The aims of this work are to provide an overview of the current stresses of estuaries in Argentina and to propose adaptation strategies from an ecohydrological approach. Several Argentinian estuaries are impacted by pollutants, derived mainly from sewage discharge and agricultural or industrial activities. Anthropogenic impacts are expected to rise with increasing human population. Climate-driven warmer temperature and hydrological changes will alter stratification, residence time, oxygen content, salinity, pollutant distribution, organism physiology and ecology, and nutrient dynamics. Good water quality is essential in enhancing estuarine ecological resilience to disturbances brought on by global change. The preservation, restoration, and creation of wetlands will help to protect the coast from erosion, increase sediment accretion rates, and improve water quality by removing excess nutrients and pollutants. The capacity of hydrologic basin ecosystems to absorb human and natural impacts can be improved through holistic management, which should consider social vulnerability in complex human–natural systems.

The aims of this work are to provide an overview of the current stresses of estuaries in Argentina and to propose adaptation strategies from an ecohydrological approach. Several Argentinian estuaries are impacted by pollutants, derived mainly from sewage discharge and agricultural or industrial activities. Anthropogenic impacts are expected to rise with increasing human population. Climate-driven warmer temperature and hydrological changes will alter stratification, residence time, oxygen content, salinity, pollutant distribution, organism physiology and ecology, and nutrient dynamics. Good water quality is essential in enhancing estuarine ecological resilience to disturbances brought on by global change. The preservation, restoration, and creation of wetlands will help to protect the coast from erosion, increase sediment accretion rates, and improve water quality by removing excess nutrients and pollutants. The capacity of hydrologic basin ecosystems to absorb human and natural impacts can be improved through holistic management, which should consider social vulnerability in complex human–natural systems. | Fil: Kopprio, Germán Adolfo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Bahía Blanca. Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía (i); Argentina | Fil: Biancalana, Florencia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Bahía Blanca. Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía (i); Argentina | Fil: Fricke, Anna. Deutsches Zentrum für Marine Biodiversitätforschung; Alemania. University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis. Faculty of Sciences; Francia | Fil: Garzon Cardona, John Edison. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Bahía Blanca. Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía (i); Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Química; Argentina | Fil: Martínez, Ana. Universidad Nacional del Sur; | Fil: Lara, Ruben Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Bahía Blanca. Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía (i); Argentina. Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Ecology; Alemania

Understanding the respective roles of environment and interspecific interactions in shaping species’ distributions is a critical aspect in determining the potential impacts of newcomer species on occupied habitats. The invasive caprellid amphipod Caprella scaura has successfully spread along southern Europe in a short time period, coinciding with a decline in the population of an ecologically similar congener, Caprella equilibra. To understand the mechanisms underlying the establishment success of this aggressive species and its potential role in shaping C. equilibra’s distribution, we analyze the biotic and abiotic factors involved in the patterns of distribution and co-occurrence of both species along the Iberian Peninsula and northern Africa. Our analyses support that C. scaura is competitively displacing C. equilibra from the study area, but also point out the critical role of salinity and temperature in modulating this interaction and limiting the invasive success of C. scaura on the Iberian North-Atlantic coast.

Understanding the respective roles of environment and interspecific interactions in shaping species' distributions is a critical aspect in determining the potential impacts of newcomer species on occupied habitats. The invasive caprellid amphipod Caprella scaura has successfully spread along southern Europe in a short time period, coinciding with a decline in the population of an ecologically similar congener, Caprella equilibra. To understand the mechanisms underlying the establishment success of this aggressive species and its potential role in shaping C. equilibra's distribution, we analyze the biotic and abiotic factors involved in the patterns of distribution and co-occurrence of both species along the Iberian Peninsula and northern Africa. Our analyses support that C. scaura is competitively displacing C. equilibra from the study area, but also point out the critical role of salinity and temperature in modulating this interaction and limiting the invasive success of C. scaura on the Iberian North-Atlantic coast. | Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CGL2011-22474 | Junta de Andalucía P11-RNM-7041

The Baltic Sea and the Chesapeake Bay share many characteristics. Both are shallow, brackish marine areas that suffer from eutrophication. Successful policies targeting point source pollution have lowered nutrient loads in both areas, but achieving the desired marine quality will require further abatement: efforts may be extended to more complicated and expensive pollution sources, notably agricultural nonpoint loads. Despite their ecological similarities, the two watersheds have different histories and institutional settings and have thus adopted different policies. Comparing and contrasting the policies reveal ways to improve the efficiency of each and ways to avoid the path of trial and error. No comparison of the parallel protection efforts, which involve expenditures of hundreds of millions of dollars annually, has been carried out to date. The present paper analyzes the policies applied in the two regions, distilling the results into six recommendations for future steps in preserving what are valuable sea areas.

