At 6 typical habitats of the SW Baltic Sea, macrozoobenthic samples were collected in January 2016 with Van Veen grab (sample area 0.1 m2, data is averaged per station based on 3 replicates at every station) and from short cores (sample area 0.00785 m2, data per core) after completing the pore-water analysis or incubation. Sediment was sieved using a 1.0 mm sieve mesh size and samples were preserved in 4% buffered formaldehyde–seawater solution. In the laboratory, the organisms were sorted, identified to species level, counted and weighted. The nomenclature was checked with World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS Editorial Board, 2018). Abundance and biomass data were standardized to an area of 1 m2. Ash-free dry weight (AFDW) biomass was estimated from the wet weight using species-specific conversion factors from the in-house list of the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research, Warnemünde. Environmental characteristics (including salinity, oxygen content, depth, sediment granulometry and organic content) were measured at each sampling event parallel to the collection of grab and cores samples.
Data is explored in Gogina, M., Lipka, M., Woelfel, J., Liu, B., Morys, C., Böttcher, M.E., Zettler, M. L., 2018. In search of a field-based relationship between benthic macrofauna and biogeochemistry in a modern brackish coastal sea. Front. Mar. Sci. 5: 489, doi: 10.3389/fmars.2018.00489 Keywords: benthic macrofauna, ecosystem functioning, nutrient fluxes, sediment biogeochemistry, pore-water gradients, Baltic Sea.
Das Projekt "Comparison of sampling strategies for solute load estimates" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Zürich, Geographisches Institut durchgeführt. To assess the status and actual trends of surface water bodies as proposed by the EU water framework directive, reliable monitoring strategies are fundamental. However, in research and governmental water quality monitoring studies, clear guidelines for experimental design of monitoring campaigns are often unavailable, leading to flawed or ambiguous data sets. Not only are the data difficult to interpret, but incorrect conclusions and resulting policy recommendations can have far-reaching implications. Inadequate sampling devices or strategies are often responsible for sampling artifacts. These artifacts can obscure real variations in the environment. This is especially critical when considering nutrients, pollutants or environmental tracers, which vary with discharge fluctuations. In this project we compare sampling strategies, methods, and new devices using case studies from research catchments in Switzerland and Germany and an international watershed (Lake Constance). We evaluate time, water level and volume proportional integrative sampling strategies active with grab sampling for solute load estimates with emphasis on nutrient fluxes during pronounced discharge events. We compare various active samplers (event-triggered sampling, time-proportional composite sampling, volume-proportional composite sampling) with passive samplers for several events in different catchments.
Das Projekt "Entwicklung und Bewertung nachhaltiger Graswirtschaftssysteme" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Eidgenössische Forschungsanstalt für Agrarökologie und Landbau durchgeführt. '- Die Zusammenhaenge zwischen der Tierhaltung, Fuetterung und dem Futterbau sollen hinsichtlich ihrer Wirkung auf die Naehrstoff- und Energiefluesse sowie auf Aspekte der Landschaft erfasst werden. - Verschiedene fuer die Schweiz in Frage kommende Graslandnutzungssysteme werden in Bezug auf ihre Umweltvertraeglichkeit beurteilt, und es werden Staerken/Schwaechenprofile erstellt. - Die verschiedenen Graslandnutzungssysteme werden in Bezug auf ihre oekologische, oekonomische und soziale Nachhaltigkeit optimiert. - Die Fragen der Wirtschaftlichkeit und Tierhaltung werden gemeinsam mit den Schwesteranstalten bearbeitet.