| Acronym: | EXPL/CTA-AMB/1294/2021 |
| Cost Center: | 1089 |
| Title: | The role of the microbiome in the health and resilience of deep-sea corals in a changing ocean |
| Start-End: | 01-01-2022 - 31-12-2023 |
| Entidade Beneficiária Principal: | Fundação Gaspar Frutuoso |
| Gestores da FGF: | Lúcia Cláudio, Melissa Figueiredo, |
| Responsible Researcher: | Maria Teresa de Sousa Barros Cerqueira |
| R&D Units: | OKEANOS - Instituto de Investigação em Ciências do Mar |
| Entidade | Fundação Gaspar Frutuoso |
|---|---|
| Total Financing | 49.935,00 € |
| Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (100.0 %) | 49.935,00 € |
Main Objectives:
As such, the overall objective of this project is to elucidate the functional roles of microbes associated with octocoral-forming habitats in the Azores and their dynamics in scenarios of climate change and human pressures (ocean acidification and offshore mining). Specifically, this PR aims to study:
1) The microbiome composition of two octocorals that form abundant habitats in the Azores (Task 1).
2) The effects of ocean acidification and offshore mining on the composition of the coral microbiome and the correlation with the physiological condition of corals (Task 2).
3) The dynamics of the holobiont in different environmental scenarios and the potential ripple effects of these changes on CWC ecosystems (Task 3).
Project Description:
This research project will contribute to the global knowledge of the microbial ecology of deep-sea cold water corals, and create an important repository of sequences of new genes with potential biotechnological interest. The results of this work will also contribute to broadening knowledge about the resilience of cold water coral ecosystems to human and environmental disturbances and also contributing to the implementation of ocean conservation policies.
