Areas of research
Conservation and Restoration
Use of the generated scientific knowledge to propose and implement solutions focused on the management, conservation and restoration of aquatic systems
The new Blue Carbon Ecosystems Research Network in Spain brings together experts from across the country to promote the conservation of saltmarshes and seagrass meadows. Its goal is to generate knowledge, advise authorities, and foster policies and projects that harness the potential of BCEs to fight climate change and support sustainability.
Given the recent detection of Perkinsus infecting mussels cultivated in the aquaculture area of the Ebro Delta and the lack of knowledge regarding its diversity, distribution, and ecology, this project aims to assess the epidemiological status of the disease Perkinsosis in the mussel aquaculture sector in Catalonia, in order to understand its potential impact.
A project that applies genetics to study biodiversity in marine ecosystems and detect invasive species.
Monitoring of marine biodiversity using environmental DNA (eDNA) techniques, early detection of exotic species with invasive potential, and other genomic applications that can be used for marine biodiversity conservation.
Exploring Invisible Biodiversity in Pyrenean Lakes, Sentinels of Climate Change, Through High-Resolution Portable Genomics
Headwater basins provide water supply, greenhouse gas regulation, and other essential ecosystem services. However, human activities have altered its functioning. This research project investigates how factors of anthropogenic origin alter the dynamics of headwater basins, especially their role in climate regulation.
The project proposes to study biodiversity resilience by tracking changes in lake communitycomposition over the last ca. 2.000 years in four Pyrenean lakes with contrasting history of stressors pressure.
The objective of this contract is to carry out an evaluation of the current information that allows carrying out the necessary studies to carry out the spatial analysis of the nautical load capacity on the Costa Brava.
For marine strategies of the State. Improvement of scientific knowledge about the state of the marine environment at the national level.
Evaluation of the potential ecological and social impacts of offshore wind farms in areas of high biodiversity and great landscape value of the Spanish Mediterranean, taking as a case study the wind farm proposed in the area of Cap de Creus/Gulf of Roses, to contribute to avoid or minimize the impacts of offshore wind on marine biodiversity and the landscape.
The starting hypothesis of this study is that to develop a sustainable and resilient offshore wind industry in Spain, it is necessary to implement methodologies and regulatory schemes that address the particularities of this technology, referring to the administrative authorization regime, financing schemes, protection and governance of the marine environment, and coexistence with other activities.
The overall goal of NiD4OCEAN is to advance the emerging field of NiDs (and NBS in general) for offshore renewables, and provide effective, context-dependent solutions.
The main objective of MEDSEAPLAN is to develop a comprehensive tool based on scientific knowledge for the application of the Ecosystem-based Approach to be used in PEM processes with the intention of promoting a Sustainable Blue Economy in the Mediterranean.
Business for Ocean Sustainability is a multi-year research project. Explore the relationship between business and ocean sustainability.
The goal of the Alter-C coordinated project is to understand how C sinks and sources in inland waters are affected by reductions in current and future conditions. Alter-C combines cutting-edge methodologies with an integrative perspective, including river networks, lakes, ponds and reservoirs.
UNDAMMED will establish the foundations to anticipate the role of dam removal in the restoration of sedimentary, hydrological and carbon dynamics in river networks. After more than a century of intensive damming, most river networks in Europe are populated by a myriad of structures of varying size.
The research is closely linked to the effects of global change and how it can erode the resilience of habitat engineers such as macroalgae. It seeks to propose conservation priorities and contribute to preventing and avoiding the collapse of marine ecosystems.
Naiads or large freshwater bivalves (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Unionoidea) are currently considered one of the most endangered animal groups on the planet. The NÀIADES project aims to generate the knowledge necessary to prepare the recovery plan for this group of animals in Catalonia.
Despite their remote location, high mountain aquatic spaces are subject to anthropogenic threats that put their conservation status at risk, such as the introduction of exotic species, overcrowding by tourists or hydraulic infrastructures.
Research project to evaluate the effects of anthropogenic pressures on ecosystems, including the detection and monitoring of invasive species, the consequences of increasing temperatures and eutrophication, among others.
Evaluate the nitrogen retention capacity of rivers at different time scales and explore whether restoration with green infrastructure can significantly contribute to improving their self-purification capacity.
