Acronym NA
Category
Fisheries
Title Benthic biodiversity - function and toxicology of selected key Arctic organisms Programme National Programme
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
NA
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
NA
Specific Programme (FP7)
NA
Funding source National Coordinator Sabine Cochrane Coordinator email sabine.cochrane@akvaplan.niva.no
Coordinator institution
Akvaplan-niva - Akvaplan-niva AS (Norway)
Institutions involved
PINRO - Knipovich Polar Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography (Russian Federation) ,
MMBI - Murmansk Marine Biological Institute (Russian Federation) ,
UNIS - University Centre in Svalbard (Norway) ,
Start year 2007 End year 2009 Funding (€) € NA Website http://knowledgetool.mariner-project.eu/projects/16 Summary The proposed project is a cooperation network between the Norwegian institutes Akvaplan-niva and University Centre on Svalbard and the Russian institutes Knipovich Polar Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography (PINRO) and Murmansk Marine Biological Institute (MMBI). The programme focuses on benthic fauna in Arctic waters around Svalbard. We address the increasing concern about potential oil spills in Arctic waters from shipping (such as coal transport from Svalbard) and offshore oil and gas exploitation in the Barents Sea. Potential contamination will affect biological activity at the sea floor and in the water column, larval stages of benthic organisms are at risk. The project therefore has two components: Part I: Function and bioturbation of adult benthic faunaPart II: Ecotoxicology and sensitivity of larval stages to oil compounds and dispersants. Part I: Function and bioturbation of adult benthic fauna By using radioisotope and fluorescent tracers, we examine the particle transport behaviour of three types of faunal communities and individual organisms, each representing different environmental conditions. The results will give input to ecological models, and will allow us to build hypotheses of a) how vulnerable different types of faunal community are to disturbance and b) how contaminants may behave in sediments dominated by different types of organisms. Part II: Ecotoxicology and sensitivity of larval stages to oil compounds and dispersants. Using live larvae sampled from Adven tfjorden on Svalbard, a series of ecotoxicology experiments are carried out to investigate the vulnerability of polychaete larvae to oil compounds and dispersants. The project is carried out at UNIS, involving two PhD students, and will promote further network building between the partners and the international research activities at the new Research Park on Svalbard.
Keywords
Risk assessment;
Offshore platforms;
Impacts;
Anthropic activity;
Marine Region
44
Spitzbergen and Bear Island (27.IIb)
42
Barents Sea (27.I)
2
Marine Region Map
