An overview of ecological status, vulnerability and future perspectives of European large shallow, semi-enclosed coastal systems, lagoons and transitional waters

The paper gives an overview of some of the large, shallow, semi-enclosed coastal systems (SECS) in Europe, These SECS are important both from the ecological and the economic perspective (socioecological systems) and provide many valuable ecosystem goods and services. Although some of the systems are transitional waters under theWater Framework Directive, this is not the case for all of the systems. The paper adopts a Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response approach to analyse the ecological status, vulnerability and future perspectives of these systems in the context of global change.This work has been supported by: the EUROMEDLAG federation, http://www.euromedlag.eu/lagoonsfederation/; EC 5FP grant agreement 00084 (DITTY), http://www.ecolag.univ-montp2. fr/index.php?option¼com_content&task¼view&lang¼en&id¼226; EC 6FP grant agreement 036992 (SPICOSA),www.spicosa.eu/; the LOICZ project, http://www.loicz.org/.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Temperature dependence of aerobic respiration in a coastal sediment

The direct temperature dependence of aerobic respiration was determined in sediment from Aarhus Bay, Denmark, in incubations shorter than 12 h at temperature intervals of 1.7 degrees C. Oxygen consumption showed a bimodal distribution between -2 and 80 degrees C indicating the presence of distinct non-thermophilic and thermophilic populations. The thermophilic oxygen consumption had minimum, optimum, and maximum temperatures of 40, 55, and 65 degrees C, respectively, and accelerated strongly after a lag phase of 2-3 h, which may be due to an activation of spores. The sourer of this dormant thermophilic population is unknown. Oxygen consumption by the non-thermophilic population had minimum and maximum temperatures of < -1 and 45 degrees C, respectively. The optimum temperature increased from a broad plateau of 20-30 degrees C in late winter to 30-35 degrees C in late summer, and the apparent activation energy in the natural temperature range (0-15 degrees C) increased from similar to 50 to similar to 70 kJ mol(-1), corresponding to Q(10) values of similar to 2.0 and similar to 3.0, respectively. These changes indicated an adaptation of the aerobic population to seasonal temperature conditions. Due to the seasonal adaptation and to diffusive limitations, a relatively weak temperature dependence of the area-specific aerobic mineralisation rate in the sediment was calculated, Q(10)=1.8. Model calculations further demonstrated significant shifts in the relative importance of aerobic and anaerobic mineralisation due to seasonal temperature variation, with less importance of aerobic respiration and a larger fraction of benthic oxygen consumption coupled to the reoxidation of reduced inorganic compounds during summer than during winter. (C) 1998 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V

Bacterial Disproportionation of Elemental Sulfur Coupled to Chemical Reduction of Iron or Manganese

A new chemolithotrophic bacterial metabolism was discovered in anaerobic marine enrichment cultures. Cultures in defined medium with elemental sulfur (S(0)) and amorphous ferric hydroxide (FeOOH) as sole substrates showed intense formation of sulfate. Furthermore, precipitation of ferrous sulfide and pyrite was observed. The transformations were accompanied by growth of slightly curved, rod-shaped bacteria. The quantification of the products revealed that S(0) was microbially disproportionated to sulfate and sulfide, as follows: 4S(0) + 4H(2)O → SO(4)(2-) + 3H(2)S + 2H(+). Subsequent chemical reactions between the formed sulfide and the added FeOOH led to the observed precipitation of iron sulfides. Sulfate and iron sulfides were also produced when FeOOH was replaced by FeCO(3). Further enrichment with manganese oxide, MnO(2), instead of FeOOH yielded stable cultures which formed sulfate during concomitant reduction of MnO(2) to Mn(2+). Growth of small rod-shaped bacteria was observed. When incubated without MnO(2), the culture did not grow but produced small amounts of SO(4)(2-) and H(2)S at a ratio of 1:3, indicating again a disproportionation of S(0). The observed microbial disproportionation of S(0) only proceeds significantly in the presence of sulfide-scavenging agents such as iron and manganese compounds. The population density of bacteria capable of S(0) disproportionation in the presence of FeOOH or MnO(2) was high, > 10(4) cm(-3) in coastal sediments. The metabolism offers an explanation for recent observations of anaerobic sulfide oxidation to sulfate in anoxic sediments

Marine Litter in Nordic waters

This report provides an overview of the currently available data from studies on marine litter in the Nordic countries. This covers various field studies on amount, distribution, characteristics and impact of macro- and micro-litter particles. The data reported can provide a good basis for prioritisation of activities, especially having the establishment of marine litter indicators for EU’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive monitoring and national management plans in the Nordic countries in mind