Our group explores the influence of endogenous population processes and exogenous stochastic forces that drive wildlife population dynamics. We use an empirical approach by monitoring individual and population data in the field to study the behavior of populations at spatial and temporal scales.
The development of effective strategies for the conservation of Cystoseira residual forests based on new tools to monitor them is of fundamental importance today. This project has been designed to provide these tools and assist environmental policy makers in the management of Cystoseira forests.
SponBIODIV’s main goal is to establish a sponge diversity and distribution baseline knowledge, as well as delivering tools to improve management and conservation of sponges across the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
Many organisms form social systems, but most research does not consider collective processes to explain their ecological and evolutionary consequences for individuals and populations in stochastic environments. This application will help produce a new synthesis hitherto not considered.
The main objective is to combine artificial reefs based on the innovative Biorock technology with filter-feeding or suspension-feeding benthic organisms (e.g., sponges, ascidians, annelids, scleractinians, hydroidolines, bryozoans) to bioremediate coastal seabeds.
PRORISK's vision is to provide exceptional value by creating an innovative platform to train a network of early stage researchers (ESR) in the field of Environmental Risk Assessment (WAS).
Our proposal is a collaboration between all the CSIC Institutes that work in marine sciences and aims to develop a comprehensive scientific dissemination program about marine ecosystems, their importance, the threats they face and what we can do as citizens.
INTERACTOMA proposes computational approaches that exploit the co-occurrence of genes with known and unknown function and the environmental co-occurrence of different microbial species to generate hypotheses and prioritize future research objectives with ecological or biotechnological interest, using saline lakes and lakes as model systems. alpines, as well as the microbiome of animal and plant host species along climatic and geographic gradients.
TEMPOINVASIONS will use the most advanced molecular tools to analyze sedimentary sequences from well-preserved sites along the Spanish coast (Bay of Cádiz, Cabo de Gata, Ebro Delta). We will focus on the last six centuries since the major translocation of marine species began due to the beginning of transoceanic exploration.
This project is being developed within the framework of an i-COOP grant, a CSIC Scientific Cooperation Program for Development, which aims to stimulate collaboration between CSIC research groups and international research groups in countries receiving Official Development Assistance through training, work, and specialization stays for research groups from participating entities.
Aquatic non-native species are spreading globally due to human activity, yet little is known about how these invasions occur and evolve. This pioneering project uses environmental DNA (eDNA) to study the phases of biological invasion in various aquatic ecosystems, aiming to better understand these processes and provide tools to tackle the biodiversity crisis.
The new Blue Carbon Ecosystems Research Network in Spain brings together experts from across the country to promote the conservation of saltmarshes and seagrass meadows. Its goal is to generate knowledge, advise authorities, and foster policies and projects that harness the potential of BCEs to fight climate change and support sustainability.
By analyzing the different stages of an invasion (from introduction to expansion), the researchers seek to identify the factors that influence the success of invasive species in various aquatic environments.
A project that applies genetics to study biodiversity in marine ecosystems and detect invasive species.
Monitoring of marine biodiversity using environmental DNA (eDNA) techniques, early detection of exotic species with invasive potential, and other genomic applications that can be used for marine biodiversity conservation.
The objective of this contract is to carry out an evaluation of the current information that allows carrying out the necessary studies to carry out the spatial analysis of the nautical load capacity on the Costa Brava.
For marine strategies of the State. Improvement of scientific knowledge about the state of the marine environment at the national level.
Evaluation of the potential ecological and social impacts of offshore wind farms in areas of high biodiversity and great landscape value of the Spanish Mediterranean, taking as a case study the wind farm proposed in the area of Cap de Creus/Gulf of Roses, to contribute to avoid or minimize the impacts of offshore wind on marine biodiversity and the landscape.
The starting hypothesis of this study is that to develop a sustainable and resilient offshore wind industry in Spain, it is necessary to implement methodologies and regulatory schemes that address the particularities of this technology, referring to the administrative authorization regime, financing schemes, protection and governance of the marine environment, and coexistence with other activities.
The overall goal of NiD4OCEAN is to advance the emerging field of NiDs (and NBS in general) for offshore renewables, and provide effective, context-dependent solutions.
Business for Ocean Sustainability is a multi-year research project. Explore the relationship between business and ocean sustainability.
