AquaBiota has been appointed as a Gasell Company 2022 by the newspaper Dagens Industri! Every year Dagens Industry recognizes Sweden’s most successful companies; the criteria are tough and less than 1 percent of Sweden’s limited companies qualify. The growth that is rewarded must be organic, i.e. not through acquisition. “It feels great to be acknowledged […]

During this summer, AquaBiota surveyed the Baltic Proper’s bottoms with dropvideo in no less than 1382 stations. The surveys was commissioned by the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SWaM) and the county administrative board of Gävleborg for the purpose of producing maps of biological components for the entire Swedish coast. The Gävleborg survey […]

On behalf of Kävlinge, AquaBiota has produced background data for planning purposes as part of a regional marine spatial planning project in Öresund. Usage of the sea is increasing. Fishing, recreation, transports and energy production need to share a limited space already occupied with marine habitats and organisms. Marine spatial planning aims for long term […]

DNA has been isolated from footprints left in the snow by three otters in Northern Sweden. Scientists at AquaBiota in Stockholm, Sweden, managed to retrieve large amounts of high quality DNA from snow footprints by using a new molecular technique.  The results revealed both DNA from the otters themselves and traces from their latest food […]

Valuation of ecosystem services is used to visualize and enhance understanding of human dependence on healthy ecosystems. Together with Anthesis Enveco and Belyazid Consulting & Communication, AquaBiota has identified, mapped and valued both marine and terrestrial ecosystem services in the coastal zone of Blekinge. The report’s main objective is to enhance understanding of those challenges […]

Based on consideration for conservation values and ecological representativeness the Mosaic framework provides guidance on the prioritization of spatial marine management. The framework is now out for referral. The aim of the framework is to promote a functional, ecosystem-based and adaptive approach to spatial conservation, tailored to the marine environment’s characteristics and opportunities for knowledge […]

AquaBiota can now present a revolutionising, and reliable, method to identify all fish species that occurs in a lake, through analysing DNA from a water sample! This is the first time this is achieved in Sweden. More than 50 Swedish lakes and streams have been investigated and the results compared with earlier exploratory fisheries. The […]

Abstract: Trophic cascades occur in many ecosystems, but the factors regulating them are still elusive. We suggest that an overlooked factor is that trophic interactions (TIs) are often scale-dependent and possibly interact across spatial scales. To explore the role of spatial scale for trophic cascades, and particularly the occurrence of cross-scale interactions (CSIs), we collected […]

Coastal ecosystems of the Nordic countries, such as kelp forests, blue mussel beds, eelgrass meadows and shallow bays and inlets, provide a number of supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural ecosystem services to both the local communities as well as the wider population who benefit from them. The study, published by the Nordic Council of Ministers, […]

Brand new and ultra-clean laboratory facilities – exclusively aimed for environmental DNA extractions – were officially opened February 6th. Micaela Hellström, who has participated in setting up several eDNA labs earlier, has given advice on the laboratory design. The laboratory fulfils all relevant standards for uncontaminated laboratory facilities and is run by a well-trained team […]

Environmental DNA, or eDNA, is a research field that has been developed during the last 10 years and is now ready to be used as method in many types of surveys of the aquatic environment. Less than a liter of water, collected from a lake, bay or river, is enough to detect the presence of […]

A new publication in the journal Wildfowl shows a strong coupling between Long-tailed Ducks and the density of their food, blue mussels, in the southern Baltic Sea (Hanö bight). The study shows that although Long-tailed Ducks tend to aggregate in areas of overall high food density, patchiness of the resource also plays a significant role. […]

A new article from the research project PlantFish shows quantitative relationships between organism size and biomass, for a number of invertebrates in the shallow coastal zone of the Baltic Sea. Organism biomass is an important variable in many ecological studies. Biomass estimates is however a time consuming and expensive procedure requiring lab time, since the […]

On behalf of the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management, AquaBiota has developed a Swedish framework for conservation value assessment of the marine environment. The framework is called MOSAIC, and will serve as a tool in various forms of management – from environmental impact assessments, site protection, marine green infrastructure and, not least as […]

A recently published scientific report shows the response of macrophyte indicators for the Water Framework Directive to anthropogenic gradients. Titel Response of macrophyte indicators to natural and anthropogenic gradients in two coastal areas of Sweden Summary Benthic macrophytes are known to be affected by anthropogenic activity, and therefore these communities are suitable for the assessment […]

The think tank Baltic Eye at Stockholm University recently published an opinion piece in the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet regarding a proposal for a national ban of micro-plastic particles in cosmetic products (http://www.svd.se/regeringen-bor-forbjuda-mikroplasten). One of the scientists behind the article is AquaBiotas researcher Martin Ogonowski. Although the state of knowledge about the effects of plastic […]

From January 2016 AquaBiota is an entirely Swedish research company! The founder Martin Isaeus has bought NIVA’s shares and is now the sole owner. “ – I see great potential in AquaBiota and anticipate an exciting development in the future! We are a strong team that can continue to develop AquaBiota’s present business, and we […]

Commissioned by Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SwAM), the Natura2000-area Bratten in Skagerrak will be hydrographic surveyed by AquaBiota in collaboration with Clinton Marine Survey. In conjunction with this, marine survey data is also collected from shallow coastal waters with the purpose of interpreting benthic biotopes. A multibeam echo sounder capable of recording […]

