potentially feasible way of bringing together management aspects for different sectors,by linking to ecosystem services concepts.The group proposed Saskia Otto, Germany and Martin Lindegren, Denmark as newincoming Chairs, together with Lena Bergström, Sweden and Laura Uusitalo, Finland.Having four Chairs is justified due to the wide scope of the group's work, as well asthe increased work load due to the planned new foci.
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