BluEs - Blue_Estuaries - Developing estuaries as habitable sustainable ecosystem despite climate change and stress
Estuarine ecosystems are extensively altered by anthropogenic influence, especially rapid urban and agricultural development leading to nutrient load inputs from river’s catchment areas and direct sources of pollution from ports and industrial facilities, and climate change resulting in prolonged periods of heat and oxygen depletion in estuaries. These multiple concurrent stressors have consequences to the nutrient dynamics and in turn the functioning and structure of estuarine ecosystems.
Focus of BluEs
- Climate and Coastal Dynamics
- Biodiversity and food webs
BluEs aims to achieve a comprehensive understanding of major stressors and critical biological processes shaping estuaries in the Baltic and North Sea with regard to their potential responses to climate change and other human activities such as chemical and nutrient pollution, or sediment disturbance.
BluEs is funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), and will contribute to the FONA (Forschung für Nachhaltigkeit) research priorities in climate and coastal dynamics, food webs and biodiversity. BluEs is part of the KüNO (Küstenforschung Nordsee-Ostsee) program .
