BaltVib aims to delineate the current and future Vibrio status, determine biotic and abiotic key factors regulating Vibrio prevalence, and identify nature-based solutions (NbS) to mitigate the problem. This opens up the option for NbS strategies to control pathogenic vibrios in the nearshore habitat where humans interact with the sea.
Read more about the project here
IN THE COMIC >
In Tides of Change, Kaija uses the methods from the BaltVib project to discover that there’s a sharp increase in Vibrio in the Baltic Sea, making her daughter sick after playing in the water.
Vibrio microbes, which are part of the natural bacterioplankton in temperate marine waters have increased in the Baltic Sea in recent years, probably stimulated by elevated surface water temperatures. Several Vibrio species are human pathogens. It is hence of great concern that Vibrio-related wound infections and fatalities have increased dramatically along the Baltic coasts. Future climate change is predicted to escalate this problem, posing a significant threat to human health and Baltic tourism. However, these projections do not yet take into account the influence of helpful habitats such as eelgrass meadows and blue mussels beds on Vibrio abundance. Recent studies suggest that some of these ‘ecosystem engineer’ habitats reduce the abundance of pathogenic Vibrio. This means that nature-based solution (NbS) strategies could help control pathogenic Vibrio in nearshore habitats where humans interact with the sea.
However, climate change remains a wild card. It will continue to affect the structure and functioning of coastal habitats, with as yet unknown consequences for the Vibrio populations in the Baltic Sea.