The research is closely linked to the effects of global change and how it can erode the resilience of habitat engineers such as macroalgae. It seeks to propose conservation priorities and contribute to preventing and avoiding the collapse of marine ecosystems.
Research project to evaluate the effects of anthropogenic pressures on ecosystems, including the detection and monitoring of invasive species, the consequences of increasing temperatures and eutrophication, among others.
The development of effective strategies for the conservation of Cystoseira residual forests based on new tools to monitor them is of fundamental importance today. This project has been designed to provide these tools and assist environmental policy makers in the management of Cystoseira forests.
SponBIODIV’s main goal is to establish a sponge diversity and distribution baseline knowledge, as well as delivering tools to improve management and conservation of sponges across the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
The research project studies the role of sponges in the marine silicon cycle, with emphasis on silicon production and turnover, and exploring possible biotechnological applications.
Fractionation of silicon isotopes using sponges for biotechnology.
The Distributed System of Scientific Collections (DiSSCo) is a distributed research infrastructure (RI) working towards the digital unification of all European natural science assets under common conservation and access policies and practices to easily realize FAIR data.
The main objective is to combine artificial reefs based on the innovative Biorock technology with filter-feeding or suspension-feeding benthic organisms (e.g., sponges, ascidians, annelids, scleractinians, hydroidolines, bryozoans) to bioremediate coastal seabeds.
Our proposal is a collaboration between all the CSIC Institutes that work in marine sciences and aims to develop a comprehensive scientific dissemination program about marine ecosystems, their importance, the threats they face and what we can do as citizens.
Existing research on coastal blue carbon focuses primarily on carbon sequestration as plant biomass, while the mechanisms that control MOD export and the processes that transform dissolved organic matter (DOM) and recalcitrantly sequester it ( MODR) are largely little known.
TEMPOINVASIONS will use the most advanced molecular tools to analyze sedimentary sequences from well-preserved sites along the Spanish coast (Bay of Cádiz, Cabo de Gata, Ebro Delta). We will focus on the last six centuries since the major translocation of marine species began due to the beginning of transoceanic exploration.
Change in ecosystems occurs over multiple temporal and spatial scales. Discriminating between actual changes, cycles and trends is often difficult or impossible without an adequate temporal perspective, since multiple processes interact at multiple temporal and spatial scales.
MEDCHANGE will use long, detailed and reliable data of relevant structural and functional variables of ecosystems to reconstruct the dynamics of coastal and terrestrial ecosystems, at a Mediterranean scale, when interacting with natural and anthropogenic disturbances.
Per dotar els robots submarins de més autonomia i capacitats, aquest projecte busca millorar i potenciar les seves capacitats cognitives i intel·ligents durant l'exploració del fons marí. SIREC treballarà en primer lloc el mapeig de praderies marines de Posidonia oceànica, un component important dels ecosistemes vinculats al segrest de carboni i, per tant, de gran impacte ambiental i social.
The project, with an explicitly interdisciplinary vocation, seeks, first of all, to document the role of storms as agents of change for Mediterranean coastal vegetation, both emerged and submerged (underwater meadows, marsh vegetation and dunes).
Blue Forests, such as macroalgal forests, seagrass meadows, salt marshes and mangroves, are vegetated coastal habitats that cover enormous areas around the world, providing various types of ecosystem services.
The overall objective of BIOcean5D is to generate the data, knowledge, theory, monitoring and modeling tools necessary to sustainably measure, understand, value and predict marine biodiversity in the five dimensions (5D) of space, time and pressures. human environments, allowing ecosystem-based management and long-term preservation.
The lack of a permanently coordinated marine biodiversity monitoring community in Europe undermines the good research of many scientists and projects in the past, as it is not possible to easily find out where and what biodiversity is being monitored. MBON Europe's goal is to solve this problem.
This project aims to restore damaged populations by incorporating new juvenile individuals raised in laboratory conditions and establish new restoration protocols that do not spoil existing populations.
The effective assembly and integration of socio-ecological systems around marine forest habitats will allow the identification of optimal balance scenarios between the long-term conservation of coastal benthic ecosystems and the viability of small-scale fisheries for both sea urchins and of their predatory fish.
The Ocean Citizen project represents a new approach to restoration in which restoration is presented as a toolbox with ubiquitous properties and, as such, is experienced in three locations, representing different marine ecosystems and different environments.
