Description
Eutrophication and pollutants belong to the most important problems of marine coastal zone. Climate change may intensify / reduce the effects of pollution. Thus, it can affect, the marine environment and human health. The aim of the project will be realized by studying natural and anthropogenic sediment indicators of ecotoxicity in relation to different geological sediment proxies. Recent and old sediments will be analyzed and compared. Analysis of multi-parameter sets will indicate sediment variability connected to different climatic conditions for the studied areas. The results of the project will increase our knowledge about the marine environment. Researchers, public and private organizations at local, regional and national levels will benefit from project. The cooperation between the Norwegian and Polish research institutes will be strengthened by contribution of different research groups in various and complementary areas. The partnership will indicate the direction of the future studies aimed at better understanding of the global changes induced by natural and anthropogenic factors.
Summary of project results
The CLISED project (Climate Change Impact on Ecosystem Health - Marine Sediment Indicators, 2014-2017) aims to address natural and anthropogenic sediment indicators of ecotoxicity in relation to different geological sediment proxies with a focus on the impact of climate change. In order to accomplish this goal, recent and historical sediments (1000 years) from different coastal locations have been studied. The study areas included the Gulf of Gdańsk, Poland (southern Baltic), the Oslofjord/Drammensfjord, and Trondheimsfjord in Norway as well as the Balsfjord (Tromsø) situated in the Arctic region of Norway. Two field expeditions were organized to collect the recent sediments (up to 30 cm) and four to collect the long cores (up to 500 cm). A current status of recent sediments has been assessed basing on numerous analyses of organic pollutants (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, nonylphenols, organotin compounds) and inorganic indicators. Comparison of the results obtained for the long cores and recent sediments indicated that in the historical/past times there were periods of very high primary production, most probably caused by climate variability. Analyzes of pigments specific for cyanobacteria as well as cyanobacterial toxins in deep sediment layers confirmed that cyanobacteria blooms occurred also in the past may be more intensive than nowadays. The results of both short and long cores have been integrated and form the basis for 10 publications in scientific journals (2 – published already, 2 – submitted, 6 – under preparation) and numerous conference contributions (27 presentations). The project results were presented and promoted not only for the scientific community but also for the general public (leaflet of the project, Sopot Science Days, brochure on contaminant fate in the sea). The project website for promotion of the project results was established as well (
http://www.iopan.gda.pl/clised).
Summary of bilateral results
Improved knowledge, many interesting and sometimes not expected results. Scientific papers. Results interesting not only for scientists but also for managers of the environment and common people, e.g. eutrophication and cyanobacterial blooms were equally or even more intensive than nowadays in past millennia; new environmental indicators (proxies), high content of some pollutants in the Norwegian sediments, higher than in the Gulf of Gdansk. Up-grading of equipment, which helped a lot in realization of the project and will be used in future research. The common projects already have and will be prepared, one of partners was a visiting professor in IOPAN for two months (2015). The range of environmental conditions has been enlarged a lot. Many interesting data have been collected for a large area spanning from the Baltic Sea to the Balsfjord, which will enable to draw wider conclusions not only of local meaning.