Thematic Research Lines
MARE has seven Thematic Lines that allow to identify priority areas for research..
Through the exchange of ideas, knowledge, methodologies and applications, MARE increases its potential for presenting specific actions, strengthens the communication between its members and the ability to attract resources to develop consistent research and promote internal and external partnerships that enhance the success of its research.
Hydraulics, Hydrology and Sedimentary Environments
Hydraulics, Hydrology and Sedimentary Environments thematic line encompasses two main areas of activity: environmental hydrology and hydraulics; sedimentary geology and environment. It promotes interdisciplinary research to apply in the development of innovative tools, strategies and technologies to solve environmental problems in a sustainable way. The research activities involve the following areas: modelling of surface hydrological processes; non-linear processes in hydrology; urban hydrology and hydraulics; sedimentary hydrodynamics, sedimentary petrology, sedimentology, geomorphology, geoarchaeology and sedimentary basin analysis.
The main objective of this line is to develop tools and methodologies that cut across several areas of water and environmental management, including sedimentary processes, improving the knowledge and capability to manage natural and artificial environments in a sustainable way.
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning
Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning thematic line focuses on structural and functional biodiversity at different trophic levels in the open-ocean, coastal and estuarine areas, river basins and adjacent terrestrial areas. It covers the ecology, behaviour and conservation of individual species and their ecosystems.
The main objectives of this line are: Biodiversity – the study of functional biodiversity, ecosystem hotspots and causes for biodiversity loss; ecology and behaviour – to understand the structure, function and dynamics at the species, population and ecosystem levels; conservation biology – to improve the knowledge on patterns underlying ecological resilience and vulnerability; evolution and population dynamics – the use of genetic tools to infer the past, understand the presence and predict the future relationships and distributions of species.
Aquaculture and Fisheries
Aquaculture and Fisheries thematic line has 55 researches from all MARE polos. The functional objectives include 4 main areas: to identify the priority fields and present specific actions to invigorate the thematic line, to reinforce the communication among the members promoting the joint work, to get more funds to develop a consistent research, to promote internal and external partnerships to maximize the research success.
As scientific goals the following areas are foreseen to be implemented: fisheries biology and management, small-scale fisheries, aquaculture of new species, pathology and immunology advances, aquaculture practices that improve the sustainability of endogenous resources.
Environmental Risk
The Environmental Risk thematic line allocates distinct, albeit complementary, research groups which share similar approaches, such as the development of risk indexes and monitoring procedures, to address distinct sets of stressors which affect specific ecosystems and biotypes, from coastal to estuarine and riverine/drainage basins.
The main objectives of this line are: to promote an innovative research on sources, fate, routes of exposure, effects of natural and anthropogenic stressors and their mitigation, at all levels of biological organization; to promote the research on acknowledged and emerging pollutants and climate change-related shifts,; to promote optimization of methodologies for EIA and SEA adapted to the paradigms established by the European Directives and by the WFD and MSFD; to reinforce transdisciplinarity, which is a clear asset for obtaining a holistic multi-level interpretation of the status of ecosystems, contributing to ensure an environmentally sustainable exploitation of aquatic natural resources.
Biotechnology and Resources Valorisation
Biotechnology and Resources Valorisation research line aims at bridging the gap between research and society, by addressing an industrially market-focused approach for selected marine biodiscovery pipelines, contributing to enhance innovation and the high growth potential of a Blue Economy.
The main goals of this research line are: to increase the efficiency of the marine biodiscovery pipeline and contribute to a more effective bioprospecting; to promote innovation with new biotechnological applications, products, processes and services, resulting from marine biomolecules or enriched extracts; to add value to marine natural resources to provide solutions for the industry, in a true technology transfer between research and SMEs/stakeholders ensuring a “From the Sea to Society” strategy.
Technological Tools for Exploration and Monitoring
Technological Tools for Exploration and Monitoring thematic line focused on research to stimulate the development of innovative tools, technologies and monitoring infrastructures for aquatic research and working in close collaboration in an interdisciplinary environment to produce innovative solutions, contributes to bridge the gap between aquatic research and technological constrains associated with the work developed in an adverse environment to science.
The following specific objectives will be pursued: to improve fixed and autonomous observation systems, including bio-logging technologies, to observe links between multiple ecosystem components at spatial and temporal coherent scales; developments on experimental facilities to maintain aquatic model species in controlled conditions for use in scientific research; to support the ongoing implementation of the research infrastructures CoastNet and PORBIOTA, designed to monitor human activities and to improve the understanding of coastal ecosystems dynamics.
Governance and Literacy
Governance and Literacy thematic line deals with the social component within processes/projects - and aims to assess and interpret these main trends at global/regional/national levels, in order to discuss theories, models and their effectiveness, contributing to the development of innovative instruments and policies. For this, four research areas are identified: policies, instruments and institutional frameworks; societal dynamics and governance studies; science communication and knowledge building; and socio-ecological dynamics. This transdisciplinary line follows an action-research quantitative and qualitative approach and it targets multiple level policy decision making and governance. It works closely with different disciplinary fields to test theories on the ground and to draw lessons for theorizing, through active Living Labs, promoters of Governance and Literacy.
The objectives of this line are the following: stimulate the research in Governance and Literacy encouraging simultaneously the development of innovative methodologies; assure the capacitation of the civil society in Governance and Literacy, namely for communities, institutions and firms; push network building in Governance and Literacy effectively and efficiently to the overall society, contributing to build up collective capital - social, intellectual and political – and to the scientific and technological innovation; build alternative models of Governance and Literacy privileging coastal communities, stressing the differentiated character generator of social transformation; and promote internal governance of MARE contributing to reinforce the multidisciplinary profile of the Center.
