Two Non-indigenous Dreissenids (Dreissena polymorpha and D. rostriformis bugensis) in a Southern Baltic Coastal Lagoon: Variability in Populations of the “Old” and a “New” Immigrant

Dreissena polymorpha and D. rostriformis bugensis are freshwater Ponto-Caspian bivalve species, at present widely distributed in Europe and North America. In the Szczecin Lagoon (a southern Baltic coastal lagoon), the quagga was recorded for the first time in 2014 and found to co-occur with the zebra mussel, a long-time resident of the Lagoon. As the two species are suspected of being competitors where they co-occur, their population dynamics was followed at a site the new immigrant was discovered (station ZS6, northern part of the Lagoon) by collecting monthly samples in 2015–2017. The abundance and biomass of the two congeners showed wide fluctuations, significant differences being recorded between months within a year and between years. The abundance and biomass proportions between the two congeners changed from an initial domination of the newcomer quagga until mid-2015 to a persistent domination of the zebra mussel throughout the remainder of the study period. Both the abundance and biomass of the two dreissenids showed a number of significant associations with environmental variables, notably with salinity, chlorophyll a content, and temperature. The co-occurrence of the two dreissenids in the Lagoon is discussed in the context of their invasion stage; it is concluded that while the quagga seems to have achieved the “outbreak” stage, the zebra mussel, an “accommodated” invader present prior to the quagga immigration, reverted to that stage

Macrofaunal foraminifera from a former benthic impact experiment site (IOM contract area) in the abyssal eastern Clarion-Clipperton Zone

We analysed macrofaunal (>250 μm) foraminifera in the 0–1 cm layer of three replicate multicorer samples collected in 2015 at each of three abyssal sites (‘impacted’, ‘resedimented’ and ‘control’) in the IOM contract area of the eastern Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), where a benthic impact experiment (BIE) had been conducted in 1995 in order to simulate disturbances resulting from the seabed mining of polymetallic nodules. Taxonomic composition was similar between sites, with monothalamids representing 79% of complete ‘live’ (Rose-Bengal-stained) tests and multichambered taxa constituting a slim majority (55% overall) of dead tests. Monothalamids comprised a mixture of formal taxa and informal morphological groupings. Komokiaceans in the family Baculellidae predominated and included the top-ranked species Edgertonia sp. 7. Other komokiaceans (Komokiidae) and tubular, spindle-shaped and spherical morphotypes were also common. Multichambered taxa were mainly agglutinated, uniserial hormosinids being well represented together with coiled species, notably Cribrostomoides subglobosus (2nd ranked species). Fragments were almost three times as abundant as complete tests and dominated by tubes (notably Rhizammina sp.), many of them ‘live’. Our results are consistent with earlier studies showing that monothalamids, many of them undescribed, are important elements of abyssal foraminiferal assemblages in the eastern CCZ. Mean specimen counts for ‘live’ and dead tests (50.7–75.7 and 54.3–72.7 individuals/sample, respectively) were not significantly different between sites. Assemblages were very diverse with 43–85 morphospecies per sample and 220 in total (201–1081 specimens per sample, 4361 total), more than three-quarters of them monothalamids. Species richness and diversity were lower at the control site than at the impacted and resedimented sites, and eveness and Rank 1 dominance lowest at the resedimented site, but differences were not significant for any of these metrics. The absence of significant differences in faunal density, diversity, and taxonomic composition at impacted, resedimented and control sites 20 years after the experimental disturbance may reflect a number of factors, including insufficient sample replication

Biological responses to disturbance from simulated deep-sea polymetallic nodule mining

Commercial-scale mining for polymetallic nodules could have a major impact on the deep-sea environment, but the effects of these mining activities on deep-sea ecosystems are very poorly known. The first commercial test mining for polymetallic nodules was carried out in 1970. Since then a number of small-scale commercial test mining or scientific disturbance studies have been carried out. Here we evaluate changes in faunal densities and diversity of benthic communities measured in response to these 11 simulated or test nodule mining disturbances using meta-analysis techniques. We find that impacts are often severe immediately after mining, with major negative changes in density and diversity of most groups occurring. However, in some cases, the mobile fauna and small-sized fauna experienced less negative impacts over the longer term. At seven sites in the Pacific, multiple surveys assessed recovery in fauna over periods of up to 26 years. Almost all studies show some recovery in faunal density and diversity for meiofauna and mobile megafauna, often within one year. However, very few faunal groups return to baseline or control conditions after two decades. The effects of polymetallic nodule mining are likely to be long term. Our analyses show considerable negative biological effects of seafloor nodule mining, even at the small scale of test mining experiments, although there is variation in sensitivity amongst organisms of different sizes and functional groups, which have important implications for ecosystem responses. Unfortunately, many past studies have limitations that reduce their effectiveness in determining responses. We provide recommendations to improve future mining impact test studies. Further research to assess the effects of test-mining activities will inform ways to improve mining practices and guide effective environmental management of mining activities

Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 2 \u201cFood Security, Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry, Marine, Maritime and Inland Water Research, and the Bioeconomy\u201d Advisory Group Recommendations Programming Period 2018-2020

The Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 2 Programme was created to develop and implement an EU research and innovation policy for more sustainable and resource efficient agriculture, forestry, inland water and marine systems that supply European society with sufficient food, feed, biomass, and other raw materials, as well as ecosystems services, and support thriving rural and coastal livelihoods. The European Commission has established Societal Challenge Advisory Groups to provide consistent and consolidated advice - by way of opinions, recommendations and reports - on relevant research objectives and scientific, technological and innovation priorities for its strategic and annual work programmes. Our Societal Challenge 2 Advisory Group includes a wide range of members with remarkably rich and diverse backgrounds and affiliations, including researchers, academics, former policymakers - stakeholders covering the whole spectrum of relevant research and innovation domains. Our Advisory Group has met twice formally since our establishment in February 2016, and has used other opportunities for extensive discussion and engagement on the issues surrounding this Societal Challenge. We see Societal Challenge 2 as not only extremely important as a challenge in itself, but also strongly linked with other Societal Challenges such as health, demographic change and wellbeing, climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials, and inclusive, innovative and reflective societies in a changing world. And as the agriculture, forestry, fisheries and food sectors comprise a very large number of smaller businesses \u2013 themselves serving large scale processing and retail business sectors \u2013 there are strong links between our contribution and the input of groups advising on innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises, international cooperation, nanotechnologies, advanced materials and advanced manufacturing and processing. Our Advisory Group\u2018s first task has been to prepare this report to answer five specific questions posed by the Commission and provide input into the strategic programming cycle of the Work Programme for 2018-2020. We have identified some overriding strategic priorities, and backed those with the results of a more detailed analysis of the gaps that need to be addressed. And we highlight the cross-cutting nature of this programme and the importance of an integrated approach to maximise the overall impact of the current Horizon 2020 programme. We hope that the insights in this report may also assist in the identification and prioritisation of research needs and strengthen the Commission\u2018s strategic and impact-oriented approach in future years

Status of Biodiversity in the Baltic Sea

The brackish Baltic Sea hosts species of various origins and environmental tolerances. These immigrated to the sea 10,000 to 15,000 years ago or have been introduced to the area over the relatively recent history of the system. The Baltic Sea has only one known endemic species. While information on some abiotic parameters extends back as long as five centuries and first quantitative snapshot data on biota (on exploited fish populations) originate generally from the same time, international coordination of research began in the early twentieth century. Continuous, annual Baltic Sea-wide long-term datasets on several organism groups (plankton, benthos, fish) are generally available since the mid-1950s. Based on a variety of available data sources (published papers, reports, grey literature, unpublished data), the Baltic Sea, incl. Kattegat, hosts altogether at least 6,065 species, including at least 1,700 phytoplankton, 442 phytobenthos, at least 1,199 zooplankton, at least 569 meiozoobenthos, 1,476 macrozoobenthos, at least 380 vertebrate parasites, about 200 fish, 3 seal, and 83 bird species. In general, but not in all organism groups, high sub-regional total species richness is associated with elevated salinity. Although in comparison with fully marine areas the Baltic Sea supports fewer species, several facets of the system's diversity remain underexplored to this day, such as micro-organisms, foraminiferans, meiobenthos and parasites. In the future, climate change and its interactions with multiple anthropogenic forcings are likely to have major impacts on the Baltic biodiversity

Sandy coasts

1. Sandy coasts, including the epilittoral part of sandy beaches and the shallow sandy sublittoral, are particularly extensive in the southern and southeastern part of the Baltic Sea. 2. In the Baltic Sea ecosystem, sandy coasts function as biocatalytic filters by decomposing organic matter (including detritus) most of which originates directly or indirectly (e.g. via waterbirds) from the sea. 3. Sandy coasts are unstable, erodable environments which change in time and space due to e.g. erosion in winter and deposition of sand on the beaches in summer, and to the constant shifting of the substrate by winds and currents. 4. The sandy epilittoral and shallow sublittoral habitats support a variety of life forms, from microbes to birds, and are the space in which diverse processes involved in energy flow and matter cycling operate at different temporal and spatial scales. 5. The sandy coast food webs are partly based on the direct input of solar energy and nutrients used by primary producers (phytoplankton, microphytobenthos, macrophytes) whose production is subsequently utilised by invertebrates (meiobenthos, macrozoobenthos), fish and birds. 6. Another part of the sandy coast food webs is based on the input of organic material in the form of detritus, a source of energy for microbial communities consisting of bacteria, fungi, yeasts and actinomycetes as well as of heterotrophic protists living attached to sand grains and in the interstices. 7. Birds collect invertebrate prey from the sand on the beach or from the shallow sublittoral and contribute to the organic matter pool of the sandy habitat. 8. The sandy coasts of the Baltic Sea experience heavy anthropogenic pressure which primarily involves tourism and recreation, but also effects of eutrophication, establishment of non-indigenous species, sand extraction and dredging, fishing, infrastructure and shore defence constructions

