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Indications of Recovery from Hypoxia in the Inner Stockholm Archipelago

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Abstract

Improved benthic conditions compared to the 1990s were found during benthic investigations, including sediment and benthic macrofauna in the inner Stockholm archipelago during 2008. In the 1990s, these areas were dominated by black and laminated surface sediments and very sparse fauna. A clear relationship was found when comparing sediment status with the benthic macrofauna. Reduced surface sediment and impoverished macroinvertebrate community was only found at one sampling station representing an enclosed part of the inner archipelago, whereas the other seven stations, with depths ranging from 20 to 50 m, had oxidized surface sediments and considerable biomasses of benthic macrofauna (6–65 g m−2) dominated by the invading polychaete Marenzelleria neglecta. An extrapolation of the results shows that, within the investigated area, the coverage of reduced surface sediments had decreased from approximately 17% in the late 1990s to 4% in 2008.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financed by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency through Grant 501 0805. Karlsson and Lindgren also had funding from the Faculty of Science and Technology, Uppsala University. We are grateful to Christer Lännergren, Stockholm Vatten for sharing empirical data on water quality and STP discharges. Wind data, discharge data for River Norrström, and ice cover data for Trälhavet Bay were provided by Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI), which is gratefully acknowledged. Dr Gunnar Andersson, The National Veterinary Institute, and Dr Lennart Norell, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Magnus Rahmberg IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute are thanked for statistical guidance. We also want to thank Prof. Lars Håkanson, Uppsala University for valuable discussions and two anonymous reviewers that gave constructive critique on previous version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, 752 36, Uppsala, Sweden

    O. Magnus Karlsson & Dan Lindgren

  2. Department of Applied Environmental Sciences, Stockholm University, 106 91, Stockholm, Sweden

    Per O. Jonsson

  3. IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, P.O. Box 210 60, 100 31, Stockholm, Sweden

    J. Mikael Malmaeus

  4. Eurofins Environment AB, Box 45185, 104 30, Stockholm, Sweden

    Anders Stehn

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  1. O. Magnus Karlsson
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  2. Per O. Jonsson
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  3. Dan Lindgren
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  4. J. Mikael Malmaeus
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  5. Anders Stehn
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Correspondence to O. Magnus Karlsson.

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Karlsson, O.M., Jonsson, P.O., Lindgren, D. et al. Indications of Recovery from Hypoxia in the Inner Stockholm Archipelago. AMBIO 39, 486–495 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-010-0079-3

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