Abstract
This project will generate new knowledge on ecosystem functioning. We will build a model of the dynamics of a number of key compounds: vitamins (A,B1,C,E), astaxanthin (one of the strongest antioxidants in nature), defense enzymes against oxidative stress and fatty acid cpmposition, at different trophic levels, at different times of year and in different parts of the Baltic Sea. We will do this by documenting plankton food quality and follow the transfer to fish during eight offshore expeditions in 2004-2005. We will for the first time document the oxidative status, a measure of the physiological condition of organisms, of different trophic levels of the Baltic Sea simultaneously. The project combines all factors that have been found to be correlated with the occurrence of a serious reproductional disturbance in Baltic fish know as M74: oxidative stress, astaxanthin, thiamine and fatty acids. One of our hypotheses is that M74 and other disturbances in fish correlate to a pelagic regime shift caused by large-scale environmental changes, notably eutrophication. In 2006-2008 we will study mechanisms at the cellular level in ecological experiments with functional proteome analysis, which will increase the knowledge on the physiological basis of ecological processes. The combination of field data and experimental data is designed to obtain quantitative measures of ecosystem health for the Baltic Sea. This is scientifically interesting, no such studies are reported in literature.
Sweden