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Project

Operation, development and maintenance of a European Marine Observation and Data Network, lot Biology (EMODNETIII)

Main research question/goal

This project is about making marine data more available. ILVO, as the Belgian partner in EMODNET, is placing its historical ecological marine data on the Belgian part of the North Sea, no less than 100,000 data records, on the official European web portal. This makes them available for consultation and data mining. EMODNET (in full: European Marine Observation and Data Network) has the task of studying the seas and making the data available according to international standards for researchers, authorities and private companies. The development of this data portal was coordinated by the Flemish Institute for the Sea (VLIZ). The project is now completed. 


Research approach

ILVO was involved in the work packages 2 and 5 of EmodnetIII. On the biology portal, the neatly processed ILVO biodiversity data (+ 100000 data records) of benthos, epibenthos, demersal fish and zoöplankton on the Belgian Part of the North Sea (BPNS) were further systematically made available. In addition, we worked in WP5 to increase the outreach of this portal and its products through a thorough consultation with stakeholders and the organisation of workshops (e.g. Transatlantic data integration and product development workshop). 


Relevance/Valorisation

Marine biodiversity data are essential to determine and monitor the health of the ecosystem in maritime areas (for instance, the North Sea and Baltic Sea). The fragmentation of marine data (per institute, country, etc.) severely hinders the ability to make evaluations on a larger scale and to execute coherent analyses. The process and approach, illustrated by the elaborated data products, was therefore described in the peer-reviewed article: “Supporting the essential - Recommendations for the development of accessible and interoperable marine biological data products”.

Date:17 Apr 2017 →  16 Apr 2021
Disciplines:Animal ecology, Marine ecology, Aquatic biology, Environmental management, Environmental monitoring, Environmental impact and risk assessment, Ecosystem services, Community ecology
Project type:PhD project