while biodiversity is relatively high in the north east atlantic region including the helgeland coast and the faroe islands the baltic sea species and functional diversity is relatively low consequently even minor changes in species biomass andor occurrence can have large effects on ecosystem function and services the loss of a single species therefore has potentially higher impact in the baltic sea than in helgeland and the faroe islands nordic coastal biodiversity is summarized in figure using the number of marine species in different functional groups and classes in each nordic region