Impacts of invasive alien species and climate change

This project will use existing databases and basic knowledge to develop a knowledge-based and practically usable methodological framework for assessing the impacts of alien species. Project will investigate options for managing the spread of alien species in the marine environment and increasing the resilience of ecosystems to climate change, make recommendations for the development of sustainable thematic solutions, and develop methodologies for future work. The climate change theme will focus on the assessment of the distribution of marine habitats of high CO2 sequestration value, the distribution of seabed higher plants (seagrasse and other higher plants) communities and the CO2 sequestration potential. In addition, methodologies for restoring or even establishing seagrass habitats will be developed. Studies on the impacts of alien species will focus on identifying the impacts of invasive species in the Baltic Sea region under present and future climate conditions, also taking into account regional trends in other human pressures. The invasive species theme will (i) assess the individual and combined impacts of invasive species on the biotic and abiotic environment and ecosystem services (ii) model the distribution potential of invasive species and assess the spatial impacts under current environmental conditions, (iii) develop an eDNA method for biological monitoring in ports to enable rapid and early detection of new and potentially high impact alien species in key risk areas (iv) establish frameworks for impact assessment of alien species and risk analysis. In addition to the above, dissemination of knowledge on alien species and climate change impacts, and training of stakeholder groups on identification of impacts and implementation of mitigation measures will be an important part of the project.