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This electronic book contains some of the information gathered by the Nordic network for research and education `Integrated approaches to drainage basin nutrient inputs and coastal eutrophication'. This network attempted to co-ordinate the relevant, but scattered expertise regarding nutrient inputs and eutrophication in the Nordic and some non-Nordic countries. It was financed by the Nordic Academy of Advanced education (NorFA; http://www.norfa.no). As a continuation of the education activities during the time of the network, the senior scientists made an effort to make the networks joint experience and expertise available to students, young scientists, administrative personnel and interested individuals through this electronic book.
Genuine education is basically dependent on the quality of the research it is based upon and by and large most of the evidence presented here derives from recent and ongoing research projects. We believe that the basis for integrated approaches to drainage basin nutrient inputs and coastal eutrophication is still in its infancy and that far more emphasis has to be given to basic, integrated research. This research will become crucial for a forthcoming generation of scientist dealing with nutrient discharge and eutrophication. The complex questions regarding drainage basin nutrient inputs and coastal eutrophication cannot be adequately addressed at agricultural high schools, freshwater institutes, oceanographic faculties or organizations that deal with atmospheric chemistry. The problems of drainage basin nutrient inputs and coastal eutrophication are entangled and can only be tackled in concerted action. A forthcoming generation of scientists dealing with these questions need fora where they can develop their scientific specialities in an integrated context. Our educational structures separate the scientists that have to co-operate in the future to solve immanent environmental questions. This text is thus also meant to serve as a base for improved education by pointing at relevant sides of drainage basin nutrient inputs and coastal eutrophication that are not dealt with at agricultural high schools, freshwater institutes, oceanographic faculties or organizations that deal with atmospheric chemistry.
The network aimed at an improvement of the educational standard in the Nordic countries and after its completion we hope that this freely available text will continue to serve this purpose. The network became aware about the difficulty to obtain appropriate education in integrated eutrophication as the various research fields that contribute to a holistic view on eutrophication are spread over several unconnected institutions, often even over several countries. Here we attempt to summarise the expertise of the network and make it available to institutions and interested groups of scientists inside the Nordic countries and beyond. We make the Nordic expertise more comprehensive with contributions from scientists from other countries.
The text follows basically the schematic drawing in Figure 4 and is separated into 7 different parts. First, we start with an atmospheric section that deals in detail with the transport, transformation and deposition of nutrients. A description and evaluation of the most important technique to assess nutrient deposition. i.e. numerical modelling, is a cornerstone of Atmospheric section. A run-off section follows focusing on the impact of agriculture on freshwater run-off and water quality, river supply to lakes and the coastal zone, and the supply of nutrients through ground waters. Part II is finalized through an extensive manuscript focussing upon nutrient supply in the Seine River drainage basin. Here the linkages between human activity, water quality and consequences for nutrient discharge into the coastal zone are the focus. This chapter is also a good example how numerical models can be applied in assessment of drainage basin nutrient dynamics.
After this we switch over to eutrophication processes in pelagic ecosystems and deal with eutrophication effects on phytoplankton, nutrient cycling and vertical export, harmful algae and the interaction of natural perturbations and human activities on coastal ecosystems. Both harmful algae chapter and human activities and natural perturbations chapter include important information about the effect of eutrophication of recipients that also could be presented in case studies. Part III is finalized by by an evaluation of the dose-response relationship and eutrophication in European waters. The chapter contains important information in the context of Part V. Part IV is dedicated the benthic environment where the basic features of marine eutrophication, as reflected by benthic nutrient release, benthic metabolic pathways and benthic-pelagic coupling, are presented.
Part V is dedicated to the background of mariculture and its effect on the evironments, cultural eutrophication, ecological quality assessment, and the cultural eutrophication. Cultural eutrophication an attempt is made to summarise previous chapters and to put our knowledge of drainage basin nutrient inputs and eutrophication into an overbranching perspective. We finish this text by presenting a number of case studies. The number of case studies is still limited. In order to wide the scope of the text, we hope that we can expand this section in years to come to comprise a majority of eutrophicated, coastal regions in Europe and beyond. Also an overview over eutrophication related web sites and an key-term index will be presented at the end.
Although a balanced presentation of the various aspects of drainage basin nutrient inputs and eutrophication has been the main ambition, this text is not complete. It is open for changes, amendments and additional contributions. The editors welcome comments and suggestions for improvements. Also, additional chapters are welcome (e.g. in the case study section or for an entirely missing section on the socio-economic aspects of eutrophication).
The text is kept in an electronic format, made available on a server at the University of Tartu in Estonia www.ut.ee/~olli/eutr. Each author is responsible for the particular text and the figures submitted to the web site. The editors have streamlined the text, formatted the text and compiled it. Needles to say that the editors take full responsibility for for editorial mistakes.
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