Coastal ecosystems are subjected to both large natural variability and increasing anthropogenic impact on environmental parameters such as changes in salinity, temperature, and pH. This study documents the distribution of living benthic foraminifera under the influence of multiple environmental stressors in the Skagerrak-Baltic Sea region. Sediment core tops were studied at five sites along a transect from the Skagerrak to the Baltic Sea, with strong environmental gradients, especially in terms of salinity, pH, calcium carbonate saturation and dissolved oxygen concentration in the bottom water and pore water. We found that living foraminiferal densities and species richness were higher at the Skagerrak station, where the general living conditions were relatively beneficial for Foraminifera, with higher salinity and Ωcalc in the water column and higher pH and oxygen concentration in the bottom and pore water. The most common species reported at each station reflect the differences in the environmental conditions between the stations. The dominant species were Cassidulina laevigata and Hyalinea balthica in the Skagerrak, Stainforthia fusiformis, Nonionella aff. stella and Nonionoides turgida in the Kattegat and N. aff. stella and Nonionellina labradorica in the Öresund. The most adverse conditions, such as low salinity, low Ωcalc, low dissolved oxygen concentrations and low pH, were noted at the Baltic Sea stations, where the calcareous tests of the dominant living taxa Ammonia spp. and Elphidium spp. were partially to completely dissolved, probably due to a combination of different stressors affecting the required energy for biomineralization. Even though Foraminifera are able to live in extremely varying environmental conditions, the present results suggest that the benthic coastal ecosystems in the studied region, which are apparently affected by an increase in the range of environmental variability, will probably be even more influenced by a future increase in anthropogenic impacts, including coastal ocean acidification and deoxygenation.
Calcifying foraminifera are expected to be endangered by ocean acidification; however, the response of a complete community kept in natural sediment and over multiple generations under controlled laboratory conditions has not been constrained to date. During 6 months of incubation, foraminiferal assemblages were kept and treated in natural sediment with pCO2-enriched seawater of 430, 907, 1865 and 3247 µatm pCO2. The fauna was dominated by Ammonia aomoriensis and Elphidium species, whereas agglutinated species were rare. After 6 months of incubation, pore water alkalinity was much higher in comparison to the overlying seawater. Consequently, the saturation state of Omega calc was much higher in the sediment than in the water column in nearly all pCO2 treatments and remained close to saturation. As a result, the life cycle (population density, growth and reproduction) of living assemblages varied markedly during the experimental period, but was largely unaffected by the pCO2 treatments applied. According to the size-frequency distribution, we conclude that foraminifera start reproduction at a diameter of 250 µm. Mortality of living Ammonia aomoriensis was unaffected, whereas size of large and dead tests decreased with elevated pCO2 from 285 µm (pCO2 from 430 to 1865 µatm) to 258 µm (pCO2 3247 µatm). The total organic content of living Ammonia aomoriensis has been determined to be 4.3% of CaCO3 weight. Living individuals had a calcium carbonate production rate of 0.47 g/m**2/a, whereas dead empty tests accumulated a rate of 0.27 g /m**2/a. Although Omega calc was close to 1, approximately 30% of the empty tests of Ammonia aomoriensis showed dissolution features at high pCO2 of 3247 µatm during the last 2 months of incubation. In contrast, tests of the subdominant species, Elphidium incertum, stayed intact. Our results emphasize that the sensitivity to ocean acidification of the endobenthic foraminifera Ammonia aomoriensis in their natural sediment habitat is much lower compared to the experimental response of specimens isolated from the sediment.
It is expected that the calcification of foraminifera will be negatively affected by the ongoing acidification of the oceans. Compared to the open oceans, these organisms are subjected to much more adverse carbonate system conditions in coastal and estuarine environments such as the southwestern Baltic Sea, where benthic foraminifera are abundant. This study documents the seasonal changes of carbonate chemistry and the ensuing response of the foraminiferal community with bi-monthly resolution in Flensburg Fjord. In comparison to the surface pCO2, which is close to equilibrium with the atmosphere, we observed large seasonal fluctuations of pCO2 in the bottom and sediment pore waters. The sediment pore water pCO2 was constantly high during the entire year ranging from 1244 to 3324 µatm. Nevertheless, in contrast to the bottom water, sediment pore water was slightly supersaturated with respect to calcite as a consequence of higher alkalinity (AT) for most of the year. Foraminiferal assemblages were dominated by two calcareous species, Ammonia aomoriensis and Elphidium incertum, and the agglutinated Ammotium cassis. The one-year cycle was characterised by seasonal community shifts. Our results revealed that there is no dynamic response of foraminiferal population density and diversity to elevated sediment pore water pCO2. Surprisingly, the fluctuations of sediment pore water undersaturation (Omega calc) co-vary with the population densities of living Ammonia aomoriensis. Further, we observed that most of the tests of living calcifying foraminifera were intact. Only Ammonia aomorienis showed dissolution and recalcification structures on the tests, especially at undersaturated conditions. Therefore, the benthic community is subjected to high pCO2 and tolerates elevated levels as long as sediment pore water remains supersaturated. Model calculations inferred that increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations will finally lead to a perennial undersaturation in sediment pore waters. Whereas benthic foraminifera indeed may cope with a high sediment pore water pCO2, the steady undersaturation of sediment pore waters would likely cause a significant higher mortality of the dominating Ammonia aomoriensis. This shift may eventually lead to changes in the benthic foraminiferal communities in Flensburg Fjord, as well as in other regions experiencing naturally undersaturated Omega calc levels.
Alpha ventus was the first German offshore wind farm build in the German exclusive economic zone in 2008/2009. The data are part of the mandatory monitoring programme of the German Standard Investigation of the Impacts of Offshore Wind Turbines on the Marine Environment (latest version: StUK 4, published by BSH 2014). Makrozoobenthos was collected in the offshore wind farm alpha ventus at four wind turbines at different depth (epifouling communities), distance-dependent to the turbines in the soft bottom, as well as randomly within the soft bottom of the offshore wind farm area and in a comparable reference area nearby. Samples were taken by scrape samples with scuba divers to analyse the epifaunal communities and with van-Veen grabs to analyse the infauna. Soft-bottom samples in the wind farm and reference area were collected in spring and autumn from 2008-2012 before, during and after construction (until three years) of the wind farm. After construction of the turbines, epifaunal community was evaluated for recording successional stages of growth on the wind turbines in different depth to cover the vertical zonation along the turbines (at 1, 5 and 10 m depth). Further, soft-bottom samples were collected distance dependent to the turbines 100, 200 and 400 m apart from the turbines. Biodiversity data of species include abundance (count data) and biomass (wet mass, g) per sample.
Data were sampled on behalf of the DOTI GmbH & Co. KG in the framework of the mandatory monitoring and collected and quality controlled by the Federal Martime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) in cooperation with AWI. Thus, we would like to thank the DOTI GmbH, particularly Magdalena Buchholz on behalf of the DOTI GmbH, as well as the BSH, in particular Dr. Maria Boethling, who kindly provided the data for scientific independent research analysis and publication.