Abstract
This introductory chapter to our Environment International VSI does not need an abstract and therefore we just include our recommendations below in order to proceed with the resubmission. Future work should examine waterbirds as food web sentinels of multiple stressors as well as Baltic Sea food web dynamics of hazardous substances and how climate change may modify it. Also, future work should aim at further extending the new frameworks developed within BALTHEALTH for energy and contaminant transfer at the population level (Desforges et al., 2018, Cervin et al., 2020/this issue Silva et al., 2020/this issue) and their long term effects on Baltic Sea top predators, such as harbour porpoises, grey seals ringed seals, and white-tailed eagles. Likewise, the risk evaluation conducted for PCB in connection with mercury on Arctic wildlife (Dietz et al., 2019, not a BONUS BALTHEALTH product) could be planned for Baltic Sea molluscs, fish, bird and marine mammals in the future. Finally, future efforts could include stressors not covered by the BONUS BALTHEALTH project, such as food web fluxes, overexploitation, bycatches, eutrophication and underwater noise.
Highlights
This introductory chapter to our Environment International virtual special issue (VSI) does not need an abstract and we just include our recommendations below in order to proceed with the resubmission
Future work should aim at further extending the new frameworks developed within BALTHEALTH for energy and contaminant transfer at the population level (Des forges et al, 2018, Cervin et al, 2020/this issue Silva et al, 2020/this issue) and their long term effects on Baltic Sea top predators, such as harbour porpoises, grey seals ringed seals, and white-tailed eagles
The risk evaluation conducted for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) in connection with mercury on Arctic wildlife (Dietz et al, 2019, not a BONUS BALTHEALTH product) could be planned for Baltic Sea molluscs, fish, bird and marine mammals in the future
Summary
The Baltic ecosystem has undergone drastic changes over the past century due to a combination of anthropogenic and environmental stressors. The distri bution of existing viral and bacterial pathogens, along with the emer gence and spread of new pathogens, need to be monitored in order to assess the health status of key Baltic species This is of special impor tance as some of the occurring pathogens are zoonotic and pose a potential risk for human health linked to climate change and pollutant exposure that all affect the immune suppression and subsequent in flammatory diseases. Environment International 147 (2021) 106324 continuing the monitoring of sentinel species in the Baltic Sea
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