EUROTROPH - Nutrients cycling and the trophic status of coastal ecosystems

The project aimed to improve our knowledge of the metabolic state of coastal ecosystems, which is fundamental in terms of nutrients and carbon cycling/storage. The trophic status was determined in diverse ecosystems using simultaneously different methods at various time scales. The effect of nutrients speciation and organic carbon fractionation were studied in systems of various eutrophication levels. A model was implemented to estimate transfer and fluxes of carbon/nitrogen and to forecast the impact of human intervention on trophic status change. Results were translated into management criteria and directives for monitoring procedures to assess the trophic status of coastal ecosystems.

EUROTROPH studied four sites which are quite different coastal ecosystems in terms of metabolism: The Randers Fjord in Denmark, the Scheldt estuary in Belgium/The Netherlands, the plume of the Scheldt in the Southern Bight of the North Sea, the Posidonia seagrass bed in the Bay of Palma in Spain.