The Baltic Sea and the Chesapeake Bay share many characteristics. Both are shallow, brackish marine areas that suffer from eutrophication. Successful policies targeting point source pollution have lowered nutrient loads in both areas, but achieving the desired marine quality will require further abatement: efforts may be extended to more complicated and expensive pollution sources, notably agricultural nonpoint loads. Despite their ecological similarities, the two watersheds have different histories and institutional settings and have thus adopted different policies. Comparing and contrasting the policies reveal ways to improve the efficiency of each and ways to avoid the path of trial and error. No comparison of the parallel protection efforts, which involve expenditures of hundreds of millions of dol- lars annually, has been carried out to date. The present paper analyzes the policies applied in the two regions, distilling the results into six recommendations for future steps in preserving what are valuable sea areas | 2015

As one of the busiest marine ecosystems in the world, the English Channel is subjected to strong pressures due to the human activities occurring within it. Effective governance is required to improve the combined management of different activities and so secure the benefits provided by the Channel ecosystem. In July 2014, a Cross-Channel Forum, entitled “Science and Governance of the Channel Marine Ecosystem”, was held in Caen (France) as part of the INTERREG project “Promoting Effective Governance of the Channel Ecosystem” (PEGASEAS). Here we use outputs from the Forum as a framework for providing Channel-specific advice and recommendations on marine governance themes, including the identification of knowledge gaps, which may form the foundation of future projects for the next INTERREG project call (2015–2020).

As one of the busiest marine ecosystems in the world, the English Channel is subjected to strong pressures due to the human activities occurring within it. Effective governance is required to improve the combined management of different activities and so secure the benefits provided by the Channel ecosystem. In July 2014, a Cross-Channel Forum, entitled “Science and Governance of the Channel Marine Ecosystem”, was held in Caen (France) as part of the INTERREG project “Promoting Effective Governance of the Channel Ecosystem” (PEGASEAS). Here we use outputs from the Forum as a framework for providing Channel-specific advice and recommendations on marine governance themes, including the identification of knowledge gaps, which may form the foundation of future projects for the next INTERREG project call (2015–2020).

Over the last decade, air pollution has become a major problem in Portugal mainly due to the high concentrations of particulate matter in the atmosphere, which surpassed the daily limit values. An abundant type of natural atmospheric aerosol is related with the suspension and long–range transport of mineral dust from North Africa deserts. The main objective of this work was to assess the mineral dust over Portugal, namely in what concerns both long–term period (one year) and episode peaks. The BSC–DREAM8b v1.0 model was applied for the entire year of 2011 and the modeled surface concentrations were explored. The annual mean of the simulated dust has a magnitude of 2–6μg m–3. The monthly average analysis highlights the largest mineral dust average values in April and May (about 4μg m–3 higher than the other months). The influence of the transport of mineral dust from North Africa to Portugal is limited on time scale, since in 50% of the time this contribution is below 0.2μg m–3. Only when high percentiles are analyzed the dust surface concentrations over Portugal become relevant (>3μg m–3; with peak contribution around 10–25μg m–3). To characterize the strongest episodes of dust, a group of days with modeled surface daily concentrations above 5μg m–3 was selected, and data were extracted for 7 sites, spatially distributed along Portugal. A cluster analysis of the air parcels back trajectories that arrive at each site was performed in order to identify the mean flow patterns associated to each mineral dust episode. The prevalence of the flow regimes coming from North Africa during the episode days was different for the studied sites, with high frequency (above 70%) at south sites. This work contributes to the characterization and assessment of the dust episodes that affect Portugal, on a yearly basis and based on a modeling approach.

