title: The Swedish monitoring of surface waters: 50 years of adaptive monitoring.
abstract: For more than 50 years, scientific insights from surface water monitoring have supported Swedish evidence-based environmental management. Efforts to understand and control eutrophication in the 1960s led to construction of wastewater treatment plants with phosphorus retention, while acid rain research in the 1970s contributed to international legislation curbing emissions. By the 1990s, long-time series were being used to infer climate effects on surface water chemistry and biology. Monitoring data play a key role in implementing the EU Water Framework Directive and other legislation and have been used to show beneficial effects of agricultural management on Baltic Sea eutrophication. The Swedish experience demonstrates that well-designed and financially supported surface water monitoring can be used to understand and manage a range of stressors and societal concerns. Using scientifically sound adaptive monitoring principles to balance continuity and change has ensured long-time series and the capability to address new questions over time.
authors.affiliation: Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 7050, 750 07, Uppsala, Sweden, jens.folster@slu.se.
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fölster
authors.forename: Richard K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Martyn N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Futter
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wilander
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000266:history* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D058735:Environmental Policy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D005062:European Union; D005068:Eutrophication; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000032:analysis*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D013548:Sweden