• Energy Research
• PT close
• European Marine Science close

This paper assesses the applicability of the Frame of Reference (FoR) approach for the environmental monitoring of large-scale offshore Marine Renewable Energy (MRE) projects. The focus is on projects harvesting energy from winds, waves and currents. Environmental concerns induced by MRE projects are reported based on a classification scheme identifying stressors, receptors, effects and impacts. Although the potential effects of stressors on most receptors are identified, there are large knowledge gaps regarding the corresponding (positive and negative) impacts. In that context, the development of offshore MRE requires the implementation of fit-for-purpose monitoring activities aimed at environmental protection and knowledge development. Taking European legislation as an example, it is suggested to adopt standardized monitoring protocols for the enhanced usage and utility of environmental indicators. Towards this objective, the use of the FoR approach is advocated since it provides guidance for the definition and use of coherent set of environmental state indicators. After a description of this framework, various examples of applications are provided considering a virtual MRE project located in European waters. Finally, some conclusions and recommendations are provided for the successful implementation of the FoR approach and for future studies.

The extraction of phycobiliprotein (PBP) pigments from red algae Gracilaria gracilis was optimized using maceration, ultrasound-assisted extraction (ultrasonic water bath and ultrasonic probe), high pressure-assisted extraction, and freeze-thaw. The experimental conditions, namely homogenization time (t1), buffer concentration (C), treatment time (t2), biomass: buffer ratio (R), and pressure (P), were optimized using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The yield of phycoerythrin (PE) extracted, determined spectroscopically, was used as the response variable. Maceration was the most efficient extraction method yielding 3.6 mg PE/g biomass under the optimal conditions (t1 = t2 = 10 min; C = 0.1 M; R = 1:50). Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis of the biomass before and after the cell disruption treatments revealed a more efficient cell wall rupture with maceration.

ABSTRACT Despite considerable technological advances in recent decades that have enabled the ecosystems of the deeper parts of the oceans to be discovered and explored, large knowledge gaps still exist on the biology and ecology of such ecosystems. This is largely due to challenges related to observation and experimentation in situ, and to maintaining deepwater species under ex situ experimental conditions. Deep-sea organisms have evolved life strategies and physiological adaptations (e.g. slow metabolism and growth rates, high longevity, and late maturity) that allow them to succeed in the cold and generally food-limited deep-sea environment but that may partially impair their ability to physiologically compensate for and adapt to changes in climate. Therefore, a deeper understanding of species’ biological and ecological traits, as well as their tolerance thresholds to single and cumulative climatic stressors (e.g. temperature and nutrition, pH and O2) is much needed. Most experiments to date have been conducted under short-term (i.e. acute) conditions, thereby hindering the mechanisms potentially involved in species resilience and acclimation. Studies addressing the impact of climate change on species gametogenesis, reproductive output, or larval development and physiology are also largely lacking. While efforts continue to build a knowledge base on the impacts over the physiological and ecological processes affecting individual species, it is also necessary to start to address the impacts that climate change will have on wider ecosystem functioning.

Abstract A 30 kW fixed-guide-vanes biradial turbine-generator set was designed by Instituto Superior Tecnico (IST) and manufactured by Kymaner, within the framework of the H2020 European project OPERA, for open sea testing at the Mutriku breakwater oscillating water column (OWC) power plant and at the IDOM MARMOK-A-5 OWC spar-buoy, deployed at BiMEP, Basque Country, Spain. The paper reports the design and construction of the prototype, and its dry testing at IST, in a variable-flow test rig, simulating the oscillating flow induced by irregular waves. Results show that the turbine exhibits a peak efficiency of 70% under steady-state conditions and an average efficiency of 56% for the control laws tested.

AbstractGroundwater is a vital ecosystem of the global water cycle, hosting unique biodiversity and providing essential services to societies. Despite being the largest unfrozen freshwater resource, in a period of depletion by extraction and pollution, groundwater environments have been repeatedly overlooked in global biodiversity conservation agendas. Disregarding the importance of groundwater as an ecosystem ignores its critical role in preserving surface biomes. To foster timely global conservation of groundwater, we propose elevating the concept of keystone species into the realm of ecosystems, claiming groundwater as a keystone ecosystem that influences the integrity of many dependent ecosystems. Our global analysis shows that over half of land surface areas (52.6%) has a medium‐to‐high interaction with groundwater, reaching up to 74.9% when deserts and high mountains are excluded. We postulate that the intrinsic transboundary features of groundwater are critical for shifting perspectives towards more holistic approaches in aquatic ecology and beyond. Furthermore, we propose eight key themes to develop a science‐policy integrated groundwater conservation agenda. Given ecosystems above and below the ground intersect at many levels, considering groundwater as an essential component of planetary health is pivotal to reduce biodiversity loss and buffer against climate change.

Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo investigar e aprender com os mergulhadores de apneia da Reserva Extrativista Marinha do Corumbau-BA, localizada no Banco de Abrolhos, Brasil; sobre as práticas e transformações da caça subaquática, frente aos desafios impostos pelo aquecimento global, às mudanças climáticas e aos desastres ambientais ocorridos no ano de 2019; nomeadamente o branqueamento dos corais (Duarte, et al., 2020), e o derramamento misterioso de petróleo cru no ambiente (Soares, et al., 2020). A componente fílmica deste trabalho, além de ferramenta fundamental na construção da narrativa, pretende comunicar sobre uma realidade pouco visível: o mundo subaquático em suas interações de vida, observado sob a linha d’água. Chamo esta malha social existente entre os elementos humanos e não humanos de “Sistema Coral”. Assim, os recifes de coral e as relações sociais estabelecidas entre as espécies, tornam-se o fio condutor desta abordagem, visando clarificar as interações sociais da malha em seus efetivos laços de apoio, perturbação e sustentabilidade. A partir do método etnográfico, proponho o uso das imagens como ferramenta central e articuladora, de forma a dar espaço ao “cruzamento de perspectivas culturais” (MacDougall 1997), onde a composição das vozes foi criando o conteúdo. A câmara segue as linhas de vida, em busca do encontro dos elementos e dos materiais. Pretendi gerar conteúdo polifônico, por meio da captação de imagem e voz, sobre o conhecimento empírico associado à pesca submarina, e ensinado por meio da prática e da observação cotidiana. Para dar conta da diversidade de detalhes e complexos imbricados de vidas e materiais relacionados a esta etnografia, proponho a utilização do sistema coral, como uma janela de observação, para compreender o impacto das alterações climáticas `a escala local proposta. This research aimed to investigate and learn with underwater divers from the Marine Extractive Reserve of Corumbau, located in the Banco de Abrolhos, (Bahia-Brazil); on the practices and transformations of underwater hunting, given the challenges posed by global warming, climate change and environmental disasters that occurred in 2019; namely coral bleaching (Duarte, et al., 2020), and the mysterious spill of crude oil into the environment (Soares, et al., 2020). The filmic component of this work, in addition to being a fundamental tool in the construction of the narrative, intends to communicate about a barely visible reality: the underwater world in its life interactions, observed under the waterline. I call this social mesh that exists between the human and non-human elements the “Coral System”. Thus, coral reefs and the social relationships established between species, become the guiding principle of this approach, aiming to clarify the social interactions of the mesh in their effective ties of support, disturbance, and sustainability. From the ethnographic method, I propose the use of images as a central and articulating tool, to give space to the “crossing of cultural perspectives” (MacDougall 1997), where the composition of the voices created the content. The camera follows the lines of life, in search of the meeting of elements and materials. With this, I intended to generate polyphonic content, through image and voice capture, about the empirical knowledge associated with underwater fishing, and taught through daily practice and observation. To account for the diversity of details and complex intertwined lives and materials related to this ethnography, I propose the use of the coral system, as an observation window, to understand the impact of climate change on the proposed local scale.

Both metabolism and growth scale sublinearly with body mass across species. Ecosystems show the same sublinear scaling between production and total biomass, but ecological theory cannot reconcile the existence of these nearly identical scalings at different levels of biological organization. We attempt to solve this paradox using marine phytoplankton, connecting individual and ecosystem scalings across three orders of magnitude in body size and biomass. We find that competitive interactions determined by biomass slow metabolism in a consistent fashion across species of different sizes. These effects dominate over species-specific peculiarities, explaining why community composition does not affect respiration and production patterns. The sublinear scaling of ecosystem production thus emerges from this metabolic density-dependence that operates across species, independently of the equilibrium state or resource regime. Our findings demonstrate the connection between individual and ecosystem scalings, unifying aspects of physiology and ecology to explain why growth patterns are so strikingly similar across scales.