No 13 the Ecological Condition of the Gulf of Finland
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MERI No 13 The ecological condition of the Gulf of Finland: microbiological and phyto- planktonic intercalibrations and a review of macrophyte investigations. The Biological Section of the Soviet- Finnish Working Group on the Gulf of Finland. Helsinki 1987 Merentutkimuslaitos PL 33 00931 Helsinki 93 Havsforskningsinstitutet PB 33 00931 Helsingfors 93 institute of Marine Research P. 0. Box 33 SF-00931 Helsinki 93 Finland No 13 The ecological condition of the Gulf of Finland: microbiological and phyto- planktonic intercalibrations and a review of macrophyte investigations. The Biological Section of the Soviet- FinnishFinland. Working Group on the Gulf of Helsinki 1987 ISBN 951-47-0839-3 ISSN 0356-0023 Helsinki 1987, VAPK Kampin VALTIMO CONTENTS INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY 3 Arvi Järvekulg, Erich Kukk, Astrid Saava, Pentti Kangas, Julius Lassig and Åke Niemi FINNISH-SOVIET INTERCALIBRATION OF PHYTOPLANKTON 7 IDENTIFICATION USED FOR MONITORING THE CONDITIONS OF THE GULF OF FINLAND Erich Kukk and Åke Niemi FINNISH-SOVIET INTERCALIBRATION OF SAPROPHYTIC 43 BACTERIA ANALYSES Astrid Saava and Ilkka Rinne A COMPARISON OF GELMAN AND SYNPOR MEMBRANE FILTERS 55 FOR RECOVERING COLIFORM BACTERIA FROM SEA WATER Astrid Saava and Ilkka Rinne PHYTOBENTHOS AS AN INDICATOR OF THE DEGREE OF 63 POLLUTION IN THE GULF OF FINLAND AND IN NEIGHBOURING SEA AREAS Tiiu Trei, Henn Kukk and Erich Kukk MACROPHYTE VEGETATION AND TROPHIC STATUS OF THE 111 GULF OF FINLAND - A REVIEW OF FINNISH INVESTIGATIONS Guy Hällfors, Ilkka Viitasalo and Åke Niemi THE ECOLOGICAL CONDITION OF THE GULF OF FINLAND: MICROBIOLOGICAL AND PHYTOPLANKTONIC INTERCALIBRATIONS AND A REVIEW OF MACROPHYTE INVESTIGATIONS INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY Arvi Järvekülg¹, Erich Kukk2, Astrid Saava3, Pentti Kangas Julius Lassig5 and Åke Niemi6 (Members of the Biological Section of the Soviet-Finnish Working Group on the Gulf of Finland) BACKGROUND Bilateral cooperation between the Soviet Union and Finland concerning protection of the Gulf of Finland was established in 1968 within the framework of the joint Scientific-Technological Committee. In the early seventies a number of sections were set up to establish discussions on topics related to the main problem areas dealt with by the Working Group on the Gulf of Finland. The task of the Biological Section of the Working Group was to assess the ecological conditions of the Gulf of Finland on the basis of biological determinants. In order to make it possible to carry out the overall task given to the section, comprehensive basic work first had to be done. This included intercalibrations of methods used in the different participating laboratories, and discussions on taxonomic problems. The necessity for intercalibration of several biological determi- nants appeared already at the beginning of the work. The results of the first intercalibration exercise, held on board the 1 Institute of Zoology and Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR, Tartu 2 Tartu State University, Tartu 3 Management Development Institute of the Estonian SSR, Tallinn 4 National Board of Waters and Environment, Helsinki 5 Ministry of the Environment, Helsinki 6 Tvärminne Zoological Station, University of Helsinki 4 Finnish research vessel Aranda, were published in 1980 (Järvekulg et al.). The activities of the Biological Section were markedly intensified and the tasks of the Section broadened following the biological symposium held in Tallinn in 1973. In 1974 a report on macrozoobenthos as an indicator of the state of the Gulf of Finland was presented by Järvekulg, and a corresponding report on phytoplankton determinants by Lassig et al. (1974). In 1981 a symposium on "Problems Concerning Bioindication of the Ecological Condition of the Gulf of Finland" was arranged in Pärnu in the Estonian SSR. The proceedings of the symposium were published in a special volume of Hydrobiological Researches (Trei 1985). The papers included in the present volume have been prepared according to the work plan of the Biological Section. This article summarises the main results presented in the subsequent papers of this volume. NEW RESULTS The first Finnish-Soviet intercalibration of the microbiological determinants (Järvekulg et al. 1980) showed that the results obtained by the different laboratories were not directly comparable due to the use of different methods and culture media. As a results, Difco plate agar and the Soviet nutrient agar used for enumeration of saprophytes were compared and the effect of NaC1 supplement in the media and dilution water was studied (before the next intercalibration). GELMAN and SYNPOR membrane filters, used for the recovery of coliform bacteria from brackish-water, were also