New approaches in determining the impacts of chemical pollution to protect the biodiversity of the Baltic Sea

Chemical pollution threatens the Baltic Sea by negatively affecting the health of biota and key functions of the ecosystem, and endangering its biodiversity. The current environmental monitoring and assessment approaches are based on chemical and ecological measurements, while the linking between these two, the biological effects at the individual level, has been largely neglected. Monitoring of chemicals alone is not sufficient to protect populations since it considers only a small number of substances while a myriad of others is left unnoticed. Also, the effects of contaminant mixtures remain undetected. This project examines the relationships between chemical contamination and loss of biodiversity in different parts of the Baltic Sea. Monitoring and research data on biodiversity, biological effects and concentrations of chemicals will be used. The main practical objective is to develop integrated chemical-biological monitoring and assessment frameworks for the marine environment.