MOLTEN: Monitoring long-term trends in eutrophication and nutrients in the coastal zone: Creation of guidelines for the evaluation of background conditions, anthropogenic influence and recovery

Project description:

"This project will use the high resolution record of environmental changes recorded in coastal sediments to reconstruct, or hindcast, the long-term (ca. 100-150 years) changes in nutrient (N and P) loading that have taken place in four representative European coastal basins.

The project involves novel approaches to reconstruct historical nutrient concentrations using the recently developed technique of diatom-based transfer functions and will use a multi-proxy approach to reconstruct different aspects of ecosystem response (phytoplankton, macrophytes, zoobenthos) to changes in nutrient loading.

Results from this analysis will be used to develop a tool that will enable coastal managers to assess the magnitude of nutrient reduction necessary to reach a state by which ""only a slight departure of the biological community from the conditions of minimal anthropogenic impact"" as defined by the Water Framework Directive.