The full list of projects contains the entire database hosted on this portal, across the available directories. The projects and activities (across all directories/catalogs) are also available by country of origin, by geographical region, or by directory.
The aim of this programme will be to study the mechanisms of the regulation of the body fuel utilizon and energy expenditure during fasting
Energy allocation
Parental effort, the extra energy expenditure above maintenance levels devoted to the care of affspring, has been postulated to incur a fitness cost.
Biomarkers for orgaic pollution components
The objectives of this project is to study the effect of environmental stochasticity on the Svalbard reindeer population dynamics, nad further evaluate how this may affect reindeer-plant interactions.
Observation how UV-radiation affects recruitment on hard substrate in the upper sublitoral zone.
1. To quantify benthic community parameters for all size classes of fauna across the Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ) 2. To make a detailed assessment across the OMZ of a) sediment accumulation, mixing and irrigation rates and depths and b) environmental factors acting as controls on faunal activity 3. To characterise solid phase and porewater geochemistry of sediments across the OMZ 4. To assess a) faunal digestive Organic Matter (OM) alteration, b) the relative importance of chemo- and photosynthetic food sources, and c) benthic food web structure, across the OMZ 5. To determine porewater profiles and benthic solute fluxes in situ, and to assess faunal OM assimilation and trophic relationships by monitoring tracers during shipboard and in situ incubations 6. To obtain high resolution porewater profiles of oxygen and other key analytes, free of pressure and other effects potentially introduced by core recovery 7. To determine in situ oxygen consumption rates and benthic fluxes 8. To use labelled tracers to assess mixing and irrigation rates, faunal OM assimilation, and size-selective ingestion and mixing 9.To determine sediment denitrification and sulfate reduction rates and their contributions to OM remineralisation
1. To compare temporal influences of environmental variables (e.g. depth temperature, contaiminats) on species and families 2. To corroborate inferences made from the previous two datasets. We hope to determine whether temperature is still the most important variable influencing the macrofauna 3. To analyse between temporal and spatial trends to determine whether there has been any significant change in the benthic community structure, especially at stations near past exploration activity 4. To compare results with those from the South of the Faroe Islands being collated by Daniel Jacobsen of the University of Copenhagen.
1. To use a combination of archival and contemporary data to develop and test hypotheses on the impact of climatic change on rocky intertidal animals and plants. 2. Forecast future community changes based on Met. Office Hadley centre models and UKCIP models. 3. Establish a low-cost fit-for-purpose network to enable regular updates of climatic impact projections. 4. Assess and report likely consequences of predicted changes on coastal ecosystems. To provide general contextual time-series data to support marine management and monitoring. 5. Evaluate use of intertidal indicator species as sustainability indices. Disseminate the results as widely as possible. 6. Provide a basis for the development of a pan-European monitoring network.
1. Establish a network to measure environmental change in marine waters by undertaking long-term research and monitoring 2. Maintain and enhance existing long-term research programmes 3. Restart important discontinued long-term research programmes 4. Develop a quality controlled database of long-term marine data series 5. Deliver and interpret long-term and broad scale contextual information to inform water quality monitoring 6. Demonstrate the benefits of preserving and networking long-term time series programmes
1. The improvement of the scientific basis for the management of fisheries taking elasmobranch species by: a)Species Identification /biological sampling b)Stock discrimination / separation c)Data compliation and exchange d)Data preparation, stock assessment & species vulnerability
1. To descirbe and compare the phylogenetic diversity and distribution of the total bacterial flora associated with G catenatum cysts and vegetative cells. 2. To culture and identify bacteria from G catenatum, and identify/characterise any bacteria capable of autonomous PST production in G. catenatum 3. To examine the effect of cyst surface sterilisation and re-introduction of bacteria on PST production in G catenatum 4. Survey bacteria for quorum sensing capability (cell signaling) and detect in situ quorum sesing in xenic G. catenatum cultures, relating to toxicity development. 5. Develop molecular markers of cross species quorum sensing, facilitating analysis of quorum sensing in uncultivated bacteria.
