The second stage of the BONUS BLUEWEBS project
Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment “BIOR” in consortium with the main project coordinator Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) and 7 partners from Finland, Germany, Poland and Sweden is continuing to implement the second stage of the BONUS BLUEWEBS project (Blue growth boundaries in novel Baltic food webs).
Activities in the second stage (01.04.2017.-31.03.2018.) of the project:
- Additional data were prepared to characterise long-term changes in Baltic Sea phytoplankton, zooplankton, zoobenthos abundance and biomass. Data were included and used in project work packages.
- The work on the analysis of the prepared datasets in cooperation with project partners from Finland (Åbo Akademi University) to evaluate the structural and functional changes in the Gulf of Riga food web is continuing. Work on a manuscript: “A multi-trophic trait-based approach reveals ecosystem-wide restructuration as a response to climate and local dynamics”.
- The work on Gulf of Riga food web model (ECOPATH/ECOSIM) calibration is continuing. It is planned to analyse food web structural and functional changes under different scenarios (novel climates, invasive species, fisheries dynamics) using the mass-balanced food web model. The collection of stomach samples was continued to characterise the feeding ecology of the round goby in the Gulf of Riga.
- Georgs Kornilovs and Janis Gruduls participated in project meeting which took place in Tartu on 16-20 April (2018). During the meeting project coordinators and work package leaders discussed project implementation and planned further works.
- The work on preparation of cod otolith material for stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses is continuing.
The total costs of the project are 2,8 million EUR, the Institute’s BIOR share is EUR 148 430,40, where 50% financed by the European Commission and 50% by the Latvian state budget.
The project will be implemented in three stages from 01.04.2017 to 31.03.2020.
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