This Thursday, Ecimat hosted a special edition of the Café con Sal conference series on the occasion of the stay at the center of two British researchers under the Asemble Plus Transnational Access program (TNA), which will soon open its fifth call. The day started with a brief introduction about TNA by Fiz da Costa, Ecimat project manager, who presented the center’s basic services that any member of the research or technical staff, from any public or private institution, can access.
After the general presentation by Fiz da Costa, the two researchers currently at the center under this program were in charge of explaining in separate talks what their research consists of. The first to speak was James Waggitt, professor of Marine Biology at the School of Ocean Sciences at Bangor University in the United Kingdom, whose work focuses on studying different aspects related to the behavior of seabirds. He gave the talk Studies into coastal seabirds: understanding the importance of currents, topography and meteorology when estimating responses to environmental change, in which he explained how currents, topography and meteorological interactions influence the distribution of birds that live in coastal environments.
The second researcher to participate in this special session of Café con Sal was Jamie Stevens, an expert in molecular ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, with the report What drives contrasting patterns of genetic connectivity in Atlantic octocoral species?, a speech in which he delved into studies of the population structure and connectivity of two octocoral species (Eunicella verrucosa and Alcyonium digitatum) from the northeast Atlantic. These studies, funded by Natural England and NERC, United Kingdom, have important implications for the conservation of E. verrucosa, a protected species in United Kingdom waters.
After a brief talk with those attending the cycle, both researchers committed to making a new visit to the Ecimat in the future to present the results of the sampling carried out these days in Galicia.
Summer break
After this special edition, the conference series organized by the Marine Research Center of the University of Vigo, carried out thanks to the aid received from the FEDER/FSE Galicia 2014-2020 Operational Program, will take a summer break and return with new sessions next September. The first is scheduled for the 17th and will be given by José González, from the Physical Oceanography group of the CIM-UVigo.
