Furthermore, there has been an increasing demand for a better understanding of the drivers and impacts of emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and microplastics. This session is dedicated to new insights about the multiple drivers and anthropogenic pressures and their impacts on the functioning and qualities of the marine ecosystem. Studies from various fields are welcome, including interdisciplinary research and approaches at different temporal and spatial scales. This session will address the following questions:
- How do anthropogenic pressures (including material flows such as nutrients, contaminants, plastics; weathering; construction of wind parks, marinas; inputs of energy, such as noise) interlink with biogeochemical cycles and marine ecological processes?
- Risk assessments (accidents, extreme weather events, invasive species, emerging pollutants, international crises).
- Climate driven impacts on material flows (e.g. nutrient, carbon, contaminant, and sediment losses) from the catchment.
- Multiple impacts of fisheries on the marine environment.
- Legacy of the past: impacts, assessments, and management of legacy hazards such as dumped ammunition, weapons, radioactive waste, fiber banks; land-use during medieval times.
- Assessment of mitigation measures and policy instruments: efficient control of multiple pressures.
- How large is the natural background loading? Can the background loading be defined?
- Land use as a driver and policy instrument influencing land-to-sea material flows.
- Socioeconomic megatrends and global climate phenomena (such as the North-Atlantic oscillation) as drivers of pressures on the Baltic ecosystem.
