This is the first comprehensive science-based textbook on the biology and ecology of the Baltic Sea, one of the world’s largest brackish water bodies. The aim of this book is to provide students and other readers with knowledge about the conditions for life in brackish water, the functioning of the Baltic Sea ecosystem and its environmental problems and management. It highlights biological variation along the unique environmental gradients of the brackish Baltic Sea Area (the Baltic Sea, Belt Sea and Kattegat), especially those in salinity and climate. pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:#262626">The first part of the book presents the challenges for life processes and ecosystem dynamics that result from the Baltic Sea’s highly variable recent geological history and geographical isolation. The second part explains interactions between organisms and their environment, including biogeochemical cycles, patterns of biodiversity, genetic diversity and evolution, biological invasions and physiological adaptations. In the third part, the subsystems of the Baltic Sea ecosystem – the pelagic zone, the sea ice, the deep soft sea beds, the phytobenthic zone, the sandy coasts, and estuaries and coastal lagoons – are treated in detail with respect to the structure and function of communities and habitats and consequences of natural and anthropogenic constraints, such as climate change, discharges of nutrients and hazardous substances. Finally, the fourth part of the book discusses monitoring and ecosystem-based management to deal with contemporary and emerging threats to the ecosystem’s health.

Estuaries are highly dynamic systems subject to changes occurring over a spectrum of time scales ranging from very short periods (e. g. over a tidal cycle) to geologic time scales. The nature of an estuary reflects complex responses to many driving forces, each having a characteristic frequency (or frequencies) of change. For example, freshwater inflow to estuaries varies daily in response to short-term events such as storms, seasonally, and between years as a result of longer-term climatic variability. Other important components of weather, e. g. wind speed/ direction and daily insolation, also vary over time scales ranging from hours to years. Tidal amplitude changes continuously with dominant frequencies associated with the semi-diurnal cycle, the fortnightly neap-spring, and the semi-annual cycle. Temporal dynamics of these driving forces evoke responses in the form of changing (I) circulation patterns and mixing, (2) sediment composition and transport, (3) solute speciation and distribution, (4) composition and abundance of particulates, (5) biomass, species composition, and productivity of plant and animal communities, (6) rates of material exchange between the sediments, water column, and atmosphere, and (7) bioavailability of trace metals and other pollutants. The purpose of this book is to examine the temporal dynamics of these properties and processes in the San Francisco Bay estuary.

​This book is an update of the first BACC assessment, published in 2008. It offers new and updated scientific findings in regional climate research for the Baltic Sea basin. These include climate changes since the last glaciation (approx. 12,000 years ago), changes in the recent past (the last 200 years), climate projections up until 2100 using state-of-the-art regional climate models and an assessment of climate-change impacts on terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. There are dedicated new chapters on sea-level rise, coastal erosion and impacts on urban areas. A new set of chapters deals with possible causes of regional climate change along with the global effects of increased greenhouse gas concentrations, namely atmospheric aerosols and land-cover change. The evidence collected and presented in this book shows that the regional climate has already started to change and this is expected to continue. Projections of potential future climates show that the region will probably become considerably warmer and wetter in some parts, but dryer in others. Terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems have already shown adjustments to increased temperatures and are expected to undergo further changes in the near future. The BACC II Author Team consists of 141 scientists from 12 countries, covering various disciplines related to climate research and related impacts. BACC II is a project of the Baltic Earth research network and contributes to the World Climate Research Programme.