The main objective of the EFFECTIVE research project is to develop a comprehensive scientific knowledge base and practical guidance for the conservation and restoration of marine protected areas (MPA's) of the Mediterranean Sea.
Aquatic non-native species are spreading globally due to human activity, yet little is known about how these invasions occur and evolve. This pioneering project uses environmental DNA (eDNA) to study the phases of biological invasion in various aquatic ecosystems, aiming to better understand these processes and provide tools to tackle the biodiversity crisis.
Given the recent detection of Perkinsus infecting mussels cultivated in the aquaculture area of the Ebro Delta and the lack of knowledge regarding its diversity, distribution, and ecology, this project aims to assess the epidemiological status of the disease Perkinsosis in the mussel aquaculture sector in Catalonia, in order to understand its potential impact.
The objective of this contract is to carry out an evaluation of the current information that allows carrying out the necessary studies to carry out the spatial analysis of the nautical load capacity on the Costa Brava.
For marine strategies of the State. Improvement of scientific knowledge about the state of the marine environment at the national level.
Evaluation of the potential ecological and social impacts of offshore wind farms in areas of high biodiversity and great landscape value of the Spanish Mediterranean, taking as a case study the wind farm proposed in the area of Cap de Creus/Gulf of Roses, to contribute to avoid or minimize the impacts of offshore wind on marine biodiversity and the landscape.
The starting hypothesis of this study is that to develop a sustainable and resilient offshore wind industry in Spain, it is necessary to implement methodologies and regulatory schemes that address the particularities of this technology, referring to the administrative authorization regime, financing schemes, protection and governance of the marine environment, and coexistence with other activities.
Business for Ocean Sustainability is a multi-year research project. Explore the relationship between business and ocean sustainability.
Change in ecosystems occurs over multiple temporal and spatial scales. Discriminating between actual changes, cycles and trends is often difficult or impossible without an adequate temporal perspective, since multiple processes interact at multiple temporal and spatial scales.
MEDCHANGE will use long, detailed and reliable data of relevant structural and functional variables of ecosystems to reconstruct the dynamics of coastal and terrestrial ecosystems, at a Mediterranean scale, when interacting with natural and anthropogenic disturbances.
Per dotar els robots submarins de més autonomia i capacitats, aquest projecte busca millorar i potenciar les seves capacitats cognitives i intel·ligents durant l'exploració del fons marí. SIREC treballarà en primer lloc el mapeig de praderies marines de Posidonia oceànica, un component important dels ecosistemes vinculats al segrest de carboni i, per tant, de gran impacte ambiental i social.
The project, with an explicitly interdisciplinary vocation, seeks, first of all, to document the role of storms as agents of change for Mediterranean coastal vegetation, both emerged and submerged (underwater meadows, marsh vegetation and dunes).
The main objective of the EFFECTIVE research project is to develop a comprehensive scientific knowledge base and practical guidance for the conservation and restoration of marine protected areas (MPA's) of the Mediterranean Sea.
Headwater basins provide water supply, greenhouse gas regulation, and other essential ecosystem services. However, human activities have altered its functioning. This research project investigates how factors of anthropogenic origin alter the dynamics of headwater basins, especially their role in climate regulation.
Pharmaceutical micro-pollutants are chemicals used for human and animal health care that are found everywhere including in soil, water and sediment. This chemical contamination is usually associated with microbiological contamination (by microorganisms and/or their genetic material) from humans, animals and the environment.
The BEYOND project, a MSCA Doctoral Network, will train the next generation of water professionals to tackle European water quality challenges in the context of climate change and emerging contaminants. Researchers will gain interdisciplinary skills, access to cutting-edge technologies, and expertise in water management to drive innovation and improve water quality.
In a context in which prolonged periods of drought are becoming more frequent, the intoDBP project takes on special importance for its innovative approach to water management. The project aims to improve water quality and minimize exposure to harmful disinfection byproducts.
UNDAMMED will establish the foundations to anticipate the role of dam removal in the restoration of sedimentary, hydrological and carbon dynamics in river networks. After more than a century of intensive damming, most river networks in Europe are populated by a myriad of structures of varying size.
InventWater will form a new generation of professionals capable of uniting fields with data science, climate, hydrology and water ecology, and who develop the necessary capabilities to translate the knowledge and technical innovations into useful products for the managers.
