• Energy Research
• GB close
• AU close
• ES close
• EU close

Historical exploitation of the Mediterranean Sea and the absence of rigorous baselines makes it difficult to evaluate the current health of the marine ecosystems and the efficacy of conservation actions at the ecosystem level. Here we establish the first current baseline and gradient of ecosystem structure of nearshore rocky reefs at the Mediterranean scale. We conducted underwater surveys in 14 marine protected areas and 18 open access sites across the Mediterranean, and across a 31-fold range of fish biomass (from 3.8 to 118 g m(-2)). Our data showed remarkable variation in the structure of rocky reef ecosystems. Multivariate analysis showed three alternative community states: (1) large fish biomass and reefs dominated by non-canopy algae, (2) lower fish biomass but abundant native algal canopies and suspension feeders, and (3) low fish biomass and extensive barrens, with areas covered by turf algae. Our results suggest that the healthiest shallow rocky reef ecosystems in the Mediterranean have both large fish and algal biomass. Protection level and primary production were the only variables significantly correlated to community biomass structure. Fish biomass was significantly larger in well-enforced no-take marine reserves, but there were no significant differences between multi-use marine protected areas (which allow some fishing) and open access areas at the regional scale. The gradients reported here represent a trajectory of degradation that can be used to assess the health of any similar habitat in the Mediterranean, and to evaluate the efficacy of marine protected areas.

The phenomena of climate change transcend all national and regional boundaries. To address this complex challenge, we must determine the areas of the country of interest, in this case, Greece, that have been most adversely affected by climate. Greece is surrounded by water, and a significant part of its GDP is derived from the marine and maritime industries, including tourism. Since the start of the IntelComp project, a Preparatory Living Lab (PLL) has been planned and delivered, feeding into the development of the IntelComp platform and the Living Lab on Climate Change Adaptation. The study's results lead to the conclusion that one of the most important challenges in tackling climate change is the decarbonisation challenge, specifically the shift to renewable energy sources and the investments that must be made. Several EU and national policy frameworks, including the European Green Deal, the Climate Law, the National Long-term Strategy for 2050 (on the Climate and Energy), highlight the decarbonisation as one of the major challenges in the climate change pledge. This will be the primary subject of the IntelComp climate change case study. PLLs also led to the identification of policy questions and useful data sources to aid the IntelComp project's launch. While previous research on co-production has primarily focused on involving citizens through public participation processes in order to gain their support, trust, and insights in structured decision-making processes, our approach opens a new channel for incorporating external knowledge into problem-solving processes. The IntelComp project will aid in policy development by providing pertinent tools co-developed with the final users that will provide insights and analysis in the field of STI (Science, Technology, Innovation) encompassing all of the Energy areas mentioned above.

Species abundance distributions (SADs) are widely used as a tool for summarizing ecological communities but may have different shapes, depending on the currency used to measure species importance. We develop a simple plotting method that links SADs in the alternative currencies of numerical abundance and biomass and is underpinned by testable predictions about how organisms occupy physical space. When log numerical abundance is plotted against log biomass, the species lie within an approximately triangular region. Simple energetic and sampling constraints explain the triangular form. The dispersion of species within this triangle is the key to understanding why SADs of numerical abundance and biomass can differ. Given regular or random species dispersion, we can predict the shape of the SAD for both currencies under a variety of sampling regimes. We argue that this dispersion pattern will lie between regular and random for the following reasons. First, regular dispersion patterns will result if communities are comprised groups of organisms that use different components of the physical space (e.g. open water, the sea bed surface or rock crevices in a marine fish assemblage), and if the abundance of species in each of these spatial guilds is linked to the way individuals of varying size use the habitat. Second, temporal variation in abundance and sampling error will tend to randomize this regular pattern. Data from two intensively studied marine ecosystems offer empirical support for these predictions. Our approach also has application in environmental monitoring and the recognition of anthropogenic disturbance, which may change the shape of the triangular region by, for example, the loss of large body size top predators that occur at low abundance.