Figure 1. A schematic figure of central components of the suggested framework of Marine Green Infrastructure. A “Core” (värdekärna) is a location of an ecosystem component (species, species complex or habitat) with a high conservation value, based on criteria relating to biodiversity, threat and ecosystem services. A “Value Area” (värdetrakt) is an area with many […]

During the autumn of 2015, AquaBiota will carry out a national collection and compilation of marine species data on behalf of the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management. Part of the work comprises an assessment of the suitability of the collected data to be used for modeling purposes in a planned mapping of the […]

New scientific publication in Environmental Science and Pollution Research. Title Induced production of brominated aromatic compounds in the alga Ceramium tenuicorne Abstract In the Baltic Sea, high concentrations of toxic brominated aromatic compounds have been detected in all compartments of the marine food web. A growing body of evidence points towards filamentous algae as a […]

New scientific publication in PLoS ONE shows that bloom-forming cyanobacteria in the Baltic Sea support the development and reproduction of zooplankton, (i.e. copepods, which are an essential link to fish). Title Bloom-Forming Cyanobacteria Support Copepod Reproduction and Development in the Baltic Sea Abstract It is commonly accepted that summer cyanobacterial blooms cannot be efficiently utilized […]

On 26 november 2014 HELCOM organized a workshop in Helsingfors on underwater noise. The aim of the workshop was to carry out a stock-taking of on-going activities for the MSFD descriptor D11, and based on this to discuss and plan the development of joint regional monitoring as well as the next steps for development of […]

“Innovative indicators, methods, monitoring & assessment of marine biodiversity in the Baltic Sea” Start: 27 January 2015; 13.00 Slut: 28 January 2015; 13:30 Location: The Baltic Beach Hotel in Jurmala, Latvia At the 27-28 of January the final conference MARMONI “Innovative indicators, methods, monitoring & assessment of marine biodiversity in the Baltic Sea” will take […]

In the first week of November (2014) Havsmiljöinstitutet arranged a workshop in Gothenburg to review of draft programme of measures for Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Julia Carlström and Martin Ogonowski from AquaBiota participated as invited experts. The programme of measures for the Baltic and the North Sea is the last part of the first […]

AquaBiota participated with two platform presentations in the international conference ”The interlink between the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and Marine spatial planning” in Riga 21-22 October 2014. The conference had ca 75 participants from a range of institutions including the EU Commission, Baltic Sea governments, authorites, research institutes and non-governmental organizations. The main aim of […]

Title Assessing uncertainty associated with the monitoring and evaluation of spatially managed areas Abstract Marine spatial planning (MSP) is advocated to support an ecosystem approach to marine management, as it allows consideration of multiple management objectives including marine conservation. The monitoring and evaluation of both implemented marine plans and the planning process itself is susceptible […]

New scientific publication Title Testing the Potential for Predictive Modeling and Mapping and Extending Its Use as a Tool for Evaluating Management Scenarios and Economic Valuation in the Baltic Sea (PREHAB) Abstract We evaluated performance of species distribution models for predictive mapping, and how models can be used to integrate human pressures into ecological and […]

Underwater biotopes and anthropogenic pressures in Holmöarna Sammanfattning Vi har för Holmöarna modellerat utbredningen av biotoper klassade enligt HELCOM Underwater Biotope and habitat classification (HUB). Systemet har utvecklats för att ge en gemensam förståelse för Östersjöns biotoper, habitat och samhällen. I modelleringen har vi även testat hur substratinformation, både från fältdata och klassat från Lidar, […]

Eutrophication management scenarios Ny vetenskaplig publikation Titel Evaluating eutrophication management scenarios in the Baltic Sea using species distribution modelling Summary Eutrophication is severely affecting species distributions and ecosystem functioning in coastal areas. Targets for eutrophication reduction have been set in the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) using Secchi depth, a measure of water transparency, as […]

Sandbanks, reefs, Baltic esker islands and boreal Baltic islets and small islands A report on mapping the potential distribution of the habitat types 1110 sandbanks, 1170 reefs, 1610 Baltic esker islands and 1620 boreal Baltic islets and small islands in Västernorrland, Södermanland, Östergötland, Blekinge and Skåne counties, as well as Gullmarsfjorden and a Skagerrak area […]

AquaBiota participates in the EU LIFE+ project BIAS, which acts to support the management of underwater noise in the Baltic Sea. The project will establish an implementation plan with standards, methodologies, and tools which facilitate the handling of underwater noise within the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. While sound measurements are carried out during 2014, at […]

Species–environment relationships New scientific publication Titel Species–environment relationships and potential for distribution modelling in coastal waters Abstract Due to increasing pressure on the marine environment there is a growing need to understand species–environment relationships. To provide background for prioritising among variables (predictors) for use in distribution models, the relevance of predictors for benthic species was […]

8th-9th Dec 2014, at Kolmården Wildlife Park, Sweden Kolmården Wildlife Park and AquaBiota has the pleasure to invite you to the SAMBAH end-of project conference, to be held 8-9 December 2014. Here, the final results of SAMBAH will be presented, including abundance estimates and distribution maps of harbour porpoises in the Baltic Sea, and the […]

Marin modelling Stockholm Södermanland (MMSS) Two reports from the project Marin modelling Stockholm Södermanland (MMSS) are now published. Report summary There is a great need for increased knowledge on the marine environment, both for regional and local coastal planning, and as a basis for supervision and decision making under the Environmental Code. Maps of the […]