Marine biodiversity & ecosystem functioning
network of excellence
INTRODUCTION
General Co-ordinator:
Carlo Heip
Netherlands Institute of Ecology
Centre for Estuarine and Marine Ecology
PO BOX 140
4400 AC Yerseke – The Netherlands
Phone: +31-(0)113-57 74 45 / +32-(0)9-264 85 27
Fax: +31-(0)113-57 36 16
Email: c.heip@nioo.knaw.nl
Overview of MarBEF
The MarBEF (Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning) network of excellence aims to integrate
European research by forming a dedicated group of marine scientists and institutes through a virtual
centre of excellence with a long-term research programme and dedicated links with industry and the
public at large. The network comprises over 700 scientists in 82 individual institutes from 24 countries.
MarBEF involves, besides coordination of research, training, exchange and outreach activities in
several relevant fields of science, including marine ecology and biogeochemistry, fisheries biology,
taxonomy and socio-economic sciences. Better integration of research is required to support the legal
obligations of the EU and its member states and associated states for the Convention for Biological
Diversity, the OSPAR and Barcelona conventions as well as several EU directives (Bird Directive,
Habitat Directive, Water Framework Directive). The network will improve links with the large and
growing number of industries depending on the sustainable use and exploitation of marine
biodiversity. These include tourism, fisheries and aquaculture, but also new industries that explore and
commercialise marine genetic and chemical products. MarBEF represents a new way of thinking and
novel approach to integrating marine biodiversity research in Europe.
Objectives
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To create a virtual centre of excellence as a means of executing the long-term integration
effects of the network
To create and improve upon existing access to resources
To provide specialist training relevant to the scientific objectives of the network
To develop an integrated data and information management system
To transform MarBEF's long-term, strategic approach into policy.
Sustainable development, global change and ecosystems
GOCE-CT-2003-505446
Marine biodiversity & ecosystem functioning
network of excellence
OUTREACH
Team leader:
Communications/Outreach officer:
Chris Emblow
Ecological Consultancy Services Limited
Phone: +353-(0)1-4925711
Fax: +353-(0)1-4925694
Email: cemblow@ecoserve.ie
Róisín Nash
Ecological Consultancy Services Limited
Phone: +353-(0)1-4925711
Fax: +353-(0)1-4925694
Email: roisin@ecoserve.ie
Objectives
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To encourage and facilitate communication between network participants and the wider
scientific and non-scientific community
To develop a high profile image of the network and co-ordinate all publication and outreach
activities
To develop web based material promoting the MarBEF network, marine biodiversity issues
and topics to the broader public, including adults, college students and school children
To provide a forum to allow end users of the network and its products to direct and give
feedback at regular intervals throughout the course of the network
Description of Work
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A structured approach to disseminating information from the network will be developed
Web-based tools will be used:
o To facilitate communication within and outside the network, promote links and
discuss strategy between research, industry and other stakeholders inviting SME's
and other end-users, to join the network in particular tasks.
o Including bulletin board (restricted use), e-conferences and mailing list server,
adopting established infrastructures (MARINE B-list server, MARBENA Econference, etc)
o To make marine biodiversity attractive and understandable for the general public,
including
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Schools and college section with downloadable study sheets and
details of marine biodiversity career and study opportunities.
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Junior section with themed colourful pages, downloadable fact sheets and
interactive marine biodiversity games.
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Reviews of European school curricula and existing marine biodiversity web
based outreach material
A MarBEF newsletter will be produced at 6-month intervals
o This will be widely distributed and archived on the MarBEF website and will
provide opportunities for researchers to publicise their work in a non-scientific,
popular magazine format.
Publicity material will be produced to highlight key marine biodiversity issues and promote
the network including:
o Brochures and poster displays for conferences and exhibitions
o Roadshows organised by the outreach officer including school and college visits,
poster displays in museums, aquaria and at local marine biodiversity days.
A pilot coastal monitoring project will be initiated
o To encourage interest and participation of primary and high school children and
amateur groups, who will liase information/questions, pictures etc to a central node
with the MarBEF website
Sustainable development, global change and ecosystems
GOCE-CT-2003-505446
Marine biodiversity & ecosystem functioning
network of excellence
DATA MANAGEMENT
Team leader:
Edward Vanden Berghe
Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee
Phone: +32-(0)59-34 21 30
Fax: +32-(0)59-34 21 31
Email: wardvdb@vliz.be
Objectives
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To provide visibility to the network by creating a web site, www.marbef.org, including
information on the network, its partners and their activities and research results
To liase with OBIS, ENBI, GBIF and Species2000 for alignments of philosophy and IT
approaches
To facilitate an unhampered and free exchange of data between partners within the network
and to enhance the integration of information
To promote the interoperability of network data sources with other relevant information
sources by development of appropriate tools, standards, and protocols
To enable a common European approach to future data management and storage by the use
of a common suit of tools
Description of work
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A multilingual website will be launched, with suitably high profile domain name and three
main sections (management, data management and integration, and outreach).