Globally, coral reefs are under pressure from climate change, with concerning declines in coral abundance observed due to increasing cumulative impacts. Active intervention measures that mitigate the declines are increasingly being applied to buy time for coral reefs as the world transitions to a low-carbon economy. One such mitigation strategy is coral restoration based on large-scale coral aquaculture to provide stock for reseeding reefs, with the added potential of selecting corals that better tolerate environmental stress. Application of probiotics during production and deployment, to modulate the naturally occurring bacteria associated with corals, may confer health benefits such as disease resistance, increased environmental tolerance or improved coral nutrition. Here, we briefly describe coral associated bacteria and their role in the coral holobiont, identify probiotics traits potentially beneficial to coral, and discuss current research directions required to develop, test and verify the feasibility for probiotics to improve coral aquaculture at industrial scales.

Linking population trends to species' traits is informative for the detection of the most important threatening factors and for assessing the effectiveness of conservation measures. Although some previous studies performed such an analysis at local to continental scales, the global-scale focus is the most relevant for conservation of the entire species. Here we evaluate information on global population trends of shorebirds, a widely distributed and ecologically diversified group, where some species connect different parts of the world by migration, while others are residents. Nowadays, shorebirds face rapid environmental changes caused by various human activities and climate change. Numerous signs of regional population declines have been recently reported in response to these threats. The aim of our study was to test whether breeding and non-breeding habitats, migratory behaviour (migrants vs. residents) and migration distance, breeding latitude, generation time and breeding range size mirror species' global population trends. We found that a majority of shorebird species have declined globally. After accounting for the influence of traits and species taxonomy, linear mixed-effects models showed that populations of migratory shorebirds decreased more than populations of residents. Besides that, declines were more frequent for species breeding at high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, but these patterns did not hold after excluding the non-migratory species. Our findings suggest that factors linked to migration, such as habitat loss as well as deterioration at stop-over or wintering sites and a pronounced climate change impact at high latitudes, are possible drivers of the observed worldwide population decreases.

AbstractThe efficiency of microalgal biomass production is a determining factor for the economic competitiveness of microalgae-based industries. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and pluronic block polymers are two compounds of interest as novel culture media constituents because of their respective protective properties against oxidative stress and shear-stress-induced cell damage. Here we quantify the effect of NAC and two pluronic (F127 and F68) culture media additives upon the culture productivity of six marine microalgal species of relevance to the aquaculture industry (four diatoms-Chaetoceros calcitrans,Chaetoceros muelleri,Skeletonema costatum, andThalassiosira pseudonana; two haptophytes-Tisochrysis luteaandPavlova salina). Algal culture performance in response to the addition of NAC and pluronic, singly or combined, is dosage- and species-dependent. Combined NAC and pluronic F127 algal culture media additives resulted in specific growth rate increases of 38%, 16%, and 24% forC. calcitrans,C. muelleri, andP. salina, respectively. Enhanced culture productivity for strains belonging to the genusChaetoceroswas paired with an ~27% increase in stationary-phase cell density. For some of the species examined, culture media enrichments with NAC and pluronic resulted in increased omega-3-fatty acid content of the algal biomass. Larval development (i.e., growth and survival) of the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) was not changed when fed a mixture of microalgae grown in NAC- and F127-supplemented culture medium. Based upon these results, we propose that culture media enrichment with NAC and pluronic F127 is an effective and easily adopted approach to increase algal productivity and enhance the nutritional quality of marine microalgal strains commonly cultured for live-feed applications in aquaculture.Key points• Single and combined NAC and pluronic F127 culture media supplementation significantly enhanced the productivity of Chaetoceros calcitrans and Chaetoceros muelleri cultures.• Culture media enrichments with NAC and F127 can increase omega-3-fatty acid content of algal biomass.• Microalgae grown in NAC- and pluronic F127-supplemented culture media are suitable for live-feed applications.

