Small coastal lagoons under human pressure
Mikkola, R. and Bäck, A. (2018). Small coastal lagoons under human pressure. 5th European Congress of Conservation Biology. doi: 10.17011/conference/eccb2018/108033
Date
2018Copyright
© the Authors, 2018
The Quark region in the Baltic Sea is known for high postglacial rebound; the isostatic land uplift measuring up to 8,5 mm/year, providing 700 ha new land area annually. This forms the landscape continuously, and gives rise to unique features that are characteristic to the area, like the many small lagoons, so called flads, found along the coast. During the land uplift process, new bays emerge as old ones get cut from the sea and build small isolated water areas. The restricted water exchange with the surrounding sea creates distinctive conditions forming important habitats for many species, such as reproduction sites for fish. Shallow bays are ecosystem service providers at a large scale (Austin et al. 2017) but are under high human pressure as they are preferred sites for recreational use. Dredging and boat traffic as well as land runoff highly alter these delicate environments. Today over 60% of these shallow coastal lagoons have been modified by human activities.
Climate change and the subsequent sea level rise is a new upcoming threat, that will have considerable effects on these fragile ecosystems. The current upper predicted sea-level rise is 9mm a year which means that the “birth of new land” would stop since sea level rise would be equal to land uplift (Poutanen & Steffen 2014). This leads to a decrease in emerging new flads which raises the importance of protecting current flads by a) gathering knowledge of biological and physiochemical data b) raising the awareness regarding potential damage causing actions.
The Quark area has approximately 2500 flads and shallow bays. Out of these, 33 in Finland and 19 in Sweden were chosen for closer research. Different parameters such as temperature, salinity and pH were measured. The amount of pike, perch and roach as well as their hatchlings were investigated. This data will be compared with physiochemical data, vegetational data maintained by aerial mapping and snorkeling for information about preferred spawning sites.
The aim is to gather the data from the 52 well studied areas and then interpolate on all the other bays in the Quark area. By modelling the results on other flads in the region we will be able to evaluate ecosystem services that flads offer and make assumptions of their function as fish reproduction areas. We will be able to draw conclusions about human induced impacts on the functioning of the ecosystem.
Austin, Å. N., Hansen, J. P., Donadi, S., & Eklöf, J. S. (2017). Relationships between aquatic vegetation and water turbidity: A field survey across seasons and spatial scales. PloS one, 12(8), e0181419.
Poutanen, M., & Steffen, H. (2014). Land Uplift at Kvarken Archipelago/High Coast UNESCO World Heritage area. Geophysica, 50(2).
...
Publisher
Open Science Centre, University of JyväskyläConference
ECCB2018: 5th European Congress of Conservation Biology. 12th - 15th of June 2018, Jyväskylä, Finland
Original source
https://peerageofscience.org/conference/eccb2018/108033/Metadata
Show full item recordCollections
- ECCB 2018 [712]
License
Related items
Showing items with similar title or keywords.
-
Brief interventions in counselling for nutrition and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in primary care adult patients
Kuninkaanniemi, Hanna (Jyväskylän yliopisto, 2018) -
The effects of restriction pressures on the acute responses to blood flow restriction exercise
Ilett, Michael J.; Rantalainen, Timo; Keske, Michelle A.; May, Anthony K.; Warmington, Stuart A. (Frontiers Media, 2019)Purpose: No current guidelines or recommendations exist informing the selection of restriction pressure during blood flow restriction exercise (BFRE). Moreover, the effects of specific relative restriction pressures on the ... -
Ecosystem Services in Coastal Zone for Sustainable Development: The Gulf of Finland and Saint Petersburg
Sakai, Kohei (Open Science Centre, University of Jyväskylä, 2018)Coastal zone contains a rich diversity of ecosystems which supply various ecosystem services that essential for the sustainable development, keeping the balance of socioeconomic and environmental processes. Simultaneously, ... -
Environmental information provision and preferences for marine and coastal protection in the case of plastic waste
Mentis, Charalampos; Latinopoulos, Dionysis; Bithas, Kostas (Open Science Centre, University of Jyväskylä, 2018)The immediate reduction of plastic waste in the marine and coastal environment is deemed crucial in order to ensure and preserve environmental sustainability and ecosystem services for human well-being. Public information ... -
Influence of vegetation and land use on functional soil conditions and soil erosion in the western coastal plain of El Salvador
Moran Rodas, Virna Estefania (Open Science Centre, University of Jyväskylä, 2018)Soil conditions have critical effects in the function of ecosystems, and consequently, in human society. Vegetation affects soil through important feedbacks, and both vegetation and soil can be altered by human activities. ...