Newsletter 2021

Dear Sir or Madam,

we wish you a healthy and happy new year 2022. With this newsletter we would like to inform you about news from the consortium Coastal Research North Sea Baltic Sea (KüNO). Read what the projects have already achieved and where you can find out more about our results. Current news from the research network can also be found regularly in the news section of our website.

With kind regards,
the KüNO consortium

New seagrass meadows for the Baltic Sea

Seagrass meadows protect the coasts by stabilizing the sediment, are an important habitat for numerous plants and animals, clean the water and store CO₂. The SeaStore project is investigating how seagrass meadows can be successfully restored. In June, the first planting campaign in Germany took place in the Baltic Sea. In laborious work, more than 12,000 individual plants were planted in the sediment by divers at two locations. The subsequent monthly monitoring already showed that the plants were reproducing at both sites.

> More about the project SeaStore

Scientifically accompanied coastal protection measure

The scientists of the ECAS-BALTIC project are particularly pleased to be able to provide scientific accompaniment for the reinforcement of the dune and beach in Ahrenshoop, following close coordination with stakeholders. There, the federal government and and the state of MV are investing 5 million euros in coastal protection and flushing about 585,000 m³ of sand over a length of almost 4 km. To better understand the effects of such measures on the ecosystem, the ECAS team is studying geomorphological, physical and biological changes from the water to the dune over several months. To work in shallow water, the new research catamaran Limanda of the University of Rostock is used.

> More about the project ECAS-BALTIC

Brochure on coastal development in climate change

As part of the KüNO umbrella project CoTrans, a brochure has been published summarizing research results on coastal development under climate change on the German Baltic Sea coast.
Continued rise of the mean sea level in the 21st century is almost certain. Therefore, coastal communities need to develop concepts in time to ensure their long-term development. This involves weighing up options locally, but also across political-administrative boundaries, making necessary decisions with the involvement of affected stakeholders, and initiating appropriate measures. The brochure is aimed at the general public, especially in the affected coastal communities, and provides an introduction to the topic. Unfortunately it is only available in German.

> To the download       > To the order form of the print version

To help us better target research and information to meet needs, please take a moment to complete our survey.    > To the survey (in German)

Elbe and Odra sediments less toxic

With an ambitious field program, the Blue Estuaries project is recording the pollution of the Elbe and the Odra estuaries by eutrophication and pollutants. In the first year of the project, sediment samplers were placed, a chamber lander for automated sampling was deployed (see photo), fish were caught, and numerous samples were analyzed. For example, the effect of sediments enriched with pollutants from many decades on test organisms was investigated. Initial results indicate that the toxicity of the Odra sediments is lower than that of the Elbe sediments and that it is lower than in previous studies. The next year will show whether these positive findings can be confirmed.

> To the detailed report

> More about the project Blue Estuaries (BluEs)

Distribution of North Sea fauna  strongly influenced by environment

Epibenthic fauna and demersal fish are key groups determining the ecosystem functions in the southern North Sea. In addition, fish are also a relevant food and income source for humans. Scientists of the Thünen Institute within the project MuSSeL have shown that the community structure of both groups depends on environmental variables in distinct ways. Thus, species-rich fish communities are found mainly in the western part of the southern North Sea (see figure). These new results will be used to further investigate how epifauna and fish respond to ongoing and future stressors originating from direct human exploitation and climate change.

> More about the project MuSSeL

Modern approaches to predicting ecological changes

Trait analyses are being used to explore new ways of detecting relationships in ecosystems. Thereby, the organism community is not divided into species, but into functional groups. In this way, causes and consequences of changes in the ecosystem can be detected more clearly. In the BioWeb project, trait analyses are applied at all trophic levels. This should make it possible to model scenarios for the future development of the North Sea food web more comprehensibly. In already two workshops under BioWeb leadership, researchers from KüNO and DAM projects exchanged ideas on this method.

> More about the KüNO Workshop Series 'Species traits and food web analysis in the North and Baltic Seas'

> More about the project BioWeb

Which fish species are affected by climate change?

How the effects of climate change and fisheries threaten the existence of traditional coastal fisheries can currently be directly observed in the Baltic Sea in collapsed fish stocks. The balt_ADAPT project therefore investigates the sustainability of the socio-ecological system of fisheries in the Western Baltic Sea. In the first year of the project, the vulnerability of the fish community to climate change was investigated. In particular, it was assessed at how exposed individual species are to changes in temperature, salinity and oxygen levels and how sensitive they are to these changes. Initial analyses show the high sensitivity of herring and cod, the main target species of the fishery. In contrast, flatfishes such as plaice and dab appear to be less sensitive to physical changes in the Baltic Sea.

> More about the project balt_ADAPT

3rd Coastal Symposium „Küste im Wandel - Coast in Transition 2022“ in Hamburg

From 9 to 11 November, 2022, scientists and practitioners will meet at the International Maritime Museum in Hamburg to exchange current research results about to topics

About KüNO

Since 2013, the consortium Coastal Research North Sea Baltic Sea (Küstenforschung Nordsee Ostsee, KüNO) has set itself the goal of improving the scientific basis for ecosystem-oriented, sustainable management of coastal resources and making its results available to practice-oriented users. In its 3rd phase (2020-2023), KüNO comprises seven joint projects funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in the framework of the strategy 'Research for Sustainability' (FONA³).

balt_ADAPT: Adaption of the Western Baltic Coastal Fishery to Climate Change, Lead Prof. Dr. Christian Möllmann (University of Hamburg) > learn more

BioWeb: Response of biodiversity change in North Sea food webs mediated by environmental drivers and human activities, Lead Prof. Dr. Ingrid Kröncke (Senckenberg am Meer) > learn more

BluEs: Blue_Estuaries – Developing estuaries as habitable sustainable ecosystem despite climate change and stress, Lead Prof. Dr. Maren Voß (Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde) > learn more

ECAS-BALTIC: Strategies of ecosystem-friendly coastal protection and ecosystem-supporting coastal adaptation for the German Baltic Sea Coast, Lead PD Dr. Jochen Hinkel (Global Climate Forum) > learn more

MuSSeL: Multiple Stressors on North Sea Life, Lead Prof. Dr. Kai Wirtz (Helmholtz Centre Hereon) > learn more

SeaStore: Diversity Enhancement Through Seagrass Restoration, Lead Prof. Dr. Maike Paul (Leibniz University Hannover) > learn more

CoTrans: KüNO Umbrella project Coordination & Transfer, Lead Prof. Dr. Ulrich Bathmann (Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde) > learn more