Con el aumento de la demanda de refrigeración y la penetración de recursos de energía renovable descentralizados en las redes eléctricas, la gestión de la demanda de electricidad (DSM) se ha convertido en una herramienta importante para la planificación de la electricidad y la descarbonización en el Sur Global. En la India, la aplicación comercial del DSM no es nueva, pero la respuesta a la demanda (DR) a escala residencial impulsada por los servicios públicos sigue siendo un área inexplorada. Este documento contribuye en dos frentes: para explicar las percepciones de los hogares y los profesionales de la RD: disyunciones entre estas percepciones y sus implicaciones para la aceptación de la RD residencial. Utilizando un enfoque de coproducción, este documento extrae información de dos grupos de partes interesadas en la India: 25 expertos en políticas y servicios públicos de RD y 24 consumidores domésticos. Nuestros resultados muestran que el salvavidas tecnológico subraya de manera generalizada la comprensión de los profesionales de la RD y la agencia de los hogares, un factor crucial en la adopción de la RD a escala residencial sigue siendo una pieza que falta. El documento concluye que, sin considerar la agencia del cabeza de familia, ofrecer un futuro descarbonizado basado en la respuesta a la demanda será un desafío y los consumidores pueden permanecer encerrados en las prácticas socioculturales existentes que niegan la adopción de la DRA. Avec l'augmentation de la demande de refroidissement et la pénétration des ressources énergétiques renouvelables décentralisées dans les réseaux d'électricité, la gestion de la demande d'électricité (DSM) est devenue un outil majeur de planification et de décarbonisation de l'électricité dans les pays du Sud. En Inde, l'application commerciale du DSM n'est pas nouvelle, mais la réponse à la demande à l'échelle résidentielle (DR) axée sur les services publics reste un domaine inexploré. Cet article contribue sur deux fronts – pour expliquer les perceptions des ménages et des praticiens de la RD : les disjonctions entre ces perceptions et ses implications pour l'acceptation de la DR résidentielle En utilisant une approche de coproduction, cet article tire des enseignements de deux ensembles de parties prenantes en Inde - 25 experts en politique et services publics de la RD et 24 consommateurs domestiques. Nos résultats montrent que le sauveurisme technologique souligne de manière omniprésente la compréhension des praticiens de la RD et de l'agence domestique, un facteur crucial dans l'adoption de la RD à l'échelle résidentielle qui reste une pièce manquante. Le document conclut que, sans tenir compte du pouvoir d'action des ménages, il sera difficile d'offrir un avenir décarboné basé sur la réponse à la demande et que les consommateurs peuvent rester enfermés dans des pratiques socioculturelles existantes qui annulent l'adoption de la DR. With the rise in cooling demand and the permeation of decentralised renewable energy resources in electricity networks, electricity demand-side management (DSM) has become a major tool for electricity planning and decarbonisation in the Global South. In India, the commercial application of DSM is not new, yet utility-driven residential-scale demand response (DR) remains an unexplored area. This paper contributes on two fronts – to explicate householders and practitioner's perceptions of DR: disjunctions between these perceptions and its implications for the acceptance of residential DR. Using a co-production approach, this paper draws insights from two sets of stakeholders in India - 25 DR policy and utility experts and 24 household consumers. Our results show that technological saviourism pervasively underscores practitioners understanding of DR and householder agency, a crucial factor in the adoption of DR at the residential scale remains a missing piece. The paper concludes that without considering householder agency, delivering a decarbonised future based on demand response will be challenging and consumers may remain locked into-existing socio-cultural practices that negate the adoption of DR. مع ارتفاع الطلب على التبريد وتغلغل موارد الطاقة المتجددة اللامركزية في شبكات الكهرباء، أصبحت إدارة جانب الطلب على الكهرباء (DSM) أداة رئيسية لتخطيط الكهرباء وإزالة الكربون في الجنوب العالمي. في الهند، لا يعد التطبيق التجاري للوسائط الرقمية والإلكترونية جديدًا، ومع ذلك تظل الاستجابة للطلب على نطاق سكني مدفوعة بالمرافق منطقة غير مستكشفة. تساهم هذه الورقة على جبهتين – لتوضيح تصورات أصحاب المنازل والممارسين حول الحد من مخاطر الكوارث: الانفصال بين هذه التصورات وآثارها على قبول الدكتور المقيم باستخدام نهج الإنتاج المشترك، تستمد هذه الورقة رؤى من مجموعتين من أصحاب المصلحة في الهند - 25 خبيرًا في سياسة الحد من مخاطر الكوارث والمرافق و 24 مستهلكًا منزليًا. تظهر نتائجنا أن الإنقاذ التكنولوجي يؤكد بشكل واسع على فهم الممارسين لوكالة الطبيب المقيم وصاحب المنزل، وهو عامل حاسم في اعتماد الطبيب المقيم على المستوى السكني لا يزال جزءًا مفقودًا. وتخلص الورقة إلى أنه دون النظر في وكالة الأسر المعيشية، فإن تحقيق مستقبل خالٍ من الكربون بناءً على استجابة الطلب سيكون أمرًا صعبًا وقد يظل المستهلكون محاصرين في الممارسات الاجتماعية والثقافية القائمة التي تلغي تبني الدكتور.