Over the last decade, air pollution has become a major problem in Portugal mainly due to the high concentrations of particulate matter in the atmosphere, which surpassed the daily limit values. An abundant type of natural atmospheric aerosol is related with the suspension and long–range transport of mineral dust from North Africa deserts. The main objective of this work was to assess the mineral dust over Portugal, namely in what concerns both long–term period (one year) and episode peaks. The BSC–DREAM8b v1.0 model was applied for the entire year of 2011 and the modeled surface concentrations were explored. The annual mean of the simulated dust has a magnitude of 2–6 μg m–3. The monthly average analysis highlights the largest mineral dust average values in April and May (about 4 μg m–3 higher than the other months). The influence of the transport of mineral dust from North Africa to Portugal is limited on time scale, since in 50% of the time this contribution is below 0.2 μg m–3. Only when high percentiles are analyzed the dust surface concentrations over Portugal become relevant (>3 μg m–3; with peak contribution around 10–25 μg m–3). To characterize the strongest episodes of dust, a group of days with modeled surface daily concentrations above 5 μg m–3 was selected, and data were extracted for 7 sites, spatially distributed along Portugal. A cluster analysis of the air parcels back trajectories that arrive at each site was performed in order to identify the mean flow patterns associated to each mineral dust episode. The prevalence of the flow regimes coming from North Africa during the episode days was different for the studied sites, with high frequency (above 70%) at south sites. This work contributes to the characterization and assessment of the dust episodes that affect Portugal, on a yearly basis and based on a modeling approach.

Concentrations of six trace metals were determined in the eggshells of American oystercatchers (Haematopus palliatus) from the Bahía Blanca estuary, Argentina. All metals measured in selected samples presented concentrations above the detection limit. Means found for Cu, Pb, Cr, Zn and Ni were as follow: 2.02±0.52, 7.23±2.33, 0.78±0.03, 2.22±1.13 and 6.05±0.89mg/kg dw. The mean concentrations of Cd found were surprisingly high: 13.28±3.38mg/kg dw. Previous studies made on prey items of the American oystercatchers showed low to medium concentrations of the six trace metals. This may indicate a possible transfer of the metals that are available in the environment through food chains. Our study indicates that American oystercatchers sequester heavy metals in their eggshells. Therefore the eggshells may be useful as biomonitors for trace metal contamination in the Bahía Blanca estuary.

Concentrations of six trace metals were determined in the eggshells of American oystercatchers (Haematopus palliatus) from the Bahía Blanca estuary, Argentina. All metals measured in selected samples presented concentrations above the detection limit. Means found for Cu, Pb, Cr, Zn and Ni were as follow: 2.02 ± 0.52, 7.23 ± 2.33, 0.78 ± 0.03, 2.22 ± 1.13 and 6.05 ± 0.89 mg/kg dw. The mean concentrations of Cd found were surprisingly high: 13.28 ± 3.38 mg/kg dw. Previous studies made on prey items of the American oystercatchers showed low to medium concentrations of the six trace metals. This may indicate a possible transfer of the metals that are available in the environment through food chains. Our study indicates that American oystercatchers sequester heavy metals in their eggshells. Therefore the eggshells may be useful as biomonitors for trace metal contamination in the Bahía Blanca estuary. | Fil: Simonetti, Pia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Bahía Blanca. Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía (i); Argentina | Fil: Botté, Sandra Elizabeth. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Bahía Blanca. Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía (i); Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Biología, Bioquímica y Farmacia; Argentina | Fil: Marcovecchio, Jorge Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Bahía Blanca. Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía (i); Argentina. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Bahía Blanca; Argentina. Universidad FASTA "Santo Tomas de Aquino"; Argentina

The Kolmogorov–Zurbenko (KZ) filter method is a tool to improve air quality management, since it determines meteorological effects on air quality concentrations and separates out those effects in order to examine underlying trends. Air quality in Portugal is exceeding the legislated particulate matter (PM10), nitrogen oxides (NO2) and ozone (O3) levels; accordingly, measures to reduce pollutant emissions have been designed. The primary objective of this work is to investigate the influence of meteorology on O3, NO2 and PM10 levels and the long-term air quality trends. Air quality and meteorological datasets were explored for the period 2002–2012 through the decomposition of time-series using the Kolmogorov–Zurbenko (KZ) filter. To determine the best meteorological predictors for the air quality data, a stepwise regression analysis of the filtered time-series was applied. The KZ filter application revealed that the short-term component has the highest contribution to the total variance of the original air quality data (≈64%–PM10; ≈52%–O3; ≈54%–NO2) followed by the seasonal component. The long-term component exhibits the influence of the emission control regulations implemented in each study region. The statistical analysis of the air quality and the meteorological data indicated that O3 has a statistically significant relationship with temperature in most of the components. The results also indicate that emission control strategies are primary regulators for NO2 and PM10 levels. Therefore, to establish an accurate strategy to improve air quality further, it will be essential to include meteorological effects. This study highlights that the KZ filter is a useful tool to support the design and implementation of adequate air quality strategies and for the investigation of the interactions between the emissions, the meteorological conditions and the air quality levels, to improve air quality management in these two urban areas.