A central database will be created, holding resource data. Existing information sources will be
updated and added to the database and new sources targeted through expertise in the
network.
A metadata database will be developed, including information on currently available
resources for biodiversity (including oceanographic datasets and other relevant sources) with
a searchable web site.
A marine taxonomic register will be established, with common access to an array of databases
of information on species of relevance to European biodiversity research such as the European
Register of Marine Species (ERMS); URMO (UNESCO Register of Marine Organisms), and
ETI's North Sea Information System.
A database portal will be initiated, with common formats, standards and procedures, in
collaboration with a network of organisations with technical expertise in biological data
exchange. The MarBEF portal will be the European node to OBIS.
A data management workshop will be organised, to discuss data exchange policy and
priorities for integrated databases and further data management activities.
Sustainable development, global change and ecosystems
GOCE-CT-2003-505446
Marine biodiversity & ecosystem functioning
network of excellence
TAXONOMIC CLEARING SYSTEM
Team leader:
Geoff Boxshall
Natural History Museum; Department of Zoology
Phone: 44-(0)20 7942 5749
Fax: +44-(0)20 7942 5054
Email: gab@nhm.ac.uk
Inventories of species, communities and ecosystems are central to the success of the strategic research
programme in MarBEF. They provide important baseline data that underpin any thorough assessment
of the changes in biodiversity in response to global change, whether natural or anthropogenic. The
emphasis of the research components of this network on field sampling and ecological analysis will
naturally result in the processing of large volumes of material, and the discovery of new, rare, or newly
introduced species. MarBEF needs a system by which European marine ecologists can gain rapid
access to problem-solving taxonomic expertise.
Objectives
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To create a fast-track 'taxonomy clearing system' to address the taxonomic/identification
bottleneck to streamline the process of identifying specimens and describing new species
To provide a specialist feedback service required for updating species inventory lists at sites
selected for ecological analysis of spatial and temporal biodiversity under MarBEF research
theme 1.
To act as a middle agent receiving requests for taxonomic work to be completed and matching
these requests to available taxonomic expertise across the MarBEF community.
To act as an important focal point between taxonomic and ecological researchers within
MarBEF
Description of work
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The available taxonomic expertise within Europe was quantified by the European Register of
Marine Species concerted action and is available on the web. This register of expertise will be
updated via the MarBEF website and through personal contacts.
A small committee consisting of both taxonomists and ecologists will be established to act as
an efficient system for processing and prioritising these requests.
The set of criteria for prioritising identification/description/taxonomic requests will then be
prepared by this committee
Once requests have been prioritised, taxonomists will be contacted and contracted to
undertake the necessary taxonomic work. A budget is required to purchase taxonomists' time
and to pay for the description of high priority, newly discovered species.
Sustainable development, global change and ecosystems
GOCE-CT-2003-505446
Marine biodiversity & ecosystem functioning
network of excellence
QUALITY ASSURANCE OF BIODIVERSITY STUDIES
Team leader:
Keith Cooper
Centre for Environment, Fisheries and
Aquaculture Science
Burnham Laboratory
Phone: +44 (0) 1621-78 72 38
Fax: +44 (0) 1621-78 49 89
Email: k.m.cooper@cefas.co.uk
Objectives
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To construct and apply a QA framework for the MarBEF initiative to ensure that all activities
conform to the highest standards for the conduct of marine research in European waters.
To advise on the production of standard procedures so that recommendations under MarBEF
for adoption of new approaches by the wider marine science community are, from the outset,
accompanied by guidance on quality assurance of the end products.
To establish external collaborative links to ensure that QA initiatives under MarBEF are
known to, and fully integrated with, those of other international organisations with a
common interest, especially the EU, ICES, OSPAR, HELCOM, ISO and CEN.