compared. The new results presented by Saava and Rinne (1987a, b) showed that the Difco plate count agar gave a higher colony count than the Soviet standard. NaC1 supplement in the dilution water had a significant effect on the colony counts of saprophytes in brackish-water, but the effect was negligible in the case of nutrient media. The GELMAN and SYNPOR membrane filters differed 5 in their capacity to recover coli-bacteria. The second Finnish- Soviet intercalibration of saprophytes showed that comparable data can only be obtained when the same medium and procedures are used. The phytoplankton intercalibrations carried out in 1978 (Järvektilg et al. 1980) showed that there is a certain degree of comparability in the quantitative results. In contrast, the fundamental problems arose in connection with species identification and a different understanding of taxonomy and nomenclature, chiefly due to different research traditions. These problems are also evident in the taxonomic works published by different plankton laboratories working around the Baltic Sea. In order to help resolve this situation, a new intercalibration was performed between Soviet and Finnish laboratories concentrating on species identification and taxonomy. The results (Kukk & Niemi 1987) specify those systematic groups of algae which should be treated in more detail: a seminar on phytoplankton taxonomy planned to be held in 1987 will be of profound interest. Macrophytes in the Gulf of Finland have been studied for more than a century. Both in the USSR and Finland, the results of such studies have mostly been published as short papers in different journals, which are sometimes difficult to find. As the Finnish and Soviet scientists represent different research traditions, the Biological Section found it appropriate to compile and review earlier results in two different papers (Trei et al. 1987 and Hällfors et al. 1987). The bibliographies of the macrophyte studies carried out in the Gulf of Finland have been made as complete as possible. Joint research of this kind, the intercalibrations, the reviews on investigations and assessments are activities essential if we are to gain a profound understanding and achieve protection of the Gulf of Finland. These activities will also be of great interest for the Baltic Sea research and for the aims of the Helsinki Commission. 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Biological Section expresses its gratitude to the Finnish Institute of Marine Research for publishing the results. REFERENCES Hällfors, G., Viitasalo, I. & Niemi, A. 1987: Macrophyte vegetation and trophic status of the Gulf of Finland - a review of Finnish investigations. - Meri 13:111-136. Järvekiilg, A. 1974: A scale for the differentation of the degree of organic pollution of mild toxicity (zones of saprobity) in the j3-mesohaline zones (with salinity 5-10 o/oo) of the benthal of the Gulf of Finland based on the parameters of the macrobenthos. - The Soviet- Finnish Working Group on the Protection of Water in the Gulf of Finland, the group of experts in biological research, the USSR group. - Draft. 10 p. (mimeogr.). , Kukk, E., Lassig, J., Melvasalo, T., Niemi, A. & Saava, A. 1980: Finnish-Soviet intercalibration of biological parameters used for monitoring the condition of the Gulf of Finland. - Meri 8:1-78. Kukk, E. & Niemi, A. 1987: Finnish-Soviet intercalibration of phytoplankton identification used for monitoring the conditions of the Gulf of Finland. - Meri 13:7-42. Lassig. J., Niemi, A. & Melvasalo, T. 1974: On the possibility of using phytoplankton and primary production as indicators of the water quality in the Gulf of Finland. - Commission for the Gulf of Finland, expert group for biological research, Finnish part. - Draft. 17 p. (mimeogr.). Saava, A. & Rinne, I. 1987a: Finnish-Soviet intercalibration of saprophytic bacteria analyses. - Meri 13:43-53. 1987b: A comparison of GELMAN and SYNPOR membrane filters for recovering coliform bacteria from sea water. - Meri 13:55-61. Trei, T. (ed.) 1985: Problems concerning bioindication of the ecological condition of the Gulf of Finland. - Hydrobiological researches XV. - Tallinn 1985. 194 p. Kukk, H. & Kukk, E. 1987: Phytobenthos as an indicator of the degree of pollution in the Gulf of Finland and in neighbouring sea areas. - Meri 13:63-108. 7 FINNISH-SOVIET INTERCALIBRATION OF PHYTOPLANKTON IDENTIFICATION USED FOR MONITORING THE CONDITIONS OF THE GULF OF FINLAND 2 Erich Kukkl and Åke Niemi Other participants in the intercalibration: 2 2 Mikaela Forsskåhl3, Guy Hällfors , Seija Hällfors , Maija Huttu- 4 5 3 nen , Jorma Keskitalo , Kaisa Kononen , Liisa Lepisto , Kai 7 4 Piirsoo and Hilkka Viljamaa ABSTRACT Species identification was performed on brackish-water phytoplankton samples taken during the vernal bloom and in late summer in order to intercalibrate the results obtained in