Blue growth boundaries in novel Baltic food webs

BONUS BLUEWEBS sets out to understand the changes in the Baltic Sea food webs, and how the system should be managed in an uncertain future. In order to do this, the project will study the past changes of the system in terms of structure and function; predict how the food web dynamics are likely to change, and how they affect the ecosystem service provision. BONUS BLUEWEBS will build decision support systems for decision makers. This is done within the context the marine environment is increasingly an interest area for promoting economic growth and wellbeing for humans, as exemplified by FAO and Blue Growth initiatives. A better understanding of the food webs in the ecosystem and possible future impacts of the changing food webs is necessary for several of the sub-objectives of PA Bioeconomy, but particularly the sub-objective related to fisheries and aquaculture. The flagship involves partners from Finland, Germany, Latvia, Poland and Sweden. from the BONUS programme. BLUEWEBS will address knowledge gaps concerning the functioning of novel Baltic Sea food webs with respect to: - temporal and spatial variability in ”bottom-up” and ”top-down” forces; - mechanisms of past changes in food web structure and function, as well as trophic cascades and regime shifts; - transformation of nutrients and harmful substances; - impacts of nutrient and contaminant loading, climate forcing, introduction of non-indigenous species and fisheries on food web dynamics; - socio-ecological coupling and ecosystem service provisioning potential.