Description of work
The need to adopt standard procedures for the quality assurance of biodiversity studies underpins all
Work Packages and finds explicit recognition in, for example, proposed training workshops,
approaches to data management and the development of standard software governing statistical
approaches to survey design. The aims of this crosscutting QA Work Package are:
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To develop an integrated web-based source of standards and guidelines covering the
activities of all work packages (e.g., field survey approaches, laboratory/data analyses, data
management and the science/advisory interface)
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To establish collaborative links with national/international QA agencies concerned with the
development of standards for the conduct of marine biological work
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To produce guidelines for the conduct of new sampling/analytical approaches, as necessary
Sustainable development, global change and ecosystems
GOCE-CT-2003-505446
Marine biodiversity & ecosystem functioning
network of excellence
TRAINING
Team leader:
Jens Harder
Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology
Phone: +49-421-2028 750
Fax: +49-421-2028-580
Email: jharder@mpi-bremen.de
Objectives
A key product of MarBEF will be a new generation of professional marine ecosystem scientists for
Europe. The MarBEF Network of Excellence aims to develop a long-tem strategy for the training of
marine scientists in Europe, incorporating the following objectives:
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To fund 5 Postdoctoral Fellowships.
o These will last the duration of MARBEF. One will be allocated to integration activities
within each of the scientific research themes, and two will work in the overall
integrated activities programme (with one dedicated to data and information
management).
To fund Doctoral Studentships
o These will benefit from access to the expertise and resources of the network, the
obligation to undertake research in at least two different MarBEF partner institutes in
separate countries and the supervision by an international panel of experts. The
studentships will be funded through responsive mode projects in the second phase of
MarBEF, the total number being determined by the quality and requirements of the
successful responsive proposals.
To provide training
o This will address the urgent and increasing need for cross training for technicians in
novel methods, in standardised sampling procedures and in experimental protocols.
Standardisation workshops for technicians and researchers will be organised as part
of the Strategic Research Programmes.
o Specialist courses of immediate use to the network's objectives will be offered to
cover the increasing demand for taxonomic work because of the high scientific and
political profile of biodiversity issues, and the recognised shortage of expertise.
To develop a long-term training strategy
o Initial courses will serve as examples to elicit demands for similar or other training
topics and formats from participants, the NoE members and the wider marine
community to develop the long-term training strategy for the NoE.
o A call for proposals for other highly specialist training will be issued, in order to
assess long-term demands for supply These proposals will be considered by the
Steering Committee and a management group responsible for training under our
Spreading of Excellence programme.
Description of work
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Funding will be provided for doctoral and post-doctoral researchers
Specialist training courses will be organised in the first year
A long-term strategy for training of specialists will be developed by assessing the demand for
further training. A list of existing courses will be produced, future demand assessed, and
new training topics and formats identified through a structured questionnaire and the
website. The demand will then be matched with proposals from MARBEF members.
Sustainable development, global change and ecosystems
GOCE-CT-2003-505446
Marine biodiversity & ecosystem functioning
network of excellence
RESEARCH THEME 1: GLOBAL PATTERNS OF MARINE
BIODIVERSITY ACROSS ECOSYSTEMS
Team leader:
Team leader:
John Gray
University of Oslo; Biological Institute
Phone: +47 22 85 45 10
Email: j.s.gray@bio.uio.no
Friedrich Buchholz
Alfred Wegener Institut; Biologische Anstalt
Helgoland
Phone: +49 47 25 81 93 52
Fax: +49 47 25 81 93 69
Email: fbuchholz@awi-bremerhaven.de
Objectives
This strategic programme is designed to integrate research and data from the network members on
large-scale, long-term patterns in marine biodiversity. The network will build on results of previous
EU projects in the field, e.g. ERMS and BIOMARE. The overall objective of the research theme is to
understand how marine biodiversity varies across spatial and temporal scales, and between levels of
biological organisation, in order to develop methods to detect significant change.
