Uvarov, D.

van der Veer, H.

Van Walraven, L.

Open Marine Archive

-  58  -  
Poster Science in the North Sea 
Response of different estuarine zooplankton taxa to instantaneous 
salinity reductions 
Uvarov Danila
1,2
, Van Walraven Lodewijk
1
 and Van Der Veer Henk W.
1
 
1
  Royal Dutch Sea Research Institute, Department of Coastal Systems, Utrecht University, PO Box 59, 
1790 AB Den Burg Texel, The Netherlands 
 E-mail: danila.uvarov@nioz.nl 
2
  Marine Environment and Resources (MER), Areatza z/g, 48620 Plentzia-Bizkaia, Basque Country, Spain 
 
Salinity variation is a key factor influencing the distribution of estuarine biota and constitute a 
considerable stress on the living organisms. In the ocean and estuarine systems, zooplankton can 
experience rapid salinity changes due to heavy precipitation, ice and snow melting, storms or its own 
vertical migration in a stratified waters. However, this rapid natural salinity change has a smoother 
character, rather than instantaneous changes in salinity of anthropogenic nature, such as periodic 
discharges of water from dams separating seas and freshwater lakes. A novel cause of anthropogenic 
salinity variation is a Blue Energy production. 
 
In the Blue Energy production, energy is generated from the mixing of waters with different salinities in 
a process called Reverse Electrodialysis (RED). The world’s first Blue Energy power plant is currently being 
tested in the Netherlands. Organisms passing through a RED plant are subjected to multiple stressors, 
including salinity shock that zooplankters experience when sea water and freshwater merge. Rapid 
salinity reductions may have a negative consequence for planktonic organisms such as mortality, 
decrease in growth rates and impaired feeding ability, but knowledge on this is currently limited. 
 
We study the possible impact of Blue Energy generation on zooplankton by reviewing available work on 
the impact of salinity reductions on zooplankton. In a series of controlled experiments using natural 
zooplankton assemblages collected in the western Wadden Sea we investigate the impact of 
instantaneous salinity changes on survival of different estuarine mesozooplankton taxa. 
 
Keywords: zooplankton; salinity shock; mortality; blue energy 
  


Response of different estuarine zooplankton taxa to instantaneous salinity reductions

http://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/318981.pdf

Response of different estuarine zooplankton taxa to instantaneous salinity reductions

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