It is vital that we gain an understanding of the important ecological role that beach wrack plays for nature and environmental protection, but also for coastal protection. We were very surprised how little is known about this in the Baltic Sea region. Above all, the role for the settlement and thus the consolidation of dunes is probably strongly underestimated. Led by the University of Tartu (EE), the CONTRA team is therefore comparing cleaned beaches with uncleaned beaches at six case study sites. The beach wrack analyses include
– quantitative and qualitative composition and residence times
– nutrient availability in the sand through degradation processes
– impact on flora & fauna by removal
As part of this work package on the “Sustainability and Life Cycle Assessment”, the University of Rostock (DE) last week launched a new experiment on the decomposition of beach wrack. In Warnemünde (Rostock), so-called “decomposition bags” were filled with wrack, which was then buried in a dune or placed near the sand surface. On a monthly basis, for one year, the breakdown of the beach wrack material will be verified. This was made possible in cooperation with the German Weather Service, which provided a place in its measuring field for this purpose. Many thanks for that!