Blue Growth boundaries in novel Baltic food webs

Novel food webs - compositionally unlike any found today - are increasingly likely due to ongoing climate change and the many kinds of human activities impacting the Baltic Sea ecosystem. Not anticipating these changes will significantly hamper the success of future ecosystem-based management and the optimal provision of ecosystem services. BONUS BLUEWEBS investigates the development and consequences of novel food webs. At Åbo Akademi University, the work focuses on establishing the past and present state of Baltic Sea food webs, using cutting-edge trait-based ecology and study of ecological networks. Consortium partners contribute with big data analytics, physical-biogeochemical modelling, as well as modern bio-economic and social science approaches to evaluate the consequences of novel food webs for ecosystem service provision. BONUS BLUEWEBS provides tools for ecosystem-based management of the Baltic Sea and an assessment of the consequences of achieving a Good Environmental Status on the capability of Baltic Sea food webs to sustainably produce Blue Growth. BONUS BLUEWEBS is a flagship project within the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region