Marine Biological Valuation Workshop: Lithuanian Case Study in Physically Stressed Environment

1. Expert Workshop on Marine Biological Valuation Marine Biology Section, University of Ghent December 2-4, 2004 Marine Biological Valuation in the physically stressed environment:the Lithuanian case studySERGEJ OLENINCoastal Research and Planning Institute,Klaipeda University, Lithuaniaserg@gmf.ku.lt

2. Klaipėda Lithuanian coastal environment

3. Very exposed, unsheltered coast • 92 km of sandy beaches and dunes. • Straight coastline, no islands and inlets. • Wave fetch > 200 km in NW, W, SW directions, wave height up to 8m. • Active hydrodynamic, strong near-shore currents, coastal erosion. • Macrofauna and benthic vegetation are under the blasting effect of sand and gravel.

4. In the middle of the Baltic salinity gradient • Low species diversity (“Artenminimum” zone): 50 species of bottom macrofauna, 36 species of benthic macroalgae

5. Intensive anthropogenic activity Butinge Oil Terminal, buoy 7 km offshore • Klaipeda port, 4th largest port in the Baltic Sea (cargo turnover 20 mln tons/yr). • Two Lithuanian Oil terminals (10-14 mln tons/yr), Russian Oil drilling platform (D6). • Klaipeda city (200, 000 citizens). • Large recreational zones Klaipeda Oil Terminal Recreational zones Russian (Kaliningrad) Oil drilling platform

6. Environmental problems and level of their management • LOCAL(National or municipal level) • Dredge spoil damping, • Overfishing. • REGIONAL (Baltic Sea scale, e.g. HELCOM level) • Eutrophication, • Chemical contamination, • Oil pollution, • Invasion of alien species. • GLOBAL • Sea level rise, • Increase in number of storm events, • Global warming (Sources: Olenin 1999; Olenina & Olenin 2002)

7. Coastal protected areas • Two coastal protected areas, established in 1992;both comprise marine parts: a 2 nm wide stripe along the coastline. • The marine parts were included without thorough investigation (“political need”). • New demands: • 1) coastal typology and designation of reference conditions (EU Water Framework Directive), • 2) establishment of NATURA-2000 marine sites. Seaside Regional Park Curonian Spit National Park

8. Use of biotope approach for coastal typologyandvaluation of marine life

9. What is a benthic biotope ? (contemporary definition) • A distinctive sea bottom area with conventionally uniform physical-chemical environment (salinity, substrate, hydrodynamics, light climate, temperature regime, etc.) and matching biological features. • The physical 'habitat' with its biological 'community‘. • The “biotope” notion is considered as a synonym of “habitat” in some legislative acts, directives and conventions for the convenience of interpretation. (Sources: Connor et al, 1993; MarLIN 2003; Olenin & Daunys, 2004)

10. History of the term “biotope” 1877 - K. Möbius:“The Oyster Bank Is a Biocönose, or a Social Community”“Biocenosis”= complex superorganism, plants and animals living together; 1908 – F. Dahl: “Principles and fundamental ideas of the biocenotic research” “Biotope” = a complex of factors, which determine physical conditions of existence of a biocenosis (physical-geographical environment)“the biotope of the biocenosis”; 1935 – A. Tansley: “The use and abuse of vegetation concepts and terms”“Ecosystem” = combination of climatic conditions, soil complex and biotic community; Since 1940s: “Ecosystem=Biocenosis + Biotope”(in German, French, Russian, Polish and other “continental” literature) (Sources: Olenin 2003; Olenin & Ducrotoy in prep.)

11. Marine biotope classification systems • HELCOM, 1998. Red list of Red list of Marine and Coastal Biotopes and Biotope Complexes of the Baltic Sea. Baltic Sea Environment Proceedings, No.75: 39-43. • Connor et al., 1997: Marine Nature Conservation Review: marine biotope classification for Britain and Ireland. Volume 1. Littoral biotopes. Volume 2. Sublittoral biotopes. Version 97.06. Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough, JNCC Reports, No. 229 and No. 230. • EUNIS, 2004: European Nature Information System. European Environment Agency. http://eunis.eea.eu.int/habitats.jsp (download 2004-10-31).

