Intense human activities facilitate the successful spread and establishment of non-indigenous aquatic organisms in marine and freshwater ecosystems. In some cases such intrusions result in noticeable and adverse changes in the recipient environments. In the Baltic Sea, the discovery and rapid initial spread of the North American wedge clam Rangia cuneata represents a new wave of invasion which may trigger unpredictable changes of the local benthic communities. In this study we present a species-specific DNA-based marker developed in silico and experimentally tested on environmental samples. Marker specificity and sensitivity were assessed in vitro from water samples containing different mixtures of the target species and other five bivalves currently present in the region: the native Cerastoderma glaucum, Macoma balthica and Mytilus trossulus, the invasive Dreissena polymorpha and the cryptogenic Mya arenaria. Cross-species amplification was not found in any case. The method allows to detecting at least 0.4 ng of R. cuneata DNA per μl, and 0.1 g of tissue per liter of water. Finally, the marker performance was assessed in water samples from the Baltic Sea and Vistula Lagoon. The coincidence between independent visual observations of R. cuneata and positive PCR amplification of the marker from the water samples confirmed the efficiency of this highly reproducible, fast, and technically easy method. R. cuneata traces can be detected from environmental DNA even when the population is sparse and small, enabling rapid management responses and allowing to track the invasion dynamics.

Spatiotemporal patchiness of plankton and appropriate sampling strategy are crucial considerations for long-term studies of plankton dynamics, determining the confidence with which statistically significant ecological changes will be detected and attributed to the drivers. We analyze the spatiotemporal variability of Baltic Sea zooplankton using historical data from various monitoring programs. We determined the scales of highest temporal and spatial variability, focusing on distances and time periods shorter than 100 km and 90 days. Analyses were made for different hydrological regions (small lagoons, larger gulfs, Baltic Proper), and with differently sized zooplankton groups (large and small copepods and cladocerans). Temporal variability in one place usually exceeded the synoptic spatial variability. Smaller, faster reproducing cladocerans varied more in abundance than larger, slower reproducing copepods. The variability increased with time and distance between samples. For copepods, a temporal cycle of 60–70 days emerged, implying the need for sampling after every 20–23 days. For cladocerans, we propose 14 days as a sampling interval, the time during which the average abundance differences between samples doubled. In the future, these guidelines should be used in conjunction or as an addendum to HELCOM (Helsinki Commission) guidelines, to optimize the zooplankton sampling effort in the Baltic Sea.

The trophic relationships of the phytoplankton and zooplankton in the Vistula Lagoon in 2008–2010 were investigated. In the current period, the lagoon is an eutrophic water body with summer blooms of blue-green algae. The trophic level of the Vistula Lagoon influences both the composition and quantitative characteristics of the communities of phytoplankton and zooplankton and the trophic relationships between them. In the analyzed period, the consumption of phytoplankton by the zooplankton on the average in the growing season was 28%, which is 1.5 times higher than in the late 1970s. The high grazing pressure of the zooplankton on the phytoplankton reduces its biomass, production, and the intensity of the blooming by the blue-green algae in the Vistula Lagoon.

The seasonal dynamics of phyto- and zooplankton, as well as their trophic interactions, were studied for the shallow freshwater hypereutrophic Curonian Lagoon in the Baltic Sea in 2007–2009. The...

The species Moina micruraKurz, 1875 (Crustacea: Cladocera), which is new for the Vistula Lagoon of the Baltic Sea, was recorded there for the first time. Over the past years, the species has formed...

The seasonal dynamics of production processes in the Baltic Sea are poorly studied. The aim of our research was to study the seasonal features of primary productivity (including the balance with bacterial production) and its redistribution in plankton in the southeastern part of the Baltic Sea in different seasons. More than 70% of primary production is formed in the 0–10 m layer (74–97% of the PP in the euphotic layer). In the same layer, PP accounted for almost 100% of the sum of primary and bacterial production in April and October, and almost 60% in June. Photosynthetic efficiency (PP/rETR) increased in June and October, demonstrating an increase in phytoplankton utilization of absorbed light energy. The depth-integrated values of PP, Chl a, bacterial, and phytoplankton biomasses were maximal in October. The maximum values of zooplankton biomass were determined in June, and they were significantly (5–14 times) higher than in other seasons. The maximum values of bacterial production were also in June.