Developing Assessment Tools and Criterias for Integrative Chemical and Biological Effects Monitoring
Short description
Chemical pollution severely affects the Swedish coast, particularly the Baltic Sea. Monitoring is governed by the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), under which member states conduct annual campaigns combining chemical analyses and biological effect screenings. Swedish coastal monitoring has long used both approaches, yet sampling locations rarely overlap and data integration has been limited. Existing monitoring datasets offer an opportunity to test novel integration methods and develop assessment criteria. Combined with new biological effect markers, this will shape future environmental risk assessment strategies for determining good environmental status (GES). This project uses existing and new case study data to develop improved integration strategies and optimize new biomarkers for environmental monitoring.
Chemical pollution affects the Swedish coast, especially the Baltic Sea, which is one of the most polluted seas in the world. To closely monitor the environmental consequences of this pollution, a robust framework with reliable strategies is essential. Monitoring requirements within Europe are defined by the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), which regulates the surveillance of freshwater and coastal environments, and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), which regulates marine monitoring.
To meet these obligations, most EU member states conduct annual standardized campaigns that typically include chemical analyses and biological effect screenings. In Sweden, coastal monitoring has long focused on both chemical measurements and evaluating how contaminants affect biological systems using various biological effect markers. Although these two monitoring approaches have been conducted in parallel for decades, very few sampling locations overlap, and efforts to integrate their data have been limited.
The Swedish coastal effect monitoring and the contaminants monitoring program have accumulated large amount of data that can be used to test novel methods for data integration and generation of assessment criteria. Combined with the introduction of new biological effect markers, such as meiofauna biodiversity assessments, these efforts will be key in shaping future environmental risk assessment strategies. Such risk assessments are necessary to evaluate coastal marine areas for good environmental status (GES). This work holds significant value not only for Swedish monitoring but also for harmonizing monitoring practices across the EU within the MSFD framework.
The main objective of this project is to use existing datasets, together with new data from case studies, to develop improved data integration strategies and the assessment criteria needed to support them. In addition, the project will optimize new biomarkers for use in environmental monitoring.
Members:
- Joachim Sturve (BioEnv
- Anne Sørensen (Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet)
- Daniela Gómez Martínez (BioEnv)