12. Development of the biotope classification system Inventory of physical factors shaping benthic environment(salinity, substratum, depth, wave exposure…) Inventory of biological features characterizing biotopes(conspicuous species, coverage of dominant forms, visible biogenic signs, community structure) Benthic biotope classification procedure(relevance to coastal typology and biological valuation) Mapping and description of biotopes Justification of ecological relevance by the analysis of matching between physical and biological features

13. Biological valuation and designation of MPAs Development of coastal typology Identification of coastal types as complexes of neighboring interrelated biotopes(biotope complexes) Benthic biotope classification procedure(relevance to coastal typology and biological valuation) Mapping and description of biotopes

14. Underwater surveys, 1993-2003 Remote underwater video survey Description of sea bottom and sampling by SCUBA divers Sampling of bottom macro fauna using a Van Veen grab

15. Paper (pdf) available at: http://www.eucc-d.de/coastline_reports.php

16. Biotope as integration of different ecological criteria • Diversity • alfa - diversity within biotope, • beta – diversity among biotopes, • gamma – diversity of biotope complexes (coastal types) • Dependency • Presence of habitat engineers and keystone species (e.g. Zostera, Fucus, Furcellaria or Mytilus, Ostrea) • Integrity • Measure of degradation of biotopes • Functional importance • Functional interrelations between the biotopes

17. Biotopes as functional units of coastal marine ecosystems • Physico-chemical conditions of a habitat determine diversity of species, as well as functional diversity, “allowing” presence of certain functional groups and “restricting” (or “forbidding”) existence of others. • Examples: a) active biosedimentation is possible only on large boulders below the breakers zone; b) production of macroalgae – only within euphotic zone on large stones; c) herring spawning – on stony bottoms with macroalgae. • The biotopes differ not only in their appearance (exterior) but also in their functions, which they perform in coastal marine ecosystems.

18. 3D scheme of benthic biotopes at the Seaside Regional Park

19. Biotopes as mapping units

20. Depression in the uppermost part of the submarine slope with floating algae mats

21. Mobil sands with burrowing amphipods and mysid shrimps

22. Large boulders with filamentous green macroalgae

23. Stony bottoms with the red algae Furcellaria lumbricalis

24. Stony bottoms with the blue mussel Mytilus edulis

25. Soft bottoms with the bivalve Macoma baltica and polychaetes Pygospio elegans,Hediste diversicolor

26. Primary production of macroalgae

27. Formation and accumulation of detritus

28. Active biosedimentation (suspension feeding)

29. Utilization of detritus from the surface of bottom sediments and bioturbation

30. Ecological integrity criteria: assessment of functional importance of biotopes 0 – not relevant, 1 – present, 2 - important

31. Conclusion • The biotope integrates several important ecological criteria used for biological valuation. • Biotope is a convenient unit which may be used for the coastal typology and coastal types may be identified as the complexes of interrelated neighboring biotopes. • National and international biotope classification systems are being developed for the coastal zones of Europe. This may provide a solid background for a scientifically acceptable and widely applicable valuation strategy.

32. Extras

33. Furcellaria lumbricalis

34. Furcellaria lumbricalis:Biotope under change 1993 1968 (Data: Blinova & Tolstikova, 1972) (Data: Olenin & Labanauskas, 1994)

35. Būtingė Oil Terminal • Oil tank facilities on land connected by a 7,5 km long pipeline with the offshore buoy (depth ca. 20 m) • 10 mln tons of oil products in 2003 (Ventspils – 28 mln tons)

37. [ ] - <5 species [ ] - >10 species [ ] - >15 species Spices richness of bottom macrofauna