Submerged aquatic vegetation: Overview of monitoring techniques used for the identification and determination of spatial distribution in European coastal waters.

Coastal waters are highly productive and diverse ecosystems, often dominated by marine submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) and strongly affected by a range of human pressures. Due to their important ecosystem functions, for decades, both researchers and managers have investigated changes in SAV abundance and growth dynamics to understand linkages to human perturbations. In European coastal waters, monitoring of marine SAV communities traditionally combines diver observations and/or video recordings to determine, for example, spatial coverage and species composition. While these techniques provide very useful data, they are rather time consuming, labor-intensive, and limited in their spatial coverage. In this study, we compare traditional and emerging remote sensing technologies used to monitor marine SAV, which include satellite and occupied aircraft operations, aerial drones, and acoustics. We introduce these techniques and identify their main strengths and limitations. Finally, we provide recommendations for researchers and managers to choose the appropriate techniques for future surveys and monitoring programs. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:892-908. © 2021 SETAC.

A spatial model for nutrient mitigation potential of blue mussel farms in the western Baltic Sea.

Worldwide, coastal and marine policies are increasingly aiming for environmental protection, and eutrophication is a global challenge, particularly impairing near-coastal marine water bodies. In this context, mussel mitigation aquaculture is currently considered an effective tool to extract nutrients from such water bodies. Mussel mitigation farming using longline systems with loops of collector material is a well-developed technology and considered promising in the western Baltic Sea. Besides several spatially limited field studies, a suitable spatial model for site-specific implementation is still lacking. In this study, we present a modular spatial model, consisting of a spatial and temporal habitat factor model (Module 1), blue mussel growth model (Module 2), mussel farm model (Module 3), and an avoidance of food limitation model (Module 4). The modules integrate data from in situ monitoring, mussel growth experiments, and eco-physiological modelling for the western Baltic Sea, to estimate spatially explicit nutrient reduction potentials. The model is flexible with respect to farm setups and harvest times and considers natural variability, model uncertainty, and required hydrodynamics. Modelling results proved valid at all scales and modules, and point out key areas for efficient mussel mitigation farms in Danish, German and Swedish areas. Modelled long-term mean mitigation potentials for harvest in November reach up to 0.88 tN/ha and 0.05 tP/ha for a farm setup using 2 m depth-range of the water column and 3.0 tN/ha and 0.17 tP/ha using up to 8 m, respectively. For Danish water bodies, we demonstrate that in efficient areas, mitigation farms (18.8 ha, 90 km collector substrate in loops with 2 m depth-range) required <3.6% of the space to extract the target nitrogen loads for good ecological status. The developed approach could prove valuable for implementing environmental policies in aquatic systems, e.g. in situ nutrient mitigation, aquaculture spatial planning, and habitat suitability mapping.

From the Children's Oncology Group: Evidence-Based Recommendations for PEG-Asparaginase Nurse Monitoring, Hypersensitivity Reaction Management, and Patient/Family Education.

PEG-aspariginase is a backbone chemotherapy agent in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia and in some non-Hodgkin lymphoma therapies. Nurses lack standardized guidelines for monitoring patients receiving PEG-asparaginase and for educating patients/families about hypersensitivity reaction risks. An electronic search of 6 databases using publication years 2000-2015 and multiple professional organizations and clinical resources was conducted. Evidence sources were reviewed for topic applicability. Each of the final 23 sources was appraised by 2 team members. The GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) system was used to assign a quality and strength rating for each recommendation. Multiple recommendations were developed: 4 relating to nurse monitoring of patients during and after drug administration, 8 guiding hypersensitivity reaction management, and 4 concerning patient/family educational content. These strong recommendations were based on moderate, low, or very-low-quality evidence. Several recommendations relied on generalized drug hypersensitivity guidelines. Additional research is needed to safely guide PEG-asparaginase monitoring, hypersensitivity reaction management, and patient/family education. Nurses administering PEG-asparaginase play a critical role in the early identification and management of hypersensitivity reactions.

Mussels as a tool for mitigation of nutrients in the marine environment.

Long-line mussel farming has been proposed as a mitigation tool for removal of excess nutrients in eutrophic coastal waters. A full-scale mussel farm optimized for cost efficient nutrient removal was established in the eutrophic Skive Fjord, Denmark where biological and economic parameters related to nutrient removal was monitored throughout a full production cycle (1 yr). The results showed that it was possible to obtain a high area specific biomass of 60 t WW ha(-1) eqvivalent to a nitrogen and phosphorus removal of 0.6-0.9 and 0.03-0.04 t ha(-1)yr, respectively. The analysis of the costs related to establishment, maintenance and harvest revealed that mussel production optimized for mitigation can be carried out at a lower cost compared to mussel production for (human) consumption. The costs for nutrient removal was 14.8 € kg(-1)N making mitigation mussel production a cost-efficient measure compared to the most expensive land-based measures.

Hypoxia in the Baltic Sea: biogeochemical cycles, benthic fauna, and management.

Hypoxia has occurred intermittently over the Holocene in the Baltic Sea, but the recent expansion from less than 10 000 km(2) before 1950 to >60 000 km(2) since 2000 is mainly caused by enhanced nutrient inputs from land and atmosphere. With worsening hypoxia, the role of sediments changes from nitrogen removal to nitrogen release as ammonium. At present, denitrification in the water column and sediments is equally important. Phosphorus is currently buried in sediments mainly in organic form, with an additional contribution of reduced Fe-phosphate minerals in the deep anoxic basins. Upon the transition to oxic conditions, a significant proportion of the organic phosphorus will be remineralized, with the phosphorus then being bound to iron oxides. This iron-oxide bound phosphorus is readily released to the water column upon the onset of hypoxia again. Important ecosystems services carried out by the benthic fauna, including biogeochemical feedback-loops and biomass production, are also lost with hypoxia. The results provide quantitative knowledge of nutrient release and recycling processes under various environmental conditions in support of decision support tools underlying the Baltic Sea Action Plan.

Effects of bioturbation on the fate of oil in coastal sandy sediments--an in situ experiment.

Effects of bioturbation by the common lugworm Arenicola marina on the fate of oil hydrocarbons (alkanes and PAHs) were studied in situ during a simulated oil spill in a shallow coastal area of Roskilde fjord, Denmark. The fate of selected oil compounds was monitored during 120 d using GC-MS and bioturbation activity (feces production and irrigation) was measured regularly during the experiment and used as input parameters in a mechanistic model describing the effects of A. marina on the transport and degradation of oil compounds in the sediment. The chemical analytical data and model results indicated that A. marina had profound and predictable effects on the distribution, degradation and preservation of oil and that the net effect depended on the initial distribution of oil. In sediment with an oil contaminated subsurface-layer A. marina buried the layer deeper in the sediment which clearly enhanced oil persistence. Conversely, A. marina stimulated both the physical removal and microbial degradation of oil compounds in uniformly oil contaminated sediments especially in deeper sediment layers (10-20 cm below the surface), whereas the fate of oil compounds deposited in surface layers (0-5 cm) mainly was affected by removal processes induced by wave actions and other bioturbating infauna such as Nereis diversicolor, Corophium volutator and Hydrobia spp. present in the experimental plots.