Webinar programme

Wednesday 8 July 2020, 15:00 – 16:00 UK time: Follow the Fellows webinar

Speaker: Loic Van Audenhaege, Ifremer
Topic: Multi-scale spatio-temporal distribution of faunal communities on the hydrothermal vent field Lucky Strike
Synopsis: While companies’ interest for exploiting the seafloor mineral resources has increased for the past decade, the lack of knowledge (ecology and ecosystem functioning) still limits the definition of exploitation guidelines to protect lush chemosynthesis-based hydrothermal communities. Using temporal series of images and 3D models, I aim to characterise long-term spatio-temporal  fauna variation at Lucky Strike in relation to the habitat variability. Here I will present two studies considering different spatial scales (fluid exit and the entire edifice).
Access: Restricted to iAtlantic partnership only

Wednesday 29 July, 13:00 – 14:00 UK time: Assessing and communicating uncertainty in species and habitat modelling for mapping (WP2 webinar series)

Speaker: James Strong, NOC
Synopsis: Due to the high quality of terrestrial maps, we have become accustomed to assuming that maps show the location (spatial properties) and identity (thematic properties) of objects quite accurately. As such, maps are often ingested without concern for their quality or accuracy. Failing to report certainty may mean that too much trust and confidence are attached to the maps, which may subsequently fail to support the desired purpose of the end user. This discrepancy between map accuracy and end user expectations has the potential to undermine the mapping process and the products generated. As such, it is essential that map producers report informative and standardised measures of map uncertainty. There are several ways of achieving undertaking this process. This presentation will describe the commonest methods used to assess and communicate  the accuracy of maps, and is aimed at both map producers but also at map users.
Access: Restricted to iAtlantic partnership only

Wednesday 5 August 2020, 15:00 – 16:00 UK time: Follow the Fellows webinar

Speaker: Georgios Kazanidis, University of Edinburgh
Title: Assessing the environmental status of Atlantic deep-sea ecosystems.  
Synopsis: The deep sea is the largest biome on Earth but the least explored. The implementation of marine policies and support for Blue Growth in the deep sea are hindered by this limited knowledge. The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) is the ambitious strategy of the European Commission aiming to achieve clean, healthy, productive and biologically diverse waters in Europe. Its implementation, however, up to now in the deep areas (>200 m water depth) of the North Atlantic is very limited. This is a major gap as deep-sea areas in the North Atlantic host extremely fragile marine ecosystems which provide a wealth of goods and services. Addressing this major gap, the H2020 ATLAS project (https://www.eu-atlas.org/) brought together an international group of experts working on key deep-sea areas in the North Atlantic. ATLAS has suggested a list of indicators for the assessment of deep-sea environmental status, evaluated the usefulness of the Nested Environmental status Assessment Tool and identified challenges and opportunities for the implementation of marine policies and stimulation of Blue Growth in the deep sea. Finally, this presentation will highlight the work done by ATLAS suggesting the high potential of MSFD to act as the common policy framework for the assessment of deep-sea status in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
Access: Restricted to iAtlantic partnership only

Wednesday 2 September 2020, 15:00 – 16:00 UK time: Follow the Fellows webinar

Speaker: Babett Günther, CNRS
Title: Biodiversity inventories by environmental DNA – a short Introduction, plans for iAtlantic, advantages and possible improvements
Synopsis: The metabarcoding of environmental DNA (eDNA) opened large prospects for future biomonitoring of marine environments. During the ATLAS project, a molecular and bioinformatics pipe was developed for metabarcoding standardized mitochondrial COI and ribosomal 16S, 18S barcodes, allowing the inventory of biodiversity from bacteria until vertebrates. I will present our plans for iAtlantic, including advanced analyses with various abiotic factors. The metabarcoding of eDNA allows fast, cheap, better-standardized inventories with ongoing
improvements for conservative and reliable assessments. However, most species in the deep sea are unknown; the lack in reference systems and analysis of relatively short fragments limits the reconstruction of robust phylogeny resulting in taxonomic biases. Therefore, I will briefly introduce the long sequencing technology offered by Oxford Nanopore and a first capture by hybridization protocol.
Access: Restricted to iAtlantic partnership only