Marine Biodiversity Networking Friday with NECCTON
New Copernicus Capability for Trophic Ocean Networks
On March 8th, 2024, we had a special session with Dr Stefano Ciavatta and Dr Sergi Pérez-Jorge, focusing on the ongoing European project NECCTON: “New Copernicus capability for trophic ocean networks “. The ambition of NECCTON is to transform the current operational capability to predict and protect the biodiversity of marine ecosystems. NECCTON is developing a new modelling framework and novel products for fisheries, pollution and benthic habitats. This will enable the Europe-wide Copernicus Marine Service to better inform ocean policymakers, managers and publics on the sustainable management of marine resources. Two case studies will be presented showing the use of the ecological model SEAPODYM (spatially explicit prey model). The first study showing the influence of temperature and prey distribution on the movement patterns of three species of baleen whales in the mid-North Atlantic, and a second study providing novel information on the cetacean presence in the remote area of the Great Meteor seamount and the effect of regional oceanography on the predator distribution. NECCTON is a UN Ocean Decade Action associated to the Marine Life 2030 programme.
Programme (PM UTC)
1:00 – Introductions, Irene Martins, CIIMAR, Portugal.
1:05 – The NECCTON project: making marine ecosystems models operational, Stefano Ciavatta, Mercator Ocean International, France.
1:25 – The use of the ecological model SEAPODYM to study cetaceans, Sergi Pérez-Jorge, IMAR/OKEANOS, Portugal.
1:45 – Q&A, moderated by Irene Martins.
2:00 – Closing.
This is an Ocean Decade Event.
Speakers
Stefano Ciavatta
(Mercator Ocean International, France)
The NECCTON project: making marine ecosystems models operational
Stefano is the lead of the Marine Ecosystems group at Mercator Ocean international, the organization implementing the European Copernicus Marine Service. He got a PhD in Environmental Science at the University of Venice, Italy in 2004. Stefano’s background is biogeochemical modelling and data assimilation, applied to the prediction of marine ecosystem indicators, quantification of biogeochemical fluxes and analysis of ocean trophic webs. He is co-chair of the Marine Ecosystem Analysis and Prediction Task Team of Ocean Predict. He is the lead of the European NECCTON project.
Sergi Pérez-Jorge
(Institute of Marine Research-IMAR/Institute of Marine Sciences-Okeanos, University of the Azores, Portugal)
The use of the ecological model SEAPODYM to study cetaceans
Sergi is a quantitative ecologist with particular interest in the relationship between the distribution of marine top predators and their prey at multiple spatial and temporal scales. He is part of the Azores Whale Lab – Cetacean Ecology Group, which has carried out cetacean research off the most remote archipelago in the North Atlantic for the last 20 years and applies that knowledge to aid in their conservation. He leads the case study “Monitoring marine mammals in the Azores region” within the European NECTON project.
Moderator
Irene Martins
(Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research-CIIMAR, Portugal)
Irene Martins holds a PhD in Ecology and is the Principal Investigator (PI) of the Marine Ecosystem Modeling team at CIIMAR (MEMO). Her research focuses on constructing ecological models of marine organisms and ecosystems to elucidate their dynamics and forecast variations induced by various disturbance factors, including climate change, plastics, nutrients, pollutants, among others. She is keen on employing multidimensional approaches to marine ecosystems, integrating diverse numerical and technological tools to develop robust numerical frameworks supporting the sustainable management and conservation of these ecosystems.
We will continue with the Networking Fridays during the next months. More information about future sessions as well as presentations and videos from previous sessions can be found here. Please do not forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. Twitter Hashtag: #netfridays. Expect some very exciting mornings, afternoons or evenings, depending on where you are…
If you need any additional information please send an email to Jose Luiz Moutinho.
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