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- Kraufvelin, Patrik, et al.
(author)
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Essential coastal habitats for fish in the Baltic Sea
- 2018
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In: Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 0272-7714 .- 1096-0015. ; 204, s. 14-30
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Many coastal and offshore fish species are highly dependent on specific habitat types for population maintenance. In the Baltic Sea, shallow productive habitats in the coastal zone such as wetlands, vegetated flads/lagoons and sheltered bays as well as more exposed rocky and sandy areas are utilized by fish across many life history stages including spawning, juvenile development, feeding and migration. Although there is general consensus about the critical importance of these essential fish habitats (EFH) for fish production along the coast, direct quantitative evidence for their specific roles in population growth and maintenance is still scarce. Nevertheless, for some coastal species, indirect evidence exists, and in many cases, sufficient data are also available to carry out further quantitative analyses. As coastal EFH in the Baltic Sea are often found in areas that are highly utilized and valued by humans, they are subjected to many different pressures. While cumulative pressures, such as eutrophication, coastal construction and development, climate change, invasive species and fisheries, impact fish in coastal areas, the conservation coverage for EFH in these areas remains poor. This is mainly due to the fact that historically, fisheries management and nature conservation are not integrated neither in research nor in management in Baltic Sea countries. Setting joint objectives for fisheries management and nature conservation would hence be pivotal for improved protection of EFH in the Baltic Sea. To properly inform management, improvements in the development of monitoring strategies and mapping methodology for EFH are also needed. Stronger international cooperation between Baltic Sea states will facilitate improved management outcomes across ecologically arbitrary boundaries. This is especially important for successful implementation of international agreements and legislative directives such as the Baltic Sea Action Plan, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, the Habitats Directive, and the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive, but also for improving the communication of information related to coastal EFH among researchers, stakeholders, managers and decision makers. In this paper, efforts are made to characterize coastal EFH in the Baltic Sea, their importance and the threats/pressures they face, as well as their current conservation status, while highlighting knowledge gaps and outlining perspectives for future work in an ecosystem-based management framework. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 2. |
- Kraufvelin, Patrik
(author)
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Heat challenges can enhance population tolerance to thermal stress in mussels: a potential mechanism by which ship transport can increase species invasiveness
- 2018
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In: Biological Invasions. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1387-3547 .- 1573-1464. ; 20, s. 3107-3122
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- It is unclear whether transport by human vectors can increase the robustness of translocated populations and thereby enhance their invasiveness. To test this concept, we investigated the effect of heat stress on the tolerance of mussel populations towards a second stress event of the same kind. The heat challenges we mimicked can be faced by marine invertebrates that are transported through regions with high sea surface temperatures on ship hulls or in ballast water tanks. The study included 5 mussel species that were collected at sites in Brazil, Chile, Finland, Germany (Baltic Sea) and Portugal. In parallel laboratory experiments, monospecific groups of individuals were exposed to heat challenges that caused 60-83% mortality in the experimental groups within 15-28days. The surviving individuals were exposed to a second stress event of the same kind, while their survival was then compared to the robustness of conspecifics that had not been exposed to elevated temperatures before. We observed that thermal tolerance was significantly enhanced by previous heat stress experience in case of Semimytilus algosus from Chile and in case of Mytilus edulis from Germany. Our results suggest that heat challenges, which marine invertebrates experience during transport, can enhance stress tolerance in founder populations of these species in their non-native range by potentially increasing the frequency of genetically adapted genotypes. This points at the necessity to learn more about selection acting on organisms during human-mediated transportin the aquatic but also in the terrestrial environment.
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| 3. |
- Kraufvelin, Patrik, et al.
(author)
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Relationships between human activities and marine ecosystem services
- 2018
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Human activities have fundamentally altered the structure and function of many marine ecosystems worldwide (Halpern et al. 2008). These activities have diverse and widespread effects on ecosystem services; i.e., the benefits which people get from ecosystems, and which concurrently serve as preconditions of human activities related to the sea (Bryhn et al., 2015). The purpose of this work is to develop approaches for analysing the relationships between the human use of marine waters and ecosystem services, focusing on the Swedish coast as well as the entire Baltic Sea. We also aim at providing an updated assessment of pressures on ecosystem services along the Swedish coastline, building on earlier work (Bryhn et al. 2015). The central goal is to examine how different activities impose impact and are dependent on (to what extent they use) ecosystem services. The linkages are explored using quantitative data where possible and expert judgements when quantitative data are lacking. Basically, the DPSIR (Driver –Pressure –State change –Impact –Response) approach (Fig. 1) is followed. DPSIR is a framework for describing causal relationships in the interaction between the society and the environment. It has been widely discussed and debated but has proven to work well at many different occasions as it can be understood by various people from scientists and politicians to local stakeholder groups (Atkins et al. 2011, Patrício et al. 2016). For the purposes of this work, the first four letters “DPSI” are of most interest. Here, D represents Drivers (focusing on secondary drivers as human activities), P stands for the Pressures from human activities (acting on the ecosystem), S stands for State (as the changes imposed by pressures on ecosystem components)and finally, I stands for Impact on ecosystem services (Atkins et al. 2011). Note that this report uses activities and drivers (D) as synonyms.
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