Inventory of EU Marine Climate Change Research

EURO-BASIN - European Union Basin-scale Analysis, Synthesis and Integration

Project website:
http://www.euro-basin.eu/

Summary information
Funding:	FP7 – Large-scale integrating project
Total cost:	965000000
Ec contribution:	7000000
Start date:	2010-12-31
End date:	2014-12-31
Duration:	48 months
Coordinator:	Michael St. John (michael.st.john@uni-hamburg.de), Ivo Grigorov (euro-basin@aqua.dtu.dk) and Ole Henrik Haslund (ohh@aqua.dtu.dk)
Organisation:	Technical University of Denmark – Denmark
Themes:	Ecosystem changes
Regio:	North Atlantic
Keywords:	Climate and anthropogenic forcing; ecosystem; key species; biological carbon pump; ecosystem based management
Project name:	EURO-BASIN - European Union Basin-scale Analysis, Synthesis and Integration
Project summary:	EURO-BASIN is designed to advance our understanding on the variability, potential impacts, and feedbacks of global change and anthropogenic forcing on the structure, function and dynamics of the North Atlantic and associated shelf sea ecosystems as well as the key species influencing carbon sequestering and ecosystem functioning. The ultimate goal of the program is to further our capacity to manage these systems in a sustainable manner following the ecosystem approach. Given the scope and the international significance, EURO-BASIN is part of a multidisciplinary international effort linked with similar activities in the US and Canada. EURO-BASIN focuses on a number of key groups characterizing food web types, e.g. diatoms versus microbial loop players; key species copepods of the genus Calanus; pelagic fish, herring (Clupea harengus), mackerel (Scomber scombrus), blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou) which represent some of the largest fish stocks on the planet; piscivorous pelagic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) and albacore (Thunnus alalunga) all of which serve to structure the ecosystem and thereby influence the flux of carbon from the euphotic zone via the biological carbon pump. In order to establish relationships between these key players, the project identifies and accesses relevant international databases and develops methods to integrate long term observations. These data will be used to perform retrospective analyses on ecosystem and key species/group dynamics, which are augmented by new data from laboratory experiments, mesocosm studies and field programs. These activities serve to advance modelling and predictive capacities based on an ensemble approach where modelling approaches such as size spectrum; mass balance; coupled NPZD; fisheries; and “end to end” models and as well as ecosystem indicators are combined to develop understanding of the past, present and future dynamics of North Atlantic and shelf sea ecosystems and their living marine resources. Project objectives The overarching objectives of the EURO-BASIN initiative are to understand and predict the population structure and dynamics of key plankton and fish species of the North Atlantic and shelf seas, and assess the impacts of climate variability on North Atlantic marine ecosystems and their goods and services.