Browsing by Subject "Itämeri"

Vesistöjen rehevöityminen on globaali ongelma, jolta Suomi ei ole säästynyt. Itämeren kohdalla ongelma on ilmeinen ja myös julkisuudessa laajasti käsitelty asia. Vesistöjen rehevöitymisen merkittäväksi syyksi tunnistetaan yleisesti maatalouden aiheuttamat ravinnepäästöt, erityisesti typpi ja fosfori. Suomi on muiden Itämeren valuma-alueen valtioiden kanssa solminut HELCOM-sopimuksen, jossa sovitaan Itämeren ravinnepäästöjä vähentävistä toimista. Eräs ravinnepäästöjen vähentämiseen pyrkivä toimenpide on ravinteiden kierrätys. Ravinteiden kierrätyksen tehostaminen on myös ollut pääministeri Juha Sipilän hallituskaudella eräs kärkihankkeiden teemoista. Tämä tutkielma on osa hallituksen Kiertotalouden läpimurto - puhtaat ratkaisut käyttöön-kärkihanketta ja siihen kuuluvaa HYKERRYS – Hyvän Sadon kierrätyslannoitus- hanketta. Ravinteiden kierrätyksen tehostaminen mahdollistaa uudistuotettujen kasvinravinteiden käytön vähentämisen, joka siten vähentää myös lannoitetuotteiden valmistuksesta aiheutuvia ympäristöongelmia kuten ravinne– ja hiilidioksidipäästöjä. Kierrätyslannoitteiden suosio on kuitenkin perinteisesti tuotettuihin lannoitteisiin nähden vähäistä, sillä esimerkiksi typpilannoitteiden osalta kierrätyslannoitteilla on kotimaassa vain noin 1,75 % markkinaosuus mikäli karjanlantaa ei huomioida. Tämän tutkielman tarkoitus on lisätä tietoutta kierrätyslannoitteista ja niiden soveltuvuudesta korvata perinteisiä väkilannoitteita kotimaisessa kontekstissa. Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin osittain satunnaistettujen täydellisten lohkojen järjestelyn avulla, miten kierrätyslannoitteet vertautuvat nollakontrolliin ja tavanomaiseen väkilannoitteeseen a) sadon, b) satokomponenttien ja c) taloudellisuuden suhteen härkäpavulla (Vicia faba cv. ’Louhi’). Kokeessa oli mukana neljä eri kierrätyslannoitevalmistajaa kahdeksalla eri lannoitekäsittelyllä, yksi väkilannoitevalmiste, kolme eri typpiporrasta sekä nollakontrolli, jota ei lannoitettu lainkaan. Lannoitevalmisteiden lannoitesisällöt erosivat toisistaan siten, että kierrätyslannoitteiden ravinnepitoisuudet olivat pääosin väkilannoiteverrokkiin nähden vähäravinteisempia. Kierrätyslannoitekäsittelyjen hehtaarilannoitusmäärät vaihtelivat 50 kg/ha ja 6560 kg/ha välillä, kun viljelysuositusten mukaista tavanomaista mineraalilannoitetta käytettiin 364 kg/ha. Koekenttänä toimi peltolohko Haltialan tilalla Helsingissä. Koe järjestettiin hankkeen käynnistymistä seuraavana vuonna, kasvukaudella 2017. Koevuotta edelsi tavanomaisesti lannoitettu ohra. Viljellystä näyteaineistosta otettiin oleelliset tunnusluvut sekä kuivapainot satokomponentteja sekä sadon määritystä varten. Tämän jälkeen aineistosta saatu numeerinen data käsiteltiin Microsoft Excel-taulukkokirjalla sekä IBM SPSS-tilastointiohjelmalla käyttäen merkitsevänä rajana p=0.05. Taloudellinen kannattavuus laskettiin vertailemalla kierrätyslannoitekäsittelyjen ja nollakontrollin hankinta- sekä levityskustannusten rajakustannuksia saatuun sadonlisään nähden. Härkäpapuaineistosta ei löytynyt merkitseviä eroja eri käsittelyjen kesken sadon tai satokomponenttien suhteen. Edes nollakontrolli ei erottunut aineistosta tilastollisesti merkitsevästi. Koska merkitseviä eroja ei löytynyt, ei taloudellisen mielekkyyden vertailu sinänsä ole tarpeellista. Erojen löytymättömyys saattaa johtua esimerkiksi uuden lajikkeen ominaisuuksista tai peltolohkon aiemman viljelyn kerryttämästä ravinnepitoisuudesta maaperässä. Kokeen ulottaminen monivuotiseksi voisi tuoda eroavaisuuksia sadon tekijöihin ja on siten suositeltava jatkotutkimusehdotus.

