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DEVelopment Of innovative Tools for understanding marine biodiversity and assessing good Environmental Status

Funding Programme:

Research Programme

Sea Basin(s):

Ico_Baltic Created with Sketch.
Baltic Sea
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North Sea
Ico_Atlantic Created with Sketch.
Atlantic Ocean
Ico_WestMed Created with Sketch.
West Mediterranean
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East Mediterranean
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Black Sea

Countries:

Belgium
Bulgaria
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Italy
Lithuania
Netherlands
Portugal
Spain

Status:

Completed

Completion Year:

Website/Source:

http://www.devotes-project.eu

Contact Person(s):

Dr Angel Borja

Marine Research Division

Pasaia (Spain)

aborjaatazti.es (aborja[at]azti[dot]es)

 

Maria C. Uyarra

Marine Research Division

Pasaia (Spain)

mcuyarraatazti.es (mcuyarra[at]azti[dot]es)

Implementation Period:
-
Specific Funding Programme:

FP7 - Environment (Including Climate Change)

Budget:

€12,050,970.10

About the Project:

The overall goal of DEVOTES is to better understand the relationships between pressures from human activities and climatic influences and their effects on marine ecosystems, including biological diversity, in order to support the ecosystem based management and fully achieve the Good Environmental Status (GES) of marine waters.

DEVOTES main objectives are to:

  • improve our understanding of the impact of human activities and climate change on marine biodiversity;
  • identify the barriers and bottlenecks that prevent Good Environmental Status from being achieved;
  • test indicators and develop new, innovative ones to assess biodiversity in a harmonized way throughout the 4 regional seas;
  • develop, test and validate innovative integrative modelling and monitoring tools to improve our understanding of ecosystem and biodiversity changes, for integration into a unique and holistic assessment;
  • propose and disseminate strategies and measures for ecosystems’ adaptive management, including the active role of industry and relevant stakeholders.

DEVOTES addressed three main challenges in determining environmental status:

  • assessment of anthropogenic pressures, including climate change, to which biodiversity responds;
  • selection of appropriate indicators to assess the status;
  • integration of those indicators across a number of ecological scales, into a unique biodiversity assessment.

DEVOTES study areas

Project partners

  • FUNDACION AZTI/AZTI FUNDAZIOA (TECNALIA-AZTI) (Spain)
  • NORSK INSTITUTT FOR LUFTFORSKNING (Norway)
  • SUOMEN YMPARISTOKESKUS (SYKE) (Finland)
  • AARHUS UNIVERSITET (Denmark)
  • UNIVERSITY OF HULL – Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Studies (UHULL) (UK)
  • THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS (CEFAS) (UK)
  • PLYMOUTH MARINE LABORATORY (PML) (UK)
  • IMAR- INSTITUTO DO MAR (IMAR) (Portugal)
  • BULGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES – Institute of Oceanology –  (Bulgaria)
  • JRC – JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE – EUROPEAN COMMISSION (JRC) (Belgium)
  • HELLENIC CENTRE FOR MARINE RESEARCH (HCMR) (Greece)
  • KLAIPEDOS UNIVERSITETAS – Coastal Research and Planning Institute (KUCORPI) (Lithuania)
  • SALT (SALT) (Norway)
  • CONSORZIO NAZIONALE INTERUNIVERSITARIO PER LE SCIENZE DEL MARE (CONISMA) (Italy)
  • STICHTING KONINKLIJK NEDERLANDS INSTITUUT VOOR ZEEONDERZOEK (NIOZ) (Netherlands)
  • AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS (CSIC) (Spain)
  • DOKUZ EYLUL UNIVERSITESI (DEU) (Turkey)
  • MARINE HYDROPHYSICAL INSTITUTE – UKRAINIAN NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (MHI-NASU) (Ukraine)
  • MariLim Gesellschaft für Gewässeruntersuchung mbH (MARILIM) (Germany)
  • CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE (CNRS) (France)
  • OceanDTM (UK)
  • ECOREACH SRL (ECOREACH) (Italy)
  • KING ABDULLAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (KAUST) (Saudi Arabia)

Observers

  • EPA US Environmental Protection Agency (USA)
  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (USA)