{"id":605,"date":"2019-09-22T19:03:59","date_gmt":"2019-09-22T17:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.ostersjostiftelsen.se\/?post_type=project&#038;p=605"},"modified":"2019-09-22T19:04:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-22T17:04:00","slug":"response-and-recovery-of-benthic-biodiversity-andecosystemfunctions-to-chemical-pollution-and-eutrophication","status":"publish","type":"project","link":"https:\/\/dev.ostersjostiftelsen.se\/en\/project\/response-and-recovery-of-benthic-biodiversity-andecosystemfunctions-to-chemical-pollution-and-eutrophication\/","title":{"rendered":"Response and recovery of benthic biodiversity andecosystemfunctions to chemical pollution and eutrophication."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Society and\necological health depend on ecological processes and functions, the so-called\necosystem functions. These functions are essential for all levels of organisms\nand a result of their interactions with the environment. Benthic habitats, some\nof the most productive and diverse ecosystems on Earth, are of global\nimportance for biogeochemical cycles. Each of the three major benthic\ncommunities, macrofauna, meiofauna and microorganisms, have key roles in these\nprocesses. Currently, the anthropogenic pressures from nutrient overloading\nwith oxygen depletion and pollution by heavy metals are potent threats to the\ndiversity and functioning of these communities in the Baltic Sea and ultimately\non the provision of ecosystem goods and services, that affect human wellbeing\nof societies in this region. Crucial, unanswered questions within Baltic Sea\necology are how anthropogenic pressure affects benthic community structure and\nhow interactions between macrofauna, meiofana and microbial community mediate\nsediment ecosystem functions under different environmental conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To bridge\nthese knowledge gaps, this project examines how Baltic Sea sediment meiofauna,\nthe most diverse and abundant metazoans in aquatic sediment, and microbial\ndiversity interact and are structured by double exposure to two important\nstressors, hypoxia and heavy metal exposure. We particularly investigate how\nand to what extent this affects important benthic ecosystem functions relevant\nto sediment nitrogen cycling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Taking\nadvantage of the multidisciplinary range of our expertise, analyses combine\necological, ecotoxicological, biogeochemical methods and environmental genomics\napproaches. Drawing on insurance and resilience theory we furthermore investigate\nwhether the loss of diversity in the sediment communities reduces the resilience\nand recovery of benthic ecosystems processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Outcomes\nwill directly relate to the directives initiated by the European community, the\nWater Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and the\nBaltic Sea Action Plan that address diversity of bioindicators, chemical status\nand quality of the marine environment to achieve Good Environmental Status in\nregards to qualitative descriptors, including biological diversity,\neutrophication and contaminants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-605","project","type-project","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.ostersjostiftelsen.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.ostersjostiftelsen.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.ostersjostiftelsen.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/project"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.ostersjostiftelsen.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}