The Baltic Sea area, formerly an importer of crude oil, has become an important node for oil export. In 2015, between 160 and 240 million tons of oil (and some 150 million tons of other cargo) will be transported through the Gulf of Finland only, in 2006, 140 million tons of oil was shipped through the Gulf. There are a number of development projects going on in Russia and Estonia concerning both old and new terminals. Also new pipelines from the Russian production sites to the coastal oil terminals are under planning or construction. According to an estimate by the EU Commission, in 2010 about 400 million tons of oil and petrochemicals will be processed in the seaports of the Baltic Sea. The risk of accidents is increasing with busier traffic and larger ships. Oil can contaminate the sea through various routes: spills during loading, unloading and other port operations, accidental oil spills from tankers, oil terminals, refineries, pipelines, exploration sites and regular non-tanker shipping, runoff from land, and as municipal and industrial wastes. Any step toward improved safety in shipping decreases the risks and impacts on the marine environment. Therefore the Baltic Sea countries have to continue to work toward pollution-free marine transportation by providing employees environmental protection education and training, by combating substandard shipping, and by increasing international recognition for the ecological significance of the status of the Baltic as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA). The International Maritime Organization (IMO) designated the Baltic Sea a PSSA in 2004.. Several modern tools have been installed for the Gulf of Finland navigation to reduce the risk of ship collisions. One of them is the Gulf of Finland mandatory Ship Reporting System (GOFREP), which went into operation on 1 July 2004. The system covers the international waters of the Gulf of Finland in a joint effort between Finland, Estonia and Russia. By Traffic Separation Schemes (TSS) ships are referred to use a different route when travelling from east/north to west/south and vice versa. Important steps forward to further decrease the risks of shipping and oil accidents were taken in July 2006, when new traffic routing measures entered into force in the central Baltic Sea, in Bornholmsgat, and north of Rügen. In the Gulf of Finland, which is a hot spot area for increasing oil transports, the Vessel Traffic Management and Information System (VTMIS) was taken into use in 2004, including TSS. The HELCOM Automatic Identification System (AIS) provides, since 2005, a very helpful source of information documenting, which enables the identification of the name, position, course, speed, draught and cargo of every ship of more than 300 gross tons sailing in the Baltic Sea. The valuation of oil spill damages is challenging because it attempts to estimate the harm from possible future oil spills, and because the harm depends largely on the conditions at the time of the spill. In addition, it might be difficult for people to perceive the probabilities and uncertainties related to oil spills and their impacts. Against this background it is of utmost importance to improve both the technical and the human aspects of ship operation.

