IMR

Kelp forests are known globally as hotspots for macroscopic biodiversity. Norway has Europe’s largest population of kelp having a long tradition of exploiting wild populations of this natural resource. There is currently a lot of interest in the species, Saccharina latissima, to develop Norway’s kelp industry through large scale cultivation at sea. Kelp forests are however vulnerable to climate change, overharvesting and biofouling by epiphytes. Due to the importance of kelp to Norway’s bioeconomy, it is vital to fill current research gaps in relation to kelp forest ecosystems in order to use the resource sustainably. Bacterial and epiphytic algal communities have been shown to be important for the fitness of kelp hosts, with certain epiphytes improving fitness and others leading to a complete loss of biomass within populations. This study, that I will implement at the Institute of Marine Research (NO), will quantify the gene flow between populations of kelp forests of S. latissima. The community structure of epiphytic algae and bacteria will be described to determine if the host genotype or the environment determines their composition. Finally, the key taxa associated with environmental change that could be used as bioindicators to proactively monitor kelp populations and cultivation sites will be established. This interdisciplinary project integrates community ecology and population genomics with an ecosystems approach to investigate the complexity of interactions occurring between the different organisms in the kelp forest habitat. The personal goal of this fellowship is to gain in-depth training in the techniques required to study population genomics linked to microbiomes, which are increasingly being shown to play pivotal roles in the shaping and functioning of populations. The host is a leading institution for marine research and provides a unique training environment where academia works directly with the concerned industries and policy makers.

CoRdiNet is an open network of five very diverse Copernicus Relays with a coordinating function on local, regional, cluster and national level, supporting, promoting and stimulating digitalisation and new business solutions based on Earth Observation (EO) i.e. Copernicus data. This coordination & support action bundles the local expertise in the civil use of EO, close to the needs and offers of citizens, administrations and businesses, and will share them with other Copernicus Relays, Academies and new EO players. Three Relays have a regional focus (Basilicata, Bavaria, East Midlands), one a national focus (Norway), while the fifth contributes the expertise of a space application company, GMV. NEREUS, the Network of European Regions using Space Technologies, comprises 26 regions and is active in exploiting the benefits of space technologies while supporting European regional space policies. As sixth partner it will be entrusted, supported by a yet to be set-up, evaluation board, to hold and decide on the distribution of a specific “fund” of 100 k EUR supporting more than 20 joint activities between the consortium and external partners with concrete proposals to collaborate. Coordination of CoRdiNet with both, the Copernicus FPA and the Copernicus Support Office, will be paid attention to. To offer tangible opportunities to collaborate with, the consortium will gather local expertise in sector oriented European-wide working groups to design better strategies and guidelines for new digital services, support the creation of pilot projects linking users & suppliers of services, organise awareness raising, bi-lateral events, while providing user-targeted information and find out about as well as bundle local key players and local societal challenges and needs, EO data are able to match. Joint outreach and dissemination activities ensure embedding of its work in national and EU/ESA activities. CoRdiNet enjoys support of EARSC, the FPA, the CSO, and 6 external regions.

EPOC will generate a new conceptual framework for the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, to understand how it functions in the Earth system and impacts weather and climate. The AMOC is a key component of the climate system, responsible for ocean heat and freshwater transport, associated with the ventilation of anthropogenic carbon, and anticipated to experience or drive climate tipping points. However, the link between ocean transport, ventilation and tipping points relies on the common conceptual view of the AMOC as a ‘great ocean conveyor’ which was developed to explain very long timescale (glacial-interglacial) fluctuations in climate. The conveyor-belt schematic conflates millennial timescales with human timescales (days to 100 years), leading to misconceptions by the observing and modelling communities, and misplaced expectations about the AMOC’s role in climate. EPOC will capitalise on new understanding about the AMOC variability and coherence from two decades of AMOC observations and advances in ocean observing technology and climate modelling, to develop new tools and approaches to quantify and explain past AMOC change and how its connectivity or lack thereof imprint on the Earth system. Through joined-up observational and model experiments, focussing on next generation high resolution coupled models, machine learning techniques and critical re-assessment of paleo proxies, EPOC will generate a new conceptual framework for the AMOC, its meridional connectivity, feedbacks and the relationship between ventilation and overturning on human timescales. This will lead to better predictions of the AMOC and related climate evolution, including the risk of rapid change.

MERFISH brings together international experts from a wide array of interdisciplinary research areas (analytical chemistry, fish nutrition, environmental science, communication, toxicology & aquaculture) from industry and academia from EU, Brazil and Mauritius, with a long-term goal of furthering the understanding of the source, transport, fate and effects of mercury from fish to humans and the detoxification role of selenium. MERFISH surges from a global demand, directly related to mercury, one of the top ten chemicals of major public health concern identified by the World Health Organization. However, mercury metabolic pathways in biota still remain poorly understood. Its understanding is crucial to elucidate its (eco)toxic effect and to identify important drivers of the mercury biogeochemical cycle. Fish and seafood consumption is the principal human exposure source to (toxic) methymercury. EU food safety authorities (such as EFSA), and well-known US and United Nation environmental and food organizations (such as USEPA and FAO) clearly advise about avoiding certain fish species for vulnerable populations (including pregnant women and young children) depending on their methymercury concentrations. Mercury binding with proteins has been identified as a potential cause for toxicity and the role of selenium as antagonist for mercury toxicity has been identified but not well understood. MERFISH is based on the development of novel analytical approaches to gather new knowledge about mercury and selenium mechanisms in fish and humans. The project will be a critical contribution to establishing more realistic scenarios to estimate human health risk and benefits, but also to better capture the economic impacts on commercial fisheries. MERSFISH will build a lasting research network to answer emerging challenges in analytical chemistry, food safety, trophic transfer, fish nutrition and environmental and human health related to the global mercury issue.

An important gap in continued sustainability of fish farming is the lack of a proper understanding on digestive function and aquafeeds utilization. The WiseFeed project will focus on this gap using an integrative approach and considering selected key fish species in culture, the feed composition and feeding protocols. The approach in WiseFeed is based on a collaborative effort for advancing both the fundamental physiological knowledge and practical applicability. WiseFeed will build an integrated network of research groups from the academia and partners in SME and large enterprises where the overall aim is to improve performance and sustainability of aquafeeds for fish production. WiseFeed has the following specific objectives: - Develop model that quantifies digestion, absorption and retention efficiency of selected macro nutrients in key cultured fish species - Develop software package to optimize feeding strategies - Elucidate the role and effects of specific amino acids and dietary supplements for enhancing metabolism, growth and N-retention including effects of elevated temperatures due to climate changes. The research that forms the basis for WifeFeed is funded by on-going national R&D projects that constitute the scientific and technical pillars of the current proposal. The secondments will bring external expertise to each of these R&D projects and coordinate efforts among similar and related activities. The secondments also build the competence of each of the participating researchers The practical benefits of WiseFeed will be improved production yield, reduced feeding cost and reduced N-waste from fish farms. The expected added value will be a faster advance in common objectives by facilitating progress and fulfilment of the R&D objectives for each participant. Furthermore, it is also the aim of WiseFish to establish a consolidated network beyond the framework of this proposal to give response to new challenges of the aquafeed industry.