The Phytophthora Research Centre team based at Mendel University in Brno has a long history of uncovering Oomycete diversity on terrestrial forest ecosystems all over the world… and now, within the RestoreSeas project, we are taking this challenge to another environment: hunting Oomycetes in marine forests! Understanding the impact of these pathogens in marine ecosystems is of crucial importance...
Meet Jeanne, the Marine Forest Restoration eBike!
December 22, 2023
As part of the task on communication and public dissemination of RESTORESEAS, the Natural History Museum Vienna has developed a new tool to bring the topic of conservation and restoration of marine forests into the spotlight in the landlocked country of Austria: our new marine restoration e-Bike “Jeanne”! “Jeanne” presents a rolling and interactive workshop directed at school classes in the ages...
Detection of oomycetes on seagrasses using state-of-the-art Nanopore sequencing
August 23, 2023
In a short research project, Kaïn van Calcar, a BSc student at the University of Amsterdam, investigated the role of oomycetes in the decline of seagrass meadows. Seagrass meadows are essential for providing various ecosystem services, including acting as habitats for marine organisms and effectively storing carbon. Unfortunately, these meadows have been experiencing a rapid worldwide decline....
The importance of kelp microbiomes
April 12, 2023
Hello! I am Sofie, a PhD student at the University of Ghent, currently working on unravelling the role Laminaria ochroleuca’s microbiome plays in its growth and development. Laminaria ochroleuca, also known as the golden kelp, is a temperate brown seaweed species, mainly found in the coastal waters of Europe ranging from the UK to Morocco (1,2). It plays an important role in rocky shore...
Citizen science for a healthy future
February 28, 2023
Humanity is at a crossroad, and if the correct path is chosen, a prosperous and safe future is still possible. For that to happen, society needs to make decisions based on what evidence suggests are the most efficient solutions for mitigating the climate crisis we are facing.Having access to a wide range of worldwide scientific literature, which can support qualified debates on integrating local...
First steps to deep-sea coral restoration
January 17, 2023
When people think of coral reefs, they usually imagine warm, shallow tropical waters; not cold, dark deep ocean waters. But there are coral reefs living in the dark at the bottom of the ocean as well. They are hard to access and not as vibrant as their warm-water relatives, still they harbor almost as many species and serve as nursery grounds for many commercially important fish [1]. These...