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Description
The main aim of BUFFER project is to investigate the impact of the interaction between climatic anomalies and eutrophication on the capacity of the sediments to process and retain nutrients and contrast their regeneration to the water column (the buffer capacity). BUFFER will analyze if and how the capacity of sediments to control eutrophication consequences is menaced by climate change and will disentangle underlying mechanisms. The main study site of BUFFER is the Gulf of Gdańsk (southern Baltic Sea), as it has been threatened by the combined effects of climate change and eutrophication. BUFFER project will investigate the buffer capacity of specific areas in the Gulf along multiple gradients of oxygen availability, freshwater input, depth and light. The buffer capacity will be also analyzed with respect to the presence of different organisms, including primary producers as aquatic plants and algae and different functional groups of macrofauna, including filter-feeding bivalves and burrowing worms, to understand whether living macroorganisms also represent a natural buffer. Sampling campaigns will be carried out in two additional sites: the Sacca di Goro lagoon in Italy and the Kongsfjorden and Porsangerfjorden in Norway. Both sites are affected by high freshwater discharge, the former from the Po River and the latter from the ice melt from land, and both sites can encounter bottom water anoxia. The comparison among study areas will allow to understand whether the climate-eutrophication effects produce larger impacts in the northern latitudes.Results from BUFFER will allow to outline the impacts of climatic anomalies and eutrophication along a wide latitudinal gradient and the quantification of how local biogeochemical buffers are affected by such anomalies. Furthermore, BUFFER will identify the critical zones in the Gulf of Gdańsk in terms of limited or null buffer capacity of the benthic system.