The eutrophication of the Baltic Sea due to increased anthropogenic nutrient loads during the 20th century is well documented and studied. However, in the Baltic Sea drainage area, humans have affected the environment longer than the environmental monitoring can provide data for. Sediment records from lakes and seas can provide fundamental data on the environmental conditions before ecosystems were impacted by humans and give the range of natural variation.
This thesis presents diatom and geochemistry stratigraphies from five sediment records along the southeast coast of Sweden, northwestern Baltic Proper. These records cover time periods of 500 years to more than 2,000 years. The diatom stratigraphies and geochemical proxies allow for reconstruction of environmental histories at these sites. The outcomes of this thesis highlight the importance of a longer time perspective than the environmental monitoring can provide.
Author(s): Lena Norbäck Ivarsson
Series: Södertörn Doctoral Dissertations, 178
Publisher: Södertörn University
Year: 2020
Language: English
Commentary: papers I-IV (p. 95 ff.) are missing
Pages: 102
City: Flemingsberg
Abstract
Svensk sammanfattning
List of papers
Abbreviations and definitions
Introduction
Thesis objectives
Background
Holocene history of the Baltic Sea
The present Baltic Sea
Effects of climate on the Baltic Sea ecosystem
Climate during the Holocene
Records of early human impact in lakes
Agrarian history in southern Sweden during the last millennium
Description of study sites
Kanholmsfjärden
Ådfjärden
Himmerfjärden
Bråviken
Gåsfjärden
The western Gotland Basin
Material and Methods
Field work
Chronologies
Diatoms as a proxy for environmental change
Geochemical proxies
Data processing and statistical analyses
Results – summary of papers
Interpretation and Discussion
Signs of eutrophication in the coastal zone during the last centuries
Causes for eutrophication in the coastal zone
Tracing human impact and climate change during medieval times
Climate or nutrients as drivers of paleoecological trends in the Baltic Sea since 500 CE
Implications for the environment
Conclusions
References
Tack
Paper I (missing)
Paper II (missing)
Paper III (missing)
Paper IV (missing)
Södertörn Doctoral Dissertations
