The long-term ecological research MareChiara (LTER-MC)
The long-term ecological research MareChiara (LTER-MC)
Station LTER-MC belongs to the Italian (LTER-Italia), European (E-Europe) and International (I-LTER) networks of Long Term Ecological Research and is one of the few Mediterranean sites for the regular monitoring of marine plankton.
The sampling and observational activities at station LTER-MC raise questions and hypotheses that are addressed through ad hoc field and laboratory experiments whose results are then used to interpret observations, with particular attention to the possible impact of climate change on marine ecosystems.
We address the following main research topics:
- Carbon and nutrient dynamics in the water column
- Chemotaxonomy and photophysiology of phytoplankton communities
- Biodiversity
- Phenology
- Succession of congeneric species
- Structure and functioning of plankton communities
- Long term changes of plankton in relation to climate changes
- Metagenomics
- Other studies
The research activities are conducted by:
- the Laboratory of Ecology and Evolution of Plankton (LEEP)
- the Service of Taxonomy and Identification of Marine Phytoplankton (TIMP)
- the Area of Management and Ecology of Coastal Areas (MECA)