Phycobilins are the main light harvesting pigments in picocyanobacteria. Chlorophyll-a is the main photosynthetic pigment in cyanobacteria as in all phytoplankton. In cyanobacteria, most of chl-a is positioned within the non-fluorescing photosystem I (PSI). Cyanobacteria phycobiliproteins are the main photosynthetic pigments in photosystem II (PSII). Phycobilins fluorescence can be used to help assess the presence and monitoring of cyanobacteria. The fluorescence intensity depends on the examined cyanobacteria group, pigment concentration and phytoplankton growth phase. In this research I studied, using flow-through fluorometers, where the phycoerythrin (PE) fluorescence is originating from and its variation in the Baltic Sea. PE fluorescence signal measured with flow-through fluorometers was also compared with other optical measurements. This study was performed in summer 2016 as part of Alg@line and JERICO-Next projects. Flow-through fluorometers (TriOS and Chelsea) were installed to M/S Finnmaid ship, which trafficked regularly on its route Helsinki–Travemünde. The automated flow-through sensors onboard M/S Finnpartner collected continuous data during 25.5–31.8.2016. Along the route Travemünde-Helsinki, a refrigerated sampler collected water samples once a week from 3 stations. Water samples acted as a reference samples for PE fluorescence signal analysis. Water samples were separated by filtration into three size fractions (total < 2 µm, and < 0.2 µm) and an excitation-emission spectrum was measured. The number of picocyanobacteria/ml, their surface area/ml and biovolume/ml was calculated using epifluorescence microscope. The number of PE-containing picocyanobacteria cells/ml and size was determined by flow cytometer and number of larger PE-containing phytoplankton cells, their size and taxonomy was determined using FlowCam. Most of the PE-fluorescence measured during summer 2016 was originating from pico-fraction. There was not a clear connection between flow-through PE fluorometers and other optical measurements. PE signal originating from fluorometers did not correlate with total fluorescence signal measured with spectrofluorometer. A reason for this can be that the sample has suffered preservation and transport due to the elapsed time. Some of the optical measurements correlated well with each other, and some did not. Excitation-emission spectrum measured from pico-fraction correlated with picocyanobacteria surface area/ml calculated with epifluorescence microscope. This can be explained by the fact that picocyanobacteria pigments are mainly located in the cell membrane. Number of cells/ml calculated with flow cytometer was much lower than the number/ml calculated with epifluorescence microscope. Sample could have been too dense when multiple cells has been interpreted as one larger cell. The program used for the grouping of cells could have also left low PE fluorescence value containing cells without counts. PE fluorescence originating from over 2 µm size fraction measured with spectrofluorometer and fluorescence originating from over 3 µm fraction pictured with FlowCam was not observed similar incidence of various stations in the summer of 2016. PE fluorometers alone are not sufficient for monitoring picocyanobacteria cells containing phycoerythrin in the Baltic Sea but PE fluorometers can be used as support to other methods.

The Baltic Sea is a geologically and biologically unique sea highly vulnerable to environmental hazards, and the most emphasized threat is the risk of oil spills. The microbiology of the Baltic Sea has not been extensively studied, and most studies have focused on bacteria, leaving archaea and fungi to less attention. In addition to the natural microbial communities of different parts of the Baltic Sea, the effects of diesel oil, and dispersants applied in case of an oil spill, on these microbial communities is yet to be elucidated. The focus of this Master’s thesis was to compare the bacterial, archaeal and fungal community compositions of the Baltic Sea surface water at three distinct locations; the open sea, a pristine archipelago, and putatively oil contaminated coastal water at an oil refinery. In addition, the short-term effects of diesel oil and dispersant on the three locations were studied during a 72-hour microcosm experiment. Next-generation Ion Torrent sequencing of bacterial V3–V4 and archaeal V4 regions of 16S rDNA and fungal ITS regions was used for a community composition analysis. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was applied to determine the changes in the copy numbers of bacterial 16S rRNA genes and two genes associated with microbial hydrocarbon degradation, i.e. ring-hydroxylating dioxygenases (RHD) and alkane hydroxylases (AlkB). Based on the findings, the three sites under investigation harbored differing surface water microbiomes demonstrating differing responses to diesel and dispersant amendments, and furthermore, the results indicate that the putatively oil contaminated coastal site has higher natural petroleum hydrocarbon degradation potential compared to the pristine archipelago and especially the open sea. It is noteworthy, that over 90% of the fungal sequences from the open sea and the pristine archipelago, and over half of the fungal sequences from the putatively oil contaminated coastal site were unidentified even at phylum level. In addition, almost half of the archaeal sequences from the putatively oil contaminated site were unindentified. Assessing the petroleum hydrocarbon degradation potential of the indigenous microbiome in different parts of the Baltic Sea is of great importance, since the data can potentially be utilized when developing suitable biological oil spill response methods as well as predicting the rates of petroleum hydrocarbon degradation in different parts of the Baltic Sea area.