Naiads or large freshwater bivalves (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Unionoidea) are currently considered one of the most endangered animal groups on the planet. The NÀIADES project aims to generate the knowledge necessary to prepare the recovery plan for this group of animals in Catalonia.
This research project aims to evaluate the role of lateral inflows and see which can be considered "hot spots" due to their great influence on the biogeochemical processes taking place in rivers.
How do water inputs from both tributaries and groundwater change the processes happening in the river? The research project investigates this question and aims to find the key contribution areas to define the processes of rivers in different biomes. It includes field work and controlled experimentation in the CEAB-CSIC infrastructure.
Evaluate the nitrogen retention capacity of rivers at different time scales and explore whether restoration with green infrastructure can significantly contribute to improving their self-purification capacity.
PRORISK's vision is to provide exceptional value by creating an innovative platform to train a network of early stage researchers (ESR) in the field of Environmental Risk Assessment (WAS).
In river ecosystems there are inherent microbial communities that could potentially decompose bioplastics due to their high recycling and decomposition capacity of nutrients such as carbon. However, it is still unknown how the degradation of bioplastics will affect aquatic ecosystems.
Determining whether ecosystems act as sources or sinks of carbon (C) is essential to mitigate the consequences of climate change and to carry out restoration actions and environmental policies that help us confront the climate crisis.
Plastic pollution is one of the effects of global change that coexists in river ecosystems with other phenomena such as the alteration of Mediterranean rivers.
Exploring Invisible Biodiversity in Pyrenean Lakes, Sentinels of Climate Change, Through High-Resolution Portable Genomics
This project by CREAF-CSIC, with the direct participation of researchers from CEAB-CSIC, aims to study cyanobacteria in high-mountain lakes and their environmental impact due to the recent increase in these organisms.
Headwater basins provide water supply, greenhouse gas regulation, and other essential ecosystem services. However, human activities have altered its functioning. This research project investigates how factors of anthropogenic origin alter the dynamics of headwater basins, especially their role in climate regulation.
The project proposes to study biodiversity resilience by tracking changes in lake communitycomposition over the last ca. 2.000 years in four Pyrenean lakes with contrasting history of stressors pressure.
Despite their remote location, high mountain aquatic spaces are subject to anthropogenic threats that put their conservation status at risk, such as the introduction of exotic species, overcrowding by tourists or hydraulic infrastructures.
AEROSMIC studies the functional traits present in the aerial microbiota with long-range dispersal in the free troposphere using one of the largest long-term data sets available at a high mountain point above the boundary layer collected by our own group of investigation.
Many organisms form social systems, but most research does not consider collective processes to explain their ecological and evolutionary consequences for individuals and populations in stochastic environments. This application will help produce a new synthesis hitherto not considered.
INTERACTOMA proposes computational approaches that exploit the co-occurrence of genes with known and unknown function and the environmental co-occurrence of different microbial species to generate hypotheses and prioritize future research objectives with ecological or biotechnological interest, using saline lakes and lakes as model systems. alpines, as well as the microbiome of animal and plant host species along climatic and geographic gradients.
The project will use a socioecological conceptual framework, which will comprehensively evaluate the influence that livestock management dynamics have on herbaceous plant and butterfly communities, which are excellent bioindicators of the conservation status of mountain ecosystems.
This work focuses on addressing our general hypothesis that local diatom communities respond to the direct and watershed-mediated effects of the current increase in atmospheric CO2, providing insight into small-scale alkalinity generation mechanisms.
The threats to mountain aquatic ecosystems are multiple. It has been identified that the population of fish in lakes where it did not naturally exist is one of them and is particularly harmful to water quality and biodiversity.
In this project, we measure the anthropogenic impact on the rivers of high mountain national parks, investigate the response of river ecosystems to this impact, and evaluate management strategies to mitigate this impact.
In 1987, a synoptic study of the ponds of the Pyrenees was carried out that included 35 localities of the PNASM. This reference offers a unique opportunity to evaluate the changes that have occurred since then in submerged plant communities and analyze their causes.
This Life project, coordinated by the CEAB-CSIC, aims to recover mountain aquatic habitats by improving the conservation of various habitats/target species in four locations in the Natura 2000 network in the alpine biogeographic regions of the Pyrenees and the Alps.
