A 4-year study funded by the EU has revealed the presence of a climate feedback loop that threatens to push marine ecosystems beyond critical thresholds. Researchers in the COMFORT project say action is needed now to prevent rising temperatures, ocean acidification and falling oxygen levels causing irrevocable changes to ocean habitats.
The list of innovations brought about by the EU-funded SEAFOODTOMORROW project is impressive. Project outcomes range from new production and processing methods, tailor-made healthy seafood and smartphone apps for consumers. Thanks to the project’s efforts, consumers and citizens can now benefit from higher quality, safer, more transparent and more sustainable seafood products.
Humanity is realising that the state of our oceans has a direct impact on our wellbeing. To identify key priorities in the field of oceans and human health, the EU-funded SOPHIE project created a network of diverse experts. By changing harmful behaviours and encouraging sustainable practices, they hope to contribute to better health for both the oceans and citizens across Europe and beyond.
Science has long held that in the food chain, plants support animals. While this may be true on land, the EU-funded MixITiN project has shown that such a system isn’t applicable to our oceans. The project hopes that its findings will help to improve knowledge and thus broader education efforts on marine ecology, allowing citizens to gain a better understanding of the ocean’s great wonders.
For years, environmental scientists across different disciplines have struggled with the same technical challenges. In response, EU-funded researchers have created a community where scientists can pool their resources to find joint solutions to common problems.
EU-funded researchers have designed a standard instrument module to monitor conditions in the deep sea. As part of a Europe-wide marine-sensing infrastructure, the modules will supply reliable long-term data on the state of our seas and oceans.
Algae grown, harvested and processed using new techniques developed by EU-funded researchers could supply greener alternatives to common ingredients - putting more eco-friendly cosmetics on the shelf and adding more sustainable foods to the menu.
The ocean plays a vital role in our lives, both environmentally and economically. In order to protect this precious resource, EU-funded research is helping to deepen our understanding of the interlinking factors impacting Europe's coastal waters.
EU-funded researchers are using innovative genomic and microfluidic technologies to identify useful enzymes in nature which could reduce the need for toxic chemicals, save energy, and boost the overall sustainability of a range of industries, from agriculture to pharmaceuticals.
Enzymes could make many chemical conversions more efficient, more sustainable and more affordable - and marine microbes produce an abundant variety of these biological catalysts, say EU-funded researchers who set out to find new ones for use in industry. A vast collection, new knowledge, four patents and a start-up are the result.
