title: Importance of coastal primary production in the northern Baltic Sea.
abstract: In this study, we measured depth-dependent benthic microalgal primary production in a Bothnian Bay estuary to estimate the benthic contribution to total primary production. In addition, we compiled data on benthic microalgal primary production in the entire Baltic Sea. In the estuary, the benthic habitat contributed 17 % to the total annual primary production, and when upscaling our data to the entire Bothnian Bay, the corresponding value was 31 %. This estimated benthic share (31 %) is three times higher compared to past estimates of 10 %. The main reason for this discrepancy is the lack of data regarding benthic primary production in the northern Baltic Sea, but also that past studies overestimated the importance of pelagic primary production by not correcting for system-specific bathymetric variation. Our study thus highlights the importance of benthic communities for the northern Baltic Sea ecosystem in general and for future management strategies and ecosystem studies in particular.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, 901 87, Umeå, Sweden. jenny.ask@emg.umu.se.
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2156-4908
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ask
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, 901 87, Umeå, Sweden.|Division of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Department of Food and Environmental Sciences, Viikki Biocenter 1, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Owen
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Rowe
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, 901 87, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brugel
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, 901 87, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Mårten
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Strömgren
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, 901 87, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Pär
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Byström
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, 901 87, Umeå, Sweden.|Umeå Marine Sciences Centre, 905 70, Hörnefors, Umeå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Agneta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Andersson
mesh_terms: D001454:Baltic States; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D058086:Microalgae / Q000254:growth & development*; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D012621:Seasons; D012623:Seawater
keywords: Benthic contribution; Benthic primary production; Bothnian Bay; Coastal ecosystems; Northern Baltic Sea; Pelagic primary production