Table of Contents -- Preface -- Executive summary -- Background -- Objectives -- Resulting training set -- Transfer function development -- Background conditions -- Nutrients versus climate change -- Application and monitoring -- 1. Introduction -- 1.1 Requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive -- 1.2 Nutrient reference conditions in the marine environ ment and palaeoecology -- 1.3 The Baltic Sea and eutrophication -- 1.4 Outline of the report -- 2. Collation and processing of environmental data -- 2.1 Site selection -- 2.2 Data processing -- 2.3 Results -- 3. Diatoms in surface sediments -- 3.1 Collection of sediment samples -- 3.2 Preparation of diatom slides -- 3.3 Diatom identification -- 3.4 Diatom enumeration protocol -- 3.5 Summary of the diatom data -- 4. Transfer function development -- 4.1 Techniques for uncovering the main patterns in the diatom data -- 4.2 Indirect gradient analysis -- 4.3 Constrained ordination -- 4.4 Transfer function development -- 5. Long core nutrient reconstruction -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Methods -- 5.3 Saunja Bay -- 5.4 Gårdsfjärden -- 5.5 Arkona Basin and Oder Rinne -- 5.6 Discussion -- 6. Application - a management tool -- 6.1 The palaeolimnological approach -- 6.2 Site selection -- 6.3 Sediment coring -- 6.4 Dating -- 6.5 A step-by-step guide -- 6.6 Evaluation of the reconstruction -- 6.7 Use of the calibration data set in contemporary monitoring -- References -- Svensk sammanfattning.