Rapport nr 135: Kartering och klassificering av undervattensmiljöer samt tillämpning av informationen på den regionala planeringen. NANNUT-projektet på Åland 2010-2012
KIVILUOTO, S (2013)
KIVILUOTO, S
Åbo Akademi, Husö biologiska station
2013
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This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-12-2946-6
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-12-2946-6
Tiivistelmä
The Government of Åland, together with 9 other partners took part in the project NANNUT, funded by European Union Central Baltic Interreg IV. The main aim in the project was to develop tools for easier use of underwater information in the communal planning process and create a network for cooperation in the northern Baltic Sea, from Kotka to Stockholm. In Åland the goal was to gather all the information on the underwater vegetation from previous studies to a map database and during field work seasons 2010 and 2011 fill in the gaps in research. During summer 2010 the focus of the inventories was in shallow bays, mainly in eastern and northern parts of Åland. During 2011 fieldwork was carried out as drop-video-inventories around the sea areas of Kumlinge and Eckerö. Both methods were chosen to produce data that would be comparable to previously collected data in Finland and Sweden.
The inventories focused on the sea bottom substrates, vegetation and blue mussel colonies. The collected data were analyzed by a habitat classification model developed in the project. Furthermore, the effect of human influence on the condition of shallow bays was estimated. Within the 22 bays studied during 2010, eight were graded as good or excellent. Most of these bays were located in the Föglö area. Effects of human influence were estimated in 32 bays of which 14 were considered as unaffected or only slightly affected. All bays with high ecological value were either pristine or had only minor effects by human activities. The bays with lowest values in both classification systems were surrounded by fields and grazing areas and hosted small marinas. These closed bays were located in eastern coast of Lumparland, near the Långnäs harbor.
In the analysis of the video inventories good or high habitat value was graded to 13.7 % of the studied 489 video points. Most of the high value points were located in the sea area around Eckerö. In depths less than 8 meters bladderwrack communities were the most common as at deeper locations blue mussel colonies took over. Dense vascular plant communities were common in both the Eckerö and Kumlinge study areas. Healthy red algae belts were found only around Eckerö, where bladderwrack communities were also much more common than in the Kumlinge area.
Both study methods were suitable for locating sea grass and stonewort meadows. Sea grass was found in 3 locations during both field work season, stonewort meadows only during shallow bay inventories. Considering these valuable habitats and other rare and protected species, a list with locations has been delivered to both conservation authorities in Åland and to the HELCOM database of red listed species.
All the data gathered within this project are available for public in the NANNUT internet portal. Furthermore, detailed maps and raw data from the Åland study areas can be required via the environmental office at the Government of Åland.
The inventories focused on the sea bottom substrates, vegetation and blue mussel colonies. The collected data were analyzed by a habitat classification model developed in the project. Furthermore, the effect of human influence on the condition of shallow bays was estimated. Within the 22 bays studied during 2010, eight were graded as good or excellent. Most of these bays were located in the Föglö area. Effects of human influence were estimated in 32 bays of which 14 were considered as unaffected or only slightly affected. All bays with high ecological value were either pristine or had only minor effects by human activities. The bays with lowest values in both classification systems were surrounded by fields and grazing areas and hosted small marinas. These closed bays were located in eastern coast of Lumparland, near the Långnäs harbor.
In the analysis of the video inventories good or high habitat value was graded to 13.7 % of the studied 489 video points. Most of the high value points were located in the sea area around Eckerö. In depths less than 8 meters bladderwrack communities were the most common as at deeper locations blue mussel colonies took over. Dense vascular plant communities were common in both the Eckerö and Kumlinge study areas. Healthy red algae belts were found only around Eckerö, where bladderwrack communities were also much more common than in the Kumlinge area.
Both study methods were suitable for locating sea grass and stonewort meadows. Sea grass was found in 3 locations during both field work season, stonewort meadows only during shallow bay inventories. Considering these valuable habitats and other rare and protected species, a list with locations has been delivered to both conservation authorities in Åland and to the HELCOM database of red listed species.
All the data gathered within this project are available for public in the NANNUT internet portal. Furthermore, detailed maps and raw data from the Åland study areas can be required via the environmental office at the Government of Åland.