How to translate text using browser tools
1 April 2007 Management Options and Effects on a Marine Ecosystem: Assessing the Future of the Baltic
Fredrik Wulff, Oleg P. Savchuk, Alexander Sokolov, Christoph Humborg, Carl-Magnus Mörth
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

We are using the coupled models in a decision support system, Nest, to evaluate the response of the marine ecosystem to changes in external loads through various management options. The models address all the seven major marine basins and the entire drainage basin of the Baltic Sea. A series of future scenarios have been developed, in close collaboration with the Helsinki Commission, to see the possible effects of improved wastewater treatment and manure handling, phosphorus-free detergents, and less intensive land use and live stocks. Improved wastewater treatment and the use of phosphorus-free detergents in the entire region would drastically decrease phosphorus loads and improve the marine environment, particularly the occurrence of cyanobacterial blooms. However, the Baltic Sea will remain eutrophic, and to reduce other effects, a substantial reduction of nitrogen emissions must be implemented. This can only be obtained in these scenarios by drastically changing land use. In a final scenario, we have turned 50% of all agricultural lands into grasslands, together with efficient wastewater treatments and a ban of phosphorus in detergents. This scenario will substantially reduce primary production and the extension of hypoxic bottoms, increase water transparency in the most eutrophied basins, and virtually eliminate extensive cyanobacterial blooms.

Fredrik Wulff, Oleg P. Savchuk, Alexander Sokolov, Christoph Humborg, and Carl-Magnus Mörth "Management Options and Effects on a Marine Ecosystem: Assessing the Future of the Baltic," AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment 36(2), 243-249, (1 April 2007). https://doi.org/10.1579/0044-7447(2007)36[243:MOAEOA]2.0.CO;2
Published: 1 April 2007
JOURNAL ARTICLE
7 PAGES

This article is only available to subscribers.
It is not available for individual sale.
+ SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top