About MarBEF

A network of excellence

Marbef (Marine biodiversity and ecosystem functioning) is an European network of excellence. Networks of excellence are a new way of thinking. They were designed to strengthen the scientific and technological excellence on a particular research topic by integrating the research capacities of the participants. The formation the marbef network of excellence aimed to overcome the fragmentation of European research. It brought together 700 scientist from 95 separate institutes in 24 European countries to integrate marine research, to provide training, exchange and outreach opportunities and initiatives that will be of huge importance both to science and society.

Themes

The MarBEF network of scientists addressed the most topical questions in marine ecology, biogeochemistry, fisheries biology, taxonomy and socio-economics in Europe through a core strategic programme which consisted of three themes.

Theme 1: Patterns of species diversity

Before we can answer the question of why biodiversity varies, we need to know the basic patterns of its distribution in space and time. The most fundamental data on diversity are the numbers of species in different places. It is a fundamental problem for marine biodiversity studies that this is largely unknown.