Journal
AMBIO
Volume 50, Issue 2, Pages 400-412Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s13280-020-01364-2
Keywords
Baltic Sea Action Plan; Climate change; Eutrophication; Scenario modeling; Species distribution model; Zostera marina
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Funding
- Projekt DEAL
- State Agency for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Areas Schleswig-Holstein (LLUR)
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This study is the first to demonstrate that meeting the Baltic Sea Action Plan's nutrient reductions could lead to a substantial expansion of eelgrass coverage, particularly at lower depth limits, overcompensating for losses in shallow areas due to stormier climate conditions.
For many coastal areas including the Baltic Sea, ambitious nutrient abatement goals have been set to curb eutrophication, but benefits of such measures were normally not studied in light of anticipated climate change. To project the likely responses of nutrient abatement on eelgrass (Zostera marina), we coupled a species distribution model with a biogeochemical model, obtaining future water turbidity, and a wave model for predicting the future hydrodynamics in the coastal area. Using this, eelgrass distribution was modeled for different combinations of nutrient scenarios and future wind fields. We are the first to demonstrate that while under a business as usual scenario overall eelgrass area will not recover, nutrient reductions that fulfill the Helsinki Commission's Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) are likely to lead to a substantial areal expansion of eelgrass coverage, primarily at the current distribution's lower depth limits, thereby overcompensating losses in shallow areas caused by a stormier climate.
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