The project aims to investigate how the Baltic Sea records and responds to anthropogenic and environmental change through two aspects: microplastics (MP) and plankton resting stages.

The Baltic Sea, a semi-enclosed and heavily impacted marine system, faces mounting pressures from climate change, eutrophication, and pollution. Despite ongoing policy measures, recent assessments show little environmental improvement, highlighting the need for research that deepens understanding of how ecosystem processes interact under stress. Here, MemoBaltic focuses on two underexplored aspects of ecosystem memory: the role of microplastics as anthropogenic proxies preserving pollution histories, and the role of plankton resting stages as biological reservoirs shaping future food-web dynamics.

The project has two main objectives:

1. To establish laminated Baltic sediments as reliable stratigraphic records of microplastic fluxes. This approach could transform MPs into quantitative indicators of anthropogenic change, linking pollution trends to past management actions and climate-driven processes.
2. To assess the distribution of plankton resting stages in sediments and their role in the resilience and functioning of the Baltic food web. It aims to combine taxonomic and metagenomic analyses using multiple molecular markers.