Food web assessments in the Baltic Sea: Models bridging the gap between indicators and policy needs.

ABSTRACT: Ecosystem-based management requires understanding of food webs. Consequently, assessment of food web status is mandatory according to the European Union's Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) for EU Member States. However, how to best monitor and assess food webs in practise has proven a challenging question. Here, we review and assess the current status of food web indicators and food web models, and discuss whether the models can help addressing current shortcomings of indicator-based food web assessments, using the Baltic Sea as an example region. We show that although the MSFD food web assessment was designed to use food web indicators alone, they are currently poorly fit for the purpose, because they lack interconnectivity of trophic guilds. We then argue that the multiple food

SUBMITTER: Korpinen S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9110573 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature