Abstract

Increase in sea surface temperature is projected to change seasonal succession and induce dominance shifts in phytoplankton in spring and promote the growth of cyanobacteria in summer. In general, climate change is projected to worsen oxygen conditions and eutrophication in the Baltic Proper and the Gulf of Finland. In the Gulf of Bothnia, the increasing freshwater discharge may increase the amount of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the water and hence reduce phytoplankton productivity. In winter, reduced duration and spatial extent of sea ice will cause habitat loss for ice-dwelling organisms and probably induce changes in nutrient dynamics within and under the sea ice. The projected salinity decline will probably affect the functional diversity of the benthic communities and induce geographical shifts in the distribution limits of key species such as bladder wrack and blue mussel. In the pelagic ecosystem, the decrease in salinity together with poor oxygen conditions in the deep basins will negatively influence the main Baltic Sea piscivore, cod. This has been suggested to cause cascading effects on clupeids and zooplankton.

Keywords

Baltic Sea; Climate change; Benthic and pelagic communities; Biodiversity; Biogeography; Regime shifts; Cascading effects

Published in

Regional Climate Studies
2015, pages: 363-380
Title: Second Assessment of Climate Change for the Baltic Sea Basin
ISBN: 978-3-319-16005-4, eISBN: 978-3-319-16006-1
Publisher: Springer

SLU Authors

• Gårdmark, Anna

  • Department of Aquatic Resources (SLU Aqua), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Ecology


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16006-1_19

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/95187