1. Analysis of existing data from the current shellfish monitoring programmes in order to design a suitable sampling strategy 2. Ideentification of toxic algal species in UK waters 3. Construction of a detailed time-series at several key sites in the UK for toxic phytoplankton and shellfish toxin occurence 4. Comparison of the genotype versus toxicity of suspected toxic species between sites
Objective 1: To map the structural and genetic variability, the framework-constructing potential, and the longevity of Deep Water Coral (DWC) ecosystems Objective 2: To assess hydrographic and other local physical forcing factors affecting Benthic Boundary Layer (BBL) sediment particle dynamics and POC supply in the vicinity of DWC ecosystems Objective 3: To describe the DWC ecosystem, its dynamics and functioning; investigate coral biology and behaviour and assess coral sensitivity to natural and anthropogenic stressors Objective 4: To assign a sensitivity code, identify the major conservation issues (and increase public awareness), and make recommendations for the sustainable use of the DWC ecosystem
1. To determine the effects of each of several sealice treatment chemicals on macrofaunal assemblages 2. To determine the effects of each of several sealice treatment chemicals on zooplankton assemblages 3. To determine the effects of each of several sealice treatment chemicals on meiofaunal assemblages 4. To determine the effects of each of several sealice treatment chemicals on benthic diatom assemblages 5. To determine the effects of each of several sealice treatment chemicals on phytoplankton assemblages 6. To determine the effects of each of several sealice treatment chemicals on macroalgal and littoral assemblages 7. To measure the concentrations of each of several sea lice treatment chemicals in the environment post-treatment 8. To determine the significant correlations between ecosystem responses, time and therapeutant concentration to determine the proportion of the observed environmental variance attributal to the treatments against a background of responses due to other parameters such as waste organic materials and nutrients 9. To model the dispersion and or depostion of farm wastes including of each of several sea lice treatment chemicals in the marine environment post treatment and to incorporate terms relating to the toxicity of these chemicals to certain parts of the ecosystem (e.g. the macrofauna)
1. To describe the ontogeny of foraging behaviour of halibut larvae, and to determine any detrimental effects of current commercial rearing practices in terms of structural damage, developmental abnormalities and behavioural competence 2. To investigate the resistance of larvae to handling in relation to developmental stage, in order to determine the most appropriate stage for handling and to devise non-damaging handling methods 3. To investigate whether larvae exhibit temperature, or salinity preferences at critical developmental stages, by means of behavioural observations in temperature/salinity gradients and by subjecting larvae to different acclimation regiemes in rearing tanks 4. To develop husbandry protocols that reduce the incidence of surface aggregation and that enable larvae to be retained in UK upwelling tanks for the optimal duration, in terms of handling resistance, behavioural competence and feed initiation success 5. To determine the optimum conditions for transferring larvae to first feeding tanks, by investigating responses to physical, chemical and biological parameters, including mechanisms by which microalgae 'green water' promote or enhance feed ingestion 6. To obtain a reproducible benefical microbial flora during the early stages of larval rearing, with the aim of establishing an industry -relevant probiotic approach at the feed initiation stage
Large-scale changes in surface ocean chemical equilibira and elemental cycling have occurred in the fremework of "global change" and are expected to continue and intensify in the future. The progressive increase in atmospheric CO2 affects the marinebiospehere in varous ways: indeirectly, for instance, through rising mean global temperatures causing incereased surface ocean stratification and hence mixed layer insulation, and directly through changes in seawater carbonate chemistry. In lab experimetns we recently observed that CO2-related changes in seawater carbonate chemistry strongly affect calcification of marine coccolithophorids. A rise in atmospheric CO2 may slow down biogenic calcification in the surface ocean with likeley effects on the vertical transport of calcium carbonate to the deep sea. The lab findings will be tested with natural phytoplankton in semi-controlled conditions in a series of floating mesocosms.
This study will be part of the EU project NTAP. The overall objective of NTAP is to provide a unified conceptual framework for nutrient dynamics as modulated by the interaction of turbulence and plankton and to use this information to aid in implementing and modifying legislation on coastal water quality and management. Specifically, the objectives are a) to build a database on turbulence effects by gathering existing scattered data, b) to produce experimental data on key organisms, interactions and mass transfer rates, c) to develop a sensor for laboratory measurement of small-scale turbulence, and d) to produce a dynamical model at community level with exploratory and predictive capabilities. The present project will fit within Objective b), and will complement other NTAP experimental studies with cultures and natural communities that are being carried out in different European laboratories. The results derived from this project will also be valuable to test and calibrate the model developed within Objective d).
Four-week mesocosm study with the following objectives: - to identify environmental and biotic factors in control of the production, chemistry and fate of exportable DOM in a coastal environment - to follow how DIN and DIP are transformed to DON and DOP and to measure their mineralisation - to analyse the optical properties of new DOM and to measure how radiation might change the optical properties - to validate current community-nutrient models for the marine system with particular emphasis on the mechanisms regulating shifts between carbon- and mineral nutrient limitation of bacterial growth rates, - to produce experimental data for further development and modification of the plankton community-nutrient model and – to incorporate DON and DOP into the present community-nutrient model.
Many marine sponges produce and store pharmacologically-active metabolites. There is an ongoing discussion as to whether some of these compounds are produced by the sponge itself, or by associated bacteria which can account for more than 60% of the sponge biomass. Co-metabolic activity between sponge cells and sponge associated bacteria (SAB) has also been postulated. Anaerobic bacteria are occasionally found in sponge tissue, though their contribution to sponge metabolism is completely unknown. There is increasing interest in biotechnological production of sponge biomass for sustainable use of this promising marine resource. Our studies will contribute to a thorough understanding of sponge-bacteria interaction, and form the basis for the development of biotechnological methods. Most research has been done on tropical and subtropical sponges. Participants of this project will apply, for the first time, microbiological and chemical studies on boreal sponges. Objectives: • Description of chemical conditions in sponge tissue: occurrence of microniches • Cultivation of specific groups of aerobic and anaerobic sponge associated bacteria • Establishment of novel methods for co-cultivation of sponge cells and bacteria • Identification of new bacterial biomarkers • Elucidation of connections between spatial distribution of associated bacteria and metabolites with a focus on anoxic zones and anaerobic microbial communities (especially sulfate reducing bacteria and Archaea) • Investigation of chemical communication and other interactions (´bacterial farming´) between sponge cells and bacteria as well as sponges and their environment