Within the EMO BON initiative, in which researchers from CIM participate. The sampling in Vigo is of particular importance because it is the only one conducted in a coastal upwelling zone
Marine communities are experiencing significant changes due to various factors, including climate change, resource extraction, pollution, habitat degradation, and invasive species. However, monitoring marine biodiversity in these environments presents a challenge, as it often involves costly, non-standardized, and sometimes destructive sampling methods that hinder progress. To address this challenge, the EMO BON initiative (European Marine Omics Biodiversity Observation Network) was launched in 2021 as part of the EMBRC (European Marine Biological Resource Centre), with the goal of understanding and preserving marine biodiversity along European coasts.
Supported by leading marine research centres across Europe, EMO BON has involved researchers from the Marine Research Centre (CIM) at the University of Vigo from the outset, as they are part of EMBRC through the Toralla Marine Science Station (Ecimat). The data collection in Vigo holds special importance as it is the only sampling site located in an upwelling coastal zone. One of the researchers from CIM participating in the project, Estefanía Paredes, highlights the importance of this involvement: “For the research team, it is crucial to be part of this initiative and contribute to global knowledge about marine ecosystems. The sampling methodology is consistent across all stations, as the objective is to replicate the procedure in various environments. What sets each site apart is its geographic location. The data collected in Vigo, for instance, is unique because it comes from an upwelling coastal area, making it particularly relevant to the project”.
Creating long-term biodiversity observations is essential for studying and understanding the changes happening in marine ecosystems due to factors like climate change. EMO BON’s sampling efforts focus on analysing the genetic diversity of planktonic organisms, bacteria, and benthic macro and meiofauna, along with characterizing the physical conditions of the environment, such as temperature, pH, salinity, or dissolved oxygen.
Estefanía Paredes explains, “EMBRC is committed to maintaining this observatory over time, and we at CIM are dedicated to contributing our time and expertise to gather and work with this data. This will allow us to study changes in biodiversity over the long term and understand the effects of climate change on populations, such as shifts in the abundance of certain groups or the appearance of invasive species due to changing conditions.” The collected data are published regularly and made available as open-access resources, organized by country and sampling station. The researcher notes that “data from previous series have already been published in the ENA (European Nucleotide Archive), forming the largest dataset on long-term genetic marine research. Many more data are currently being processed and are expected to be published by this September”.
Participants
The network currently comprises around 20 observatories spread across European coastal waters and polar regions. In Spain, these include CIM’s Ecimat (Galicia) and the Plentzia Marine Station (Basque Country). In Portugal, participating centres include CCMAR (Centre for Marine Sciences) and CIIMAR (Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research). France is represented by the Station Biologique de Roscoff, IMEV (Institut de la Mer de Villefranche), and Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls sur Mer. Italy contributes with the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn and CNR-ISMAR (Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche). The Netherlands has several institutions involved, including Ghent University, VLIZ (Flanders Marine Institute), the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Greece participates through HCMR (Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology, and Aquaculture, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research). Norway is represented by The Arctic University of Norway, Ghent University, and the University of Bergen. Sweden’s involvement comes from the University of Gothenburg, Linnaeus University, and Umeå Marine Sciences Centre. Lastly, Israel is represented by HUJI (Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences).
