Blog Classic Style

The Marine Biological Association is currently celebrating the start of one of three Horizon 2020 projects! Horizon 2020 is the biggest ever EU Research and Innovation programme, with a focus on excellent science and tackling societal challenges.

The MBA is one of three Plymouth-based, and of 31 international partners in the 4-year MISSION Atlantic project, coordinated by Danmarks Tekniske University in Denmark. The project aims to map and assess the present and future status of Atlantic marine ecosystems under the influence of climate change and exploitation.

Partners are supported by a €11.5 million budget, collaborating to build an Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) programme for the Atlantic for the first time at this scale. The MBA has been granted €217,000, with scientists using data from the global Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey to map habitat...

The Marine Biological Association is currently celebrating the start of three Horizon 2020 projects! Horizon 2020 is the biggest ever EU Research and Innovation programme, with a focus on excellent science and tackling societal challenges.

The MBA is one of 32 partners in the 4-year FutureMARES project, which is investigating how nature-based solutions can help lessen the effects of climate change along seas and coasts. The project aims to examine the relations between climate change, marine biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Kelp Intertidal Zone Spring Tides

The project, which works in five case study regions across the globe, aims to provide science-based policy advice on how best to use nature-based solutions. Three nature-based solutions will be developed:

The Marine Biological Association is currently celebrating the start of three Horizon 2020 projects! Horizon 2020 is the biggest ever EU Research and Innovation programme, with a focus on excellent science and tackling societal challenges.

The MBA is one of 36 international partners in the AtlantECO project, receiving a €233,000 contribution from the project’s €11 million budget. AtlantECO, coordinated by Stazione Zoologica Anton Dhorn in Italy, aims to develop and apply a novel, unifying framework that provides knowledge-based resources for a better understanding and management of the Atlantic Ocean and its ecosystem services.

The 4-year project focuses on three pillars of research: microbiomes, plastic and the plastisphere, and seascape connectivity. From pole to pole, the project will map new and existing knowledge about the microscopic organisms that inhabit a...

Bringing you the latest in marine biological research, education, policy, and much more, the MBA's membership magazine The Marine Biologist is for everyone who loves life in the sea. The latest issue is full of great images and exciting and thought-provoking content.

TMB_logo.jpg

The October edition is all about how we do science and our relationship with nature. We proudly feature TV presenter Paul Rose , who also happens to be Expedition Leader for the National Geographic’s thrilling Pristine Seas project. Paul has years of experience leading exploration and making science possible in the most remote locations. Paul describes his role in the Pristine Seas project and how he has used the enforced pause in expedition activity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to reflect on our relationship with nature. He offers a set of values which he hopes will...

Fundamental understanding of the ecology of kelp forests is lacking in many regions. New MBA research in the journal Scientific Reports addresses this knowledge gap by quantifying the rate of productivity of kelp forests across UK waters.

Fieldwork took place on kelp forests ( Laminaria hyperborea ) at multiple subtidal habitats in the UK spanning 9° of latitude.

The research measured a range of environmental factors and quantified kelp productivity. Lead author Dan Smale and his team showed that net primary productivity was greater in cooler water, (around 1.5 times greater in the northern sites compared to warm southernmost sites) with clear implications for warming seas.

Dr Smale said: "The study shows that these kelp forests are extremely productive and likely to be an important component of inshore carbon cycles, and may play a role in natural...

We were delighted to hear that Dr Trupti Gaikwad became a joint winner of the science category award for the Asian Women of Achievment Awards.

Dr Gaikwad is a Cell and Molecular Research Assistant working in our new bioimaging facility - The Huxley Suite. Here Trupti oversees the high spectral microscopes, and works on research projects related to marine diatoms and their important role in climate change processes and the marine web.

Trupti said, "I feel lucky to win this award. It is a very big achievement for me. I hope this will inspire other women in science especially girls from my hometown."

The Asian Women of Achievement Awards, founded by Pinky Lilani CBE DL, celebrates multicultural Britain and the contribution of diverse cultures and talents to UK society. They spotlight phenomenal Asian women across a vast range of industries and professions, all of...

The Global Biodiversity Outlook 5 report published by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is out now. The headline is that the world has missed all 20 of the Aichi biodiversity targets, in what the RSPB describes as “a lost decade for nature”.

In the marine environment, protected areas have increased from 3 – 7%, against a target of 10%. A third of marine fish stocks are overfished – a higher proportion than ten years ago. Unsustainable bycatch of non-target species is still of concern in many fisheries. Plastic pollution continues to increase with largely unknown consequences. The target to maintain the integrity and functioning of coral reefs was missed, with multiple stressors on top of climate change contributing to the degradation of 60% of coral reefs.

The authors of the report point to funding as a particular problem. Funding for activities that...