ESA SITE BY JEAN-YVES PARENT

Main Research Topics - Eutrophication

Coastal seas are valuable habitats for recreational activities and harvestable resources. Exposed to socio-economic pressures at sea and from the watershed, these areas constitute particularly ecologically sensitive and vulnerable zones. One major threat hanging over marine coastal ecosystem health results from increased delivery of anthropogenic nutrients causing eutrophication problems.

The land-based sources of nutrients are indeed considerably enriched in N and P compared to Si due to agricultural, industrial and household activities. Freshwater nutrient sources therefore strongly modify the nutrient balance N:P:Si of coastal waters with respect to coastal phytoplankton and diatom requirements.

Beyond the diversity of local manifestations, coastal eutrophication results in the shift in species composition of the planktonic community with the occurrence of undesirable non-siliceous phytoplankton.

In the scope of the Belgian project AMORE, research on coastal eutrophication aims to establish the quantitative and qualitative links between nutrient (N, P, Si) enrichment, the spreading of high-biomass algal blooms (Phaeocystis globosa but also the co-occurrent diatom Guinardia delicatula), the presence of gelatinous organisms and the impact on ecosystem function.

The Belgian project IZEUT aims to develop ecological quality criteria for eutrophication specific to the Southern Bight of the North Sea.

Main publications:
Becquevort, S., V. Rousseau & C. Lancelot. 1998. Major and comparable roles for free-living and attached bacteria in the degradation of Phaeocystis-derived organic matter in Belgian coastal waters of the North Sea, Aquatic Microbial Ecology, 14 : 39-48.

Becquevort S., Bouvier T., Lancelot C., Cauwet G., Deliat G., Egorov V. N. , Popovichev V.N. 2002. The seasonal modulation of the organic matter utilization by bacteria in the Danube-Black Sea mixing zone. Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science.54: 337-354.

Lancelot, C., M. Keller, V. Rousseau, W.O. Smith Jr, S. Mathot. 1998. Autoecology of the Marine Haptophyte Phaeocystis sp. In : NATO Advanced Workshop on the physiological ecology of Harmful Algal Blooms. NATO-ASI Series, D.A. Anderson, A.M Cembella, G. Hallegraef, ed. Series G : Ecological Science 41 : 209-224.

Lancelot, C., J. Staneva, D. Van Eeckhout, Beckers, J.M. & Stanev, E. 2002. Modelling the Danube-influenced North-western continental shelf of the Black Sea: II: Ecosystem response to changes in nutrient delivery by the Danube river after its damming in 1972. Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science. 54: 473-499.

Lancelot, C., 1995. The mucilage phenomenon in the continental coastal waters of the North Sea. In : The Science of the Total Environment, Elsevier, 165 : 83-112.

Lancelot, C., V. Rousseau, G. Billen, D. Van Eeckhout, 1997. Coastal eutrophication of the Southern Bight of the North Sea : assessment and modelling. In : "Sensitivity of North Sea, Baltic Sea and Black Sea to anthropogenic and climatic changes". E. Ozsoy & A. Mikaelyan, ed., NATO-ASI series, 2. Environment 27 : 439-454.

Rousseau, V., S. Becquevort, J.Y. Parent, S. Gasparini, M.-H. Daro, M. Tackx & C. Lancelot. 2000. Trophic efficiency of the planktonic food web in a coastal ecosystem dominated by Phaeocystis colonies. J. Sea Res. 43:357-372.

Rousseau, V., Leynaert, A., Daoud, N & Lancelot, C. 2002. Diatom succession, silicification and silicic acid availability in Belgian coastal waters (Southern North Sea). Mar. Ecol. Progr. Ser. 236: 61-73

Van Eeckhout, D., Lancelot, C., 1997. Modelling the functioning of the NW Black Sea from 1960 to present. In : "Sensitivity of North Sea, Baltic Sea and Black Sea to anthropogenic and climatic changes". E. Ozsoy & A. Mikaelyan, ed., NATO-ASI series, 2. Environment 27 : 455-468.

Rousseau, V., Breton, E., de Wachter, B., Beji, A., Deconinck, M., Huijgh, J., Bolsens, T., Leroy, D., Jans, S., and Lancelot, C. 2003. Identification of Belgian maritime zones affected by Eutrophication (IZEUT). Final Report. OSTC publications.

Lancelot, C., Rousseau, V., Becquevort, S., Parent, J.-Y., Déliat, G., Leblanc, C., Daro, M.-H., Gasparini, S., Antajan, E., Meyer, A, Ruddick, K., Ozer, J., Spitz, Y. 2003. Study and modeling of eutrophication-related changes in coastal planktonic food-webs: a contribution of the AMORE (Advanced MOdeling and Research on Eutrophication) consortium. Final report 70pp. OSTC publication.