Testing of Zooplankton indicators in the Baltic Sea waters of - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Testing of Zooplankton indicators in the Baltic Sea waters of Mecklenburg- Vorpommern, Germany Martina Stiasny, Geomar Marina Carstens & Mario v. Weber, LU/LUNG M-V

HELCOM core indicator Mean size = Total zooplankton abundance/total biomass & Total stock = Total abundance (or total biomass) Combined as MSTS (Mean Size - Total Stock) in a two-dimensional indicator

MSTS – Good Environmental Status Poor ES: Small mean size and total stock Medium ES: Small mean size and high total stock OR Large mean size and small total stock Good Environmental Status: Large Mean Size and Total stock Source: Elena Gorokhova/HELCOM ZEN

GES – reference period Find periods with good Weight-at-age in Herring (Food web) good Chlorophyll-a levels (Eutrophication) Calculate mean MSTS for this period and use the lower 95% CI as GES boundary

LUNG Samples LUNG Stations Open sea, but close to the coastal waters of Meckl.-Vorpommern July 2013 – September 2014

MSTS LUNG Samples 0,0018 0,0016 0,0014 0,0012 O22 Mean Size 0,001 O5 O9 0,0008 O11 0,0006 O133 0,0004 OB4 0,0002 0 0 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000 300000 350000 Total Abundance (Ind. m-3)

0.0063 0.0027 Gulf of Finland 0,0018 Gulf of Riga 0,0016 0,0014 0,0012 O22 Mean Size 0,001 O5 O9 0,0008 O11 0,0006 O133 0,0004 OB4 0,0002 0 0 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000 300000 350000 Abundance (Ind m-3)

MSTS LUNG Samples 0,0018 Probably necessary to define Western Stations 0,0016 GES boundaries for the Eastern and Western coastline 0,0014 separately 0,0012 O22 Mean Size 0,001 O5 Eastern Stations O9 0,0008 O11 0,0006 O133 0,0004 OB4 0,0002 0 0 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000 300000 350000 Abundance (Ind m-3)

LUNG & IOW Samples

Check possibility of matching IOW stations, further from the coast, to LUNG stations to obtain a longer-ranging data set Use the IOW data to find GES reference periods Find Herring Weight-at-age Data and Chlorophyll-a Data to define GES

Other indicators Copepod Biomass – as an indicator of good food quality for fish larvae Microphageous zooplankton biomass – as an indicator of eutrophication