The core strategic research programme aims to:
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Understand how marine biodiversity varies across spatial and temporal scales, and between
levels of biological organisation, in order to develop methods to detect significant change in
ecosystems
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Integrate research and data from network members on large-scale, long-term patterns in
marine biodiversity
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Improve our understanding of the nature and relative importance of the processes (both
natural and anthropogenic) that determine variation in marine biodiversity
Key areas for responsive mode actions
1.1 Taxonomic basis of biodiversity
1.2 Genetic biodiversity
1.3 Habitat diversity
1.4 Species Assembly Rules
1.5 Large-scale long-term change
1.6 Practicable methods to detect and monitor
biodiversity change
1.7 Data archaeology
1.8 Functional diversity
Geoff Boxshall, NHM and Damià Jaume, UIB
Jean-Pierre Féral, CNRS-Marseille
Ricardo Serrão Santos, DOP/UAz
John Lambshead, NHM
David Billet, SOC and Friedrich Buchholz, AWI
Doris Schiedek, IOW
Edward Vanden Berghe, VLIZ
Frode Olsgard, UO
Sustainable development, global change and ecosystems
GOCE-CT-2003-505446
Marine biodiversity & ecosystem functioning
network of excellence
RESEARCH THEME 2: MARINE BIODIVERSITY AND
ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING
Team leader:
Team leader:
Carlos Duarte
Universitat de les Illes Balears; Instituto
Mediterraneo de Estudios Avanzados
Phone: +34 971 611725
Fax: +34 971 611761
Email: cduarte@uib.es
David Paterson
University of St Andrews; Department of Biology;
Gatty Marine Laboratory; Sediment Ecology
Research Group
Phone: +44-1334-46 34 67
Fax: +44-1334-46 34 43
Email: d.paterson@st-andrews.ac.uk;
d.paterson@st-and.ac.uk
Objectives
The link between marine biodiversity and ecosystem function is elusive (Duarte, 2000), and conclusive
demonstrations are still few. The functional role of marine biodiversity probably aggregates two
components, a direct effect of biodiversity on ecosystem function and an indirect effect derived from
idiosyncratic contributions. Indeed, even when idiosyncratic contributions dominate, there should be a
relationship between marine biodiversity and ecosystem function, since a more diverse community it is
more likely, even by chance alone, to include a particular species with a key contribution to the
function of interest. The overall objective of this strategic research programme is to generate theory,
models and tests of the relationship between marine biodiversity (assessed at different levels of
organization: genetic, traditional species, and functional groups) and ecosystem function through the
integration of theoretical and modelling exercises, comparative analyses and carefully-designed
experimental tests.
The core strategic research programme aims to:
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Generate, compare and integrate theory, models and tests of the relationship between
marine biodiversity (assessed at different levels of organization: genetic, traditional species,
and functional groups) and ecosystem function
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Determine the rates of selected processes for a variety of ecosystems and across seasons to
provide comparative assessments of the variability of functional measures across Europe
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Compare the activities of marine systems with terrestrial systems and examine the validity
of transposing terrestrial paradigms in ecological theory to marine ecology
Key areas for responsive mode actions
2.1 Ecosystem metabolism
2.2 Food web efficiency
2.3 Ecosystem stability
2.4 Key species and Functional Groups
2.5 Chemical and genetic diversity and its impact
on ecosystem functioning
Harald Asmus, AWI and Arturos Razinkovas,
CORPI
Jean-Pierre Gattuso, CNRS-LO and Carlos Duarte,
UIB
Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi, UP and Tasman
Crowe, UCD
Sergej Olenin, KU and Stephen Hawkins, MBA
Adrianna Ianora, SZN and Per Aberg, GU
Sustainable development, global change and ecosystems
GOCE-CT-2003-505446
Marine biodiversity & ecosystem functioning
network of excellence
RESEARCH THEME 3: THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC
IMPORTANCE OF MARINE BIODIVERSITY
Team leader:
Team leader:
Melanie Austen
Plymouth Marine Laboratory
Phone: +44-(0)1752 633489
Fax: +44-(0)1752 633101
Email: mcva@pml.ac.uk
Poul Holm
Roskilde University,
Phone: +45-(0)46742065
Email: ph@ruc.dk
Objectives
The overall objective of this research theme is to understand the economic, social and cultural value of
marine biodiversity and hence develop the research base required to support the sustainable
management of marine biodiversity including, for example, the monitoring of the health of marine
ecosystems, the management of aquaculture, the conservation of marine biodiversity, the history of
marine resource exploitation, and the leisure use of marine ecosystems.
The core strategic research programme aims to:
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Understand the economic, social and cultural value of marine biodiversity and hence
develop the research base required to support the sustainable management of marine
biodiversity
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Enable collaboration between natural scientists, economists, and sociologists and socioanthropologists to investigate the total economic and social value of European marine
biodiversity, including use and non-use values
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Provide a framework and context to integrate natural science with the needs of society and
development of management policies
Key areas for responsive mode actions
3.1 Fisheries and aquaculture
3.2 Integrated Coastal Zone Management
3.3 Marine Protected Areas
3.4 Impact of marine management systems and
legislation upon society
Melanie Austen, PML and Poul Holm, SDU
Melanie Austen, PML and Poul Holm, SDU
Melanie Austen, PML and Poul Holm, SDU
Melanie Austen, PML and Poul Holm, SDU
Sustainable development, global change and ecosystems
GOCE-CT-2003-505446