Meiobenthic communities of the Pomeranian Bay (southern Baltic): effects of proximity to river discharge Meiobenthos Baltic Sea Estuary River discharge Organic enrichment

Abstract The Pomeranian Bay (southern Baltic Sea) is a component of the river Oder (Odra) estuarine system. It receives the Oder's discharge once it has passed through the Szczecin Lagoon, a eutrophic and polluted water body. The discharge has been documented as affecting the hydrography of the pelagic domain as well as the sedimentary environments and the macrozoobenthos of the Bay. This study focused on the distribution of meiobenthic communities in the Bay as investigated with the use of a suite of uni-and multivariate analyses applied to data collected at 14 stations in September 1993. Meiobenthic community characteristics (composition and abundance) are presented in relation to sediment properties (grain size, silt/clay and organic matter content), changing with distance from the major riverine discharge site. The communities studied showed a clear distinction between those associated with organic matter-enriched sediments close to the discharge site and the assemblages living in clean sands, away from the discharge. We conclude that the meiobenthos can be regarded as another compartment of the Pomeranian Bay system responding to the River Oder discharge

A home away from home: a meiobenthic assemblage in a ship's ballast water tank sediment

The world-wide research on ship-aided dispersal of marineorganisms and invasions of non-indigenous species focuses primarilyon the plankters, which show the greatest potential for invadingnew areas and establishing viable populations in them, eitherin the water column (holoplankton) or on the bottom (meroplanktoniclarvae of benthic species settling on the sea floor). As meiobenthicanimals usually lack a pelagic larval stage in their life cycle,no biological invasion study has, to our knowledge, ever specificallytargeted marine transport as a means of meiofaunal dispersal.<br> Here we present a set of data showing that the sedimentdeposited in a ship's ballast water tank does support a viablemeiobenthic assemblage. We examined 0.015-dm³ aliquotsof a 1 dm³ sample from a c. 1.5-cm thick layerof sediment residue in the ballast tank of MS Donnington, broughtto the "Gryfia" Repair Shipyard in Szczecin (Poland). The sampleswere found to contain representatives of calcareous Foraminifera,hydrozoans, nematodes, turbellarians, harpacticoid copepods andtheir nauplii, and cladocerans, as well as meiobenthic-sizedbivalves and gastropods. Nematodes proved to be the most constantand most numerous component of the assemblage. The sediment portionsexamined revealed the presence of 1-11 individuals representing11 marine nematode genera. The viability of the meiobenthic assemblagewas evidenced by the presence of ovigerous females of both nematodesand harpacticoids.<br> Survival of the meiobenthos in shipborne ballast tank sedimentresidues may provide at least a partial explanation for the cosmopolitandistribution of meiobenthic taxa and may underlie the successfulcolonisation of new habitats by invasive meiofaunal species

What we know about the Baltic Sea: a summary of BSSC 2005

Introduction&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Baltic Sea, an internal sea of the European Community, isone of the largest brackish water bodies in the world. It isquite unique in many respects, particularly in its natural featuresand in the cultural, political and socio-economic patterns ofthe countries bordering it.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;After nearly 40 years, during which Baltic marine physicists,chemists, biologists and geologists had been holding separatescientific meetings, it was decided the time was ripe to arrangejoint scientific conferences with the purpose of getting togetherto discuss general and specific aspects of the Baltic Sea, toexchange information, to integrate efforts, and to get to knowand understand each other better. The Sopot 2005 Congress, precededby the Baltic Sea Science Congresses in R&#x00F8;nne (1997), Warnem&#x00FC;nde(1999), Stockholm (2001) and Helsinki (2003), was the fifth jointmeeting of the Conference of Baltic Oceanographers (CBO), BalticMarine Biologists (BMB) and Baltic Sea Geologists (BSG). Likeall the previous congresses, the one held in Sopot bore witnessto the idea that we all, members of CBO, BMB and BSG, shouldcontinue to work together even more closely.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The meeting in Sopot instigated discussion on a broad spectrumof problems, from large-scale climate change-related processesto local, small-scale specific Baltic Sea features. Further subjectsfor deliberation included modelling as a research tool and asa way of providing services and forecasting certain phenomena,operational oceanography, and man's impact on the Baltic Seaenvironment and its resources.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;We are indebted to our Scientific Committee for their work duringthe past months to sort out and select interesting contributionsto all the oral and poster sessions, and thus for making theCongress an attractive and quality event. We also thank the PolishAcademy of Sciences and the City of Sopot for their financialsupport.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;We hope that the joint Congress and fruitful scientific discussionsit sparked will promote new contacts and pave the way to evencloser cooperation between scientists involved in Baltic research.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Altogether, 274 abstracts were submitted for presentation. TheInternational Scientific Committee selected 30 to be presentedorally at the plenary sessions and 85 at thematic sessions; 151contributions were presented as posters. There were 8 invitedlectures, which dealt with broad questions such as climate change,the world's fisheries and ecosystem changes.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Congress also organised five workshops on the following topics: Sea level change; The IODP project; Ventilation of deep waters in the Baltic Sea; New activities of the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM); The new EU-supported BONUS project.</ul