News

BioEcoOcean - New Horizon EU project to co-create Blueprint for Integrated Ocean Science

March 13, 2024 OBIS BioEcoOcean EUHorizon

BioEcoOcean is a newly launched Horizon EU project that focuses on raising the technical readiness for important EOVs and co-creating a guiding Blueprint that seeks to transform biological and ecosystem ocean observations.

Vacancy: OBIS TECHNICAL COORDINATOR (UN-P3, fixed term)

January 25, 2024 OBIS Vacancy Technical coordinator

OBIS is hiring an OBIS technical coordinator. The OBIS technical coordinator will be responsible for the technical and scientific coordination, implementation and maintenance of the OBIS data system and planning of related programme activities.

Meeting report of the 5th OBIS Executive Committee published

January 17, 2024 OBIS Executive committee

The OBIS Executive Committee met in Ostend to assess the OBIS 2023 work plan, formulate budgets for upcoming years, and initiate a review of the management structure aligned with new IODE Rules and Procedures, with a proposal to be presented at the upcoming OBIS steering group meeting in March 2024.

Joint Statement by UNESCO, NOAA, USGS and the National Park Service to map and understand the diversity of marine life

December 8, 2023 OBIS NOAA US node UNESCO

Ms Audrey Azoulay, the UNESCO Director General, announced a joint collaboration between NOAA, USGS, NPS and OBIS to support activities such as the management of Marine Protected Areas.

Join Our Team: Consultant - OBIS scientific officer genetic data

December 7, 2023 OBIS Vacancy Consultant

OBIS is seeking an individual consultant to assist with the coordination and management of two European projects related to the development of eDNA data workflows and their integration in the European and international digital infrastructure.

Open Call: Up to 60,000€ for marine biodiversity monitoring data

December 7, 2023 OBIS Biodiversity data

The Horizon Europe DTO-BioFlow project has launched an Open Call of up to 60,000€ to international networks, citizen science networks, research institutes, universities, NGOs, and other eligible entities that manage marine biodiversity data.

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Recently published datasets

Use cases

Invasive marine algae in the Mediterranean was misidentified for decades

Algae Invasive species Mediterranean Modelling

The red algae, "Lophocladia lallemandii", one of the worst invasive species in the Mediterranean, was misidentified for nearly three decades. The researchers who discovered this error recommend genetic analysis as a mandatory first step when identifying, monitoring and managing invasives. OBIS served as a useful data repository to confirm the occurrence of this misidentified species.

Preserving seagrasses in a changing climate

climate change modelling MPA seagrass

This study provides the first comprehensive global assessment of how climate change may affect the distribution and range of 66 seagrass species. It also examines how well the current global MPA coverage will protect these important ecosystems in the future. The authors relied on occurrence records from OBIS, along with other sources of data and expert knowledge, to develop species distribution models under various scenarios.

Metabarcoding is a promising tool for identifying species of fish from their eggs and larvae

DNA eggs fish larvae ichthyoplankton metabarcoding Indian Ocean

Understanding the diversity and distribution of fish egg and larvae in the ocean provides invaluable information on ecosystem health, capacity to recover from disturbances and helps guide management and conservation efforts. This study shows that metabarcoding is a promising tool that allows for rapid and accurate species identification. OBIS was used to validate and confirm the distribution range, habitat and occurrence of the species detected by metabarcoding.

How many species live in the world’s largest marine mineral exploration region?

Biodiversity Deep sea Pacific Taxonomy

This study offers the first comprehensive synthesis of published data for the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in the central and eastern Pacific. The authors report that this area, which covers 6 million km2, represents significant undescribed biodiversity with an estimated 88%–92% species waiting to be described. Data used in this research were extracted from OBIS highlighting its value as a global data repository for marine biodiversity.

Current knowledge on the reproduction of deep-sea corals

Corals Deep Sea Depth Distribution Reproduction

This study looks at the current state of research on the reproduction of deep-sea corals. Occurrence records were extracted from OBIS to find available information for species living at depths below 100m. Less than 7% of known deep-sea coral species were found to have any aspect of their reproduction reported in the literature highlighting significant gaps and priorities for future research.

Climate-driven diversity changes of Mediterranean echinoids over the last 6 Ma

Echinoidea biodiversity paleoclimate biogeography Miocene salinity crisis late Cenozoic

Echinoids are an important component of the Cenozoic marine benthic communities. In this publication, we review their diversity in the Mediterranean area within the Late Miocene to recent, a period of remarkable paleogeographic and paleoclimate changes.

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