Does Water Quality Matter for Life Quality? A Study of the Impact of Water Quality on Well-being in a Coastal Community.

Most studies of life quality are concentrated on a country-level scale, while local differences within a country or area are less studied. Thus, the effect of the environment on life quality on a local scale remains understudied and is often represented by one generalized common factor. In this study, we investigated the effect of an objectively measured environmental quality variable and subjective reflections of this (perceptions of environmental quality) in relation to life quality in a coastal community. Hence, we tested the effect of objective and subjective water quality measures using a model, accounting for other traditional variables (e.g., income and health) that predict life quality variations. Our findings indicate that perceptions of the environment are strongly associated with life quality, whereas objectively measured environmental quality is associated with life quality to a lesser extent. Thus, our results suggest that the impact of the environment on life quality is mediated via the way the environment is perceived (psychological effects) and less by the actual conditions of the environment.

Temporal escape-adaptation to eutrophication by Skeletonema marinoi.

Diatoms commonly set off the spring-bloom in temperate coastal environments. However, their temporal offset may change in regions subject to nutrient enrichment, and by peaking earlier, such populations can maintain their position in the vernal plankton succession. We tested whether the marine keystone diatom Skeletonema marinoi can accomplish this through thermal evolutionary adaptation. Eight geographically separated subpopulations, representing hydromorphologically and climatologically similar inlets displaying a range of trophic states, were compared in a common-garden experiment. At early-spring temperatures, both doubling times and variation coefficients thereof, correlated negatively with the trophic state of the environment of origin, indicating selection for fast growth due to eutrophication. At mid-spring temperatures, the relationships were reversed, indicating selection in the opposite direction. At late-spring temperatures, no significant relationships were detected, suggesting relaxed selection. Subsequent field observations reflected these findings, where blooming temperatures decreased with trophic state. Natural selection thus moves along with eutrophication towards colder temperatures earlier in the spring, favouring genotypes with the capacity to grow fast. The thermal niche shift demonstrated herein may be an evolutionary mechanism essentially leading to trophic changes in the local ecosystem.