The KolmogoroveZurbenko (KZ) filter method is a tool to improve air quality management, since it determines meteorological effects on air quality concentrations and separates out those effects in order to examine underlying trends. Air quality in Portugal is exceeding the legislated particulate matter (PM10), nitrogen oxides (NO2) and ozone (O3) levels; accordingly, measures to reduce pollutant emissions have been designed. The primary objective of this work is to investigate the influence of meteorology on O3, NO2 and PM10 levels and the long-term air quality trends. Air quality and meteorological datasets were explored for the period 2002e2012 through the decomposition of time-series using the KolmogoroveZurbenko (KZ) filter. To determine the best meteorological predictors for the air quality data, a stepwise regression analysis of the filtered time-series was applied. The KZ filter application revealed that the short-term component has the highest contribution to the total variance of the original air quality data (z64%ePM10; z52%eO3; z54%eNO2) followed by the seasonal component. The longterm component exhibits the influence of the emission control regulations implemented in each study region. The statistical analysis of the air quality and the meteorological data indicated that O3 has a statistically significant relationship with temperature in most of the components. The results also indicate that emission control strategies are primary regulators for NO2 and PM10 levels. Therefore, to establish an accurate strategy to improve air quality further, it will be essential to include meteorological effects. This study highlights that the KZ filter is a useful tool to support the design and implementation of adequate air quality strategies and for the investigation of the interactions between the emissions, the meteorological conditions and the air quality levels, to improve air quality management in these two urban areas.

Seagrass ecosystems represent a global marine resource that is declining across its range. To halt degradation and promote recovery over large scales, management requires a radical change in emphasis and application that seeks to enhance seagrass ecosystem resilience. In this review we examine how the resilience of seagrass ecosystems is becoming compromised by a range of local to global stressors, resulting in ecological regime shifts that undermine the long-term viability of these productive ecosystems. To examine regime shifts and the management actions that can influence this phenomenon we present a conceptual model of resilience in seagrass ecosystems. The model is founded on a series of features and modifiers that act as interacting influences upon seagrass ecosystem resilience. Improved understanding and appreciation of the factors and modifiers that govern resilience in seagrass ecosystems can be utilised to support much needed evidence based management of a vital natural resource.

Abstract not available | Richard K.F. Unsworth, Catherine J. Collier, Michelle Waycott, Len J. Mckenzie, Leanne C. Cullen-Unswortha

Posidonia oceanica is a marine angiosperm endemic from the Mediterranean. Despite their protection, its meadows are regressing. The economic valuation of ecosystem services (ES) assesses the contribution of ecosystems to human well-being and may provide local policy makers help in territorial development. To estimate the economic value of P. oceanica seagrass and the meadows that it forms to better account its presence in coastal development, identification and assessment of ES provided are first performed. Then goods and benefits (GB) and their economical values are estimated. In total, 25ES are identified and 7GB are economically evaluated. The economic value of GB provided by P. oceanica ranges between 25.3 million and 45.9 million€/year which means 283–513€/ha/year. Because of the lack of existing available data, only 7GB linked to 11/25ES have been estimated. Despite this overall undervaluation, this study offers a value for coastal development policies to take into account.

Posidonia oceanica is a marine angiosperm endemic from the Mediterranean. Despite their protection, its meadows are regressing. The economic valuation of ecosystem services (ES) assesses the contribution of ecosystems to human well-being and may provide local policy makers help in territorial development. To estimate the economic value of P. oceanica seagrass and the meadows that it forms to better account its presence in coastal development, identification and assessment of ES provided are first performed. Then goods and benefits (GB) and their economical values are estimated. In total, 25ES are identified and 7 GB are economically evaluated. The economic value of GB provided by P. oceanica ranges between 25.3 mil- lion and 45.9 million €/year which means 283–513 €/ha/year. Because of the lack of existing available data, only 7 GB linked to 11/25ES have been estimated. Despite this overall undervaluation, this study offers a value for coastal development policies to take into account.