Research subject Open Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea ecosystem and marine life are exposed to many different impact factors at the same time. The BalticCAT research project further develops a food web model that will calculate the effects of a large number of natural and human impact factors.

This project will investigate the contribution of cyanobacterial blooms to fish production and contaminant bioaccumulation in the Baltic Sea.

The project evaluates whether Baltic cod food intake and metabolism have varied the last 85 years, similar to what recent findings suggest. It also explores how trophic level may have changed over the last 85 years by analysing ∂15N in archived otoliths.

The cumulative effects of various human activities on coastal and marine ecosystems are a pressing problem. The seafloor is subject to physical pressures from e.g. construction, dredging, marine traffic and bottom trawling, which may co-occur with each other and with climate change and eutrophication.

- seafloor integrity, water quality and protected areas

The goal of the project FutureMares is to provide socially and economically viable actions and strategies in support of nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

The purpose of the project is to give advice to the Swedish marine monitoring groups regarding measurements of optical properties in Swedish waters, compare measurements of chlorophyll, coloured dissolved organic matter, suspended particulate matter and turbidity (turbidity), and to harmonise the measurements protocols between the Swedish monitoring groups.

The BalticHER-project studies the population structure of locally spawning herring on the Swedish east coast. The study will evaluate by cross-checking genetical and otolith chemistry methods whether natal homing is a population structuring mechanism.

The Baltic Sea is highly influenced by the catchment areas, whith more complex pH dynamics than in the open ocean. This research project improves the temporal and spatial coverage of acidification monitoring, to broaden the understanding of current acidification trends and to improve the capacity to predict future changes.

The TRIACID project has mapped acidification trends in different regions of the Baltic Sea during the past 40 years. The project has described spatial variation and trends in pH status, and the main drivers of changing pH have been identified.