(BD) BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

The Ecology research division has five research units with advanced knowledge of the basic functioning of the high latitude ecosystems, on land, in the fjords and in oceanic waters.

The multidisciplinary research of our group has an emphasis on new technology to enhance the understanding of ecosystem responses to environmental changes.

The common theme is to relate traditional ecological observations to genetics at the molecular level.

My research group has two main foci: anthropogenically driven evolution and life history evolution. We study both aspects by investigating the molecular ecology of aquatic invertebrates. In the last years, my colleagues and I have taken advantage of the newly developing  field of museomics. Using genomic information extracted from natural history collections, we can begin to understand how humans have altered microbiomes, populations, species and whole communities. 

Influence of Transition to the Renewable Energy Sources on Maritime Transport, Sustainable Development and Labour Market Policy; Proceeding from the fact that sustainable development is the key principle of Environmental Law, this research aims to determine whether transition to renewable energy sources has contributed to its intensification,  but also to the decreasement  of pollution and increasement of expenses in maritime sector as well.

MERG’s research work focuses on: (1) characterisation of benthic habitats; (2) monitoring of changes to local marine life resulting from ongoing environmental changes (e.g. warming sea temperatures, species range expansions, invasion by non-indigenous species); (3) assessing the services provided by habitats and ecosystems (i.e. their resource potential); (4) monitoring the effects of human impacts on these habitats; (5) evaluating the conservation status of local coastal and marine living resources.