Salt and brackish marshes around the Baltic Sea and adjacent parts of the North Sea: Their vegetation and management

Abstract

European salt and brackish marshes are in urgent need of protection. This also holds for the many small marsh sites around the Baltic Sea, including the adjacent parts of the North Sea. Although the individual Baltic shore marshes are small, together they form an important area of salt and brackish marshes in Europe. The Baltic shore vegetation is very complicated because of gradients in salinity, climate, exposure and water level fluctuations. There is a wide range of species and communities: from typical brackish communities around the Baltic Sea (with some arctic species in the Bothnian Bay) to more common central Atlantic communities in the western parts of Sweden and Denmark. A well-developed aspect are the natural transitions from the shore marshes to woodland, bog and heath communities. The Baltic shore marshes have a long history of grazing and hay-making, which favour the occurrence of halophytes in brackish marshes. Nowadays, many Baltic marshes are no longer used for these purposes, so that reed beds, tall grasses and woodland increase at the cost of halophytes. A general strategy for the management of salt and brackish marshes and proposals for the management of the Baltic marshes are presented.