Download research project proposal - ICTA-UAB

ICTA-UAB is recognized as a
María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence
‘MARÍA DE MAEZTU’ PhD RESEARCH PROJECT
Project 3: Mediterranean coastal marine biodiversity under climate change: Local knowledge,
perceptions and value
Theme: Tapping into local climate change knowledge to provide more relevant insights into regional and local
climate dynamics
Supervisors: Sergio Rossi, Patrizia Ziveri, Victoria Reyes-Garcia
RESEARCH PROJECT PROPOSAL:
1. Project statement and research questions Despite its relevance in biological,
cultural and economic terms, loss in Mediterranean marine biodiversity,
decrease in population structure and health status has received only a fraction
of the attention accorded to its terrestrial counterpart. We know that in the
Mediterranean marine coastal ecosystem biodiversity has deeply declined due
to both local (eutrophication, urbanization, fishing, harvesting, etc.) and global
phenomena related to climate change (e.g. sea warming, heat waves and
acidification). Yet, we still lack knowledge regarding the rate and scale of
decline of Mediterranean marine biodiversity and its current and future effects
on humans. Both the pelagic and benthic realms have been deeply
transformed, but and accurate quantification of how their role and structure
has changed during the last century is far to be clear. It seems that during the
last decades, the overall impression of the “end-users” of the sea (i.e.
fishermen, tourists, divers, harvesters, etc.) has not been considered, and may
be essential to understand the now days general panorama of deep change
suffered by different habitats. We do know that seascape for example has
deeply changed, but there is no quantification on the perception of such
change due to direct and indirect stressors. The goal of this project is two-fold.
First, it aims
a. How is biodiversity decline/change in different areas of the
Mediterranean Sea? Making an “in depth” study of changes in the
habitat composition (both pelagic and benthic) is feasible but rarely
structured in a quantitative way.
b. What are the main drivers of Mediterranean biodiversity change?
c. What is the people perception of marine biodiversity decline and the
current and future effects on their livelihoods? Understanding the
relation between quantified biodiversity decline and people’s
1
ICTA-UAB is recognized as a
María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence
perceptions on such phenomenon might help in the design of more
effective management and strategic plans.
2. Scientific approach
(A) Determine the state-of-the-art of the Mediterranean marine biodiversity under
climate change and anthropogenic pressure based on an in depth meta-analysis of
the literature. This will be made not only through the already published scientific
papers, but also digging in the documents, papers, photographs, films, grey
literature, etc. that will give a general panorama of the change in the seascape,
fishing yields, coastal urbanization and demographic structure of the study area.
(B) Compare previous biogeographic distribution and health status of target
keystone species and systems (e.g. marine forests, calcifying plankton), using
societal observations (e.g. fisherman, divers) in target case studies (e.g. red coral
presence and population structure, gorgonian gardens transformations, Pinna
nobilis presence or Posidonia oceanica distribution). Several water column and
benthic ecosystems will be approached as case studies, and their complexity,
trophic structure and C fluxes will be compared using an adequate model. Water
column temporal series and different seascapes will be compared with already
published material performing in already accepted protocols of sampling (i.e. CTD,
plankton analyses, Remotely Operated Vehicle video-transects). The information
will be compiled, structured to be quantitative but, at the same time, affordable
for different coastal human populations.
(C) Assess people’s perceptions of the value of the seascape in general and marine
biodiversity in particular. We will compare perceptions and values given by seausers, but including autochthonous (i.e., fishers) and alloctonous (i.e., divers)
people. To do that, the information gathered and compared through the time will
be showed, but also a structured questionaries’ will be made with different groups
(by age, job, interaction with the sea, sex, etc.).
3. Feasibility and expertise. This project is at the interface between natural and
social sciences. On one hand, the water column and the benthos biodiversity
quantification follow already standardized methods that have been used by the
supervisors. On the other hand, the people questionnaires and perception has
been the center of the work of the third supervisor. The field work needs an
approach to the water column and benthic quantification that may be easily
resolved with the already existent material and networking of the supervisors. The
social part is affordable, especially because a core part of the work will be made in
2
ICTA-UAB is recognized as a
María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence
the Catalan coast. The three supervisors have a verifiable experience in plankton,
benthos and social perception studies, being the study of biodiversity an essential
part of their professional profile.
4. Significance of the research. Biodiversity is one of the key points in the actual
programs of the FAO and national ecosystem based management programs, the
UN-IOC and marine strategic framework of the EC as well as an essential point in
the IPCC 2014 perspectives. Where biodiversity has been altered, the resilience of
ecosystems to other impacts, including climate change, is often reduced. On one
hand, the biodiversity knowledge in Mediterranean coastal areas is limited. On the
other hand, the perception and the understanding by the people using coastal
ecosystem services of such loss of biodiversity is almost null.
There is an urgent need of both gathering information on biodiversity dynamics ad
societal interaction since alteration of biodiversity decrease the resilience of
ecosystems to other impacts, including climate change, is often reduced. Is thus
essential to understand and act in preserving ecosystem biodiversity and their
supported services.
3