Progress report for
Exploring, better understanding and valuing coastal and marine biodiversity through research and innovation
Achievement at a glance
Two large projects were funded under the EU’s research and innovation Horizon Europe programme (EUR 28,5 million):- BIOcean5D (MARINE BIODIVERSITY ASSESSMENT AND PREDICTION ACROSS SPACIAL, TEMPORAL AND HUMAN SCALES) (29 partners / EUR 15,5 million / 4 years from 01/12/2022)
- MARBEFES (MARine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning leading to Ecosystem Services) (23 partners / EUR 13 million / 4 years from 01/09/2022)
Next Steps
Bénédicte CaremierBeneficiaries
EU research institutes, universities and bodies:
European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) France, Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer
(IFREMER) France, European Marine Biological Resource Centre - European Research Infrastructure Consortium (EMBRC) EU, Instytut Oceanologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk (IOPAN) Poland, Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum fur polar- und meeresforschung (AWI) Germany, Helmholtz-zentrum fur umweltforschung gmbh - UFZ
(UFZ) Germany, fundacion AZTI (AZTI) Spain, Stazione zoologica Anton Dohrn (SZN) Italy, University of Vienna (UWIEN) Austria, FONDATION TARA France, Agencia Estatal
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC) Spain, Agenzia Nazionale per le Nuove Tecnologie, l'Energia e lo Sviluppo Economico Sostenibile (ENEA) Italy, Københavns Universitet Denmark, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (DTU) Denmark, Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD) France, Sorbonne Université France, Max-Planck Gesellschaft Germany, Commissariat à l”énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA) France, Universita degli studi di Padova Italy, Biobyte Solutions GMBH Germany, Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee (VLIZ) Belgium, Georg August Universitat Gottingen Germany, Université de Perpignan Via Domitta France, E-Science European Infrastructure for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Spain, Stichting
Hummel Foundation for Sustainable Solutions (HuFoSS) the Netherlands, Klaipedos Universitetas Lithuania, Tartu Ulikool Estonia, Universidad de Salamanca Spain, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) Italy, University College Dublin, National University of Ireland, Institutul National de Cercetare-Dezvoltare pentru geologie si Geoecologie Marina (GEOECOMAR) Romania, Universidad de Cantabria Spain, Fundacion Instituto de Hidraulica Ambiental de Cantabria (FIHAC) Spain, Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC) Spain, Universita degli studi di Trento Italy, Abo Akademi Finland, Hellenic Center for Marine Research (HCMR), Nova Blue Environment France, Asociacion Basque Centre for climate change BC3 - klima aldaketa ikergai BC3 Spain.
Non-EU beneficiaries:
Eidgenoessische Technische Hochschule Zuerich (ETHZ) Switzerland, Norwegian Research Centre AS (NORCE) Norway, Akvaplan-niva AS Norway, The Secretary of State for environment, food and rural affairs (CEFAS) UK, University of Southampton (USOTON) UK, National Oceanography Centre (NOC) UK, The Marine Biological Association (MBA) UK, International Estuarine & Coastal Specialists Ltd (IECS) UK, University of East Anglia UK.
Actions
BIOcean5D unites major European centres in molecular/cell biology, marine biology, and sequencing, with 26 partners from 11 countries, to build a unique suite of technologies, protocols, and models allowing holistic exploration of marine biodiversity across multiple spatial and temporal scales stretching from pre-industrial to today. A focus is to understand pan European biodiversity land-to-sea gradients and ecosystem services, notably with an expedition (TREC, 2023/24) that will deploy mobile labs, research vessels including the Tara schooner, and innovative citizen science tools, across 21 coastal countries and 35 marine labs from the Mediterranean to Arctic seas. New data will be harmonised with existing data, as well as a range of traditional observations (e.g., microscopy, flow cytometry), scientific trawls into an open-access data hub, leveraging international infrastructures, and generating transformative, cross-technologies/cross-scales standard marine biodiversity knowledge at the ecosystem level. Knowledge will inform and constrain new theories and models of marine biodiversity ecological and evolutionary dynamics and drivers, at both taxonomic and functional scales, a portfolio of novel holistic indicators of marine ecosystem health, innovative methods and protocols for economic and legal valuations of marine biodiversity and services integrating the dynamical and functional complexity of marine life. BIOcean5D will create a unique opportunity to bridge molecular/subcellular biology to organismal biology, theoretical ecology and econometrics, and marine complex systems to social sciences, toward the sustainable preservation of theocean and seas. MARBEFES will determine the links between the biodiversity and functioning of coastal and marine ecosystems and the resulting ecosystem services and societal goods and benefits. It will achieve ecological and socio-economic valuation through validated innovative tools in a distributed toolbox (TRL 6) to enhance policy and governance to secure benefits for all. It will progress beyond the current state-of-the-art understanding of the causes and consequences of the maintenance, loss and gain of biodiversity and ecological and economic value and the repercussions for the management and governance of European seas. Involving 23 partners, the project outputs and outcomes are based on developing and validating ecological, economic and socio-cultural valuation tools. These cover the breadth of European marine biodiversity, from the Arctic to semi-tropical areas, across dominant habitats and iconic species, and from shallow to deep areas. They encompass a range of socio-economic contexts. As such, MARBEFES shows the tools to value different natural capital resources and inform planning from financial allocations to management and with monetary and non-monetary benefits. Therefore, the project will advance knowledge by linking marine biodiversity and its ecological structure and functioning to ecological and economic valuation. MARBEFES will improve biodiversity inventory and monitoring in four topics where demonstrable gains can be made: remote monitoring, genetic and genomic approaches, alternative biological traits data collection and citizen science for biodiversity. On remote monitoring methods (sides can sonar, drones, next-generation satellite etc.), MARBEFES will not develop new engineering solutions, but interrogate existing solutions using an expert-judgement approach to define which are best used in different situations and to adopt their use in a coherent manner.