Elena Gorokhova
Team Members: Brita Sundelin, Elena Gorokhova, Hitesh Motwani (ACES, Stockholm University) Nadezhda Berezina (Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Science) Evita Strode, Ieva Barda (Institute of Aquatic Ecology, Latvia) Natalja Kolesova (TalTech, Estonia)
AmphiREPRO is a network integrating methodology for the assessment of reproductive aberrations in amphipods as the biological effect indicator of contaminant exposure in the Baltic Sea.
Assessing community response to altered habitats is of theoretical and practical importance if we are to understand impacts on ecosystems and propose adequate management strategies. In the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP), the member states agreed to evaluate whether the targets of the BSAP have been met by using indicator-based assessments. The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) reiterated the need for sustainable management of the European seas, requiring a systematic assessment of the environmental state of all European regional seas using qualitative descriptors for the good environmental status (GES) of the marine environment. Today, there is a great need for sound biological effect indicators for implementation in MSFD. Great efforts are being directed by HELCOM and OSPAR toward the development and validation of ecological metrics that can serve as indicators in the environmental assessment of ecosystem health status, including biological effects of environmental contaminants.
According to MSFD, consistency, coherence, and comparability within marine regions and subregions should be ensured by coordination of monitoring methods and indicator principles taking also into account transboundary features and impacts. Therefore, AmphiREPRO addresses indicator development cross-nationally, involving countries that are responsible for indicator validation and application in their regional systems. Moreover, AmphiREPRO includes experts in zoology, developmental biology, genotoxicity, ecology, and ecotoxicology; this is a unique combination that is not present in any single country.
Our work during the last five years focused on establishing an indicator of biological effects of sedimentary contaminants using reproductive disorders in amphipods. In this work, we used the experience of the Swedish National Marine Monitoring Programme (SNMMP), took it to the next level, and provided a conceptual model and a quantitative framework for the indicator-based assessment in some parts of the Baltic Sea. Now, it is crucial to involve other research groups working with reproductive aberrations in various amphipod species around the Baltic Sea, to understand species-specific responses to developmental toxicity, and to harmonize assessment methodology with existing monitoring data and regional conditions, if we are to use this indicator across the Sea as requested by MSFD.
Stockholm University
The AmphiREPRO project focuses on methodologies for assessing biological effects of hazardous substances in the Baltic Sea region. This particular method focuse
