Historical perspective on the multi-decadal response of marine food webs to anthropogenic impacts.

• Applicant: Dr. Camille de la Vega
• Subject Area: Ecology and Biodiversity of Animals and Ecosystems, Organismic Interactions
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 571526972

Coastal marine ecosystems are being influenced by multiple concurrent anthropogenic stressors. In the North and Baltic seas, climate change, eutrophication leading to oxygen deficiency, and fishing have led to drastic changes in communities from primary producers to top predators, resulting in food web reorganisation. However, due to the lack of historical data and limitations of methodological approaches, there is a lack of knowledge and understanding on how food webs evolved in response to natural and anthropogenic stressors. The main objective of this project is to detect multi-decadal changes in the North and Baltic Seas’ food webs from the mid-19th century to present day, and determine their drivers. This will be achieved using powerful food web tracers that characterise key components of the food web, such as the base of the food web and food chain length, in archived tissue of two generalist marine predators, the harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) and the grey seals (Halichoerus grypus), from three regions in the North and Baltic Seas. This project will make a major contribution in understanding how food webs in the North and Baltic Seas have responded to environmental change, human exploitation, and anthropogenic stressors.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants