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JOINT EUROPEAN PROJECT ON THE DYNAMICS OF PHAEOCYSTIS BLOOMS IN NUTRIENT-ENRICHED COASTAL ZONES OF THE NORTH SEA.

Objective

TO STUDY AND TO PREDICT EUTROPHICATION PROCESSES AND IMPACTS IN COASTAL AREAS OF THE SOUTHERN NORTH SEA.

BASED ON RESULTS ACHIEVED IN THE PRECEDING R&D PROGRAMME ENVIRONMENT (CONTRACT ENV-862-B; SEE ALSO REVIEW ARTICLE IN AMBIO 16 (1): 38-46, 1987) THIS MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOINT PROJECT BETWEEN 13 INSTITUTES FROM 5 EC-MEMBER STATES (B, F, UK, NL, D) WILL ESTABLISH A PREDICTIVE MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF THE EUTROPHICATION PROCESSES OCCURING ALONG THE COASTAL ZONES BETWEEN THE EASTERN CHANNEL AND THE GERMAN BIGHT OF THE NORTH SEA. THIS OVERALL MODEL WILL COUPLE A HYDRODYNAMICAL WITH AN ECOLOGICAL MODEL TO DESCRIBE AND TO PREDICT THE FATE OF TERRIGENOUS NUTRIENTS INPUTS AND CYCLING IN THESE COASTAL SEAS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON IMPORTANT TROPHIC LEVELS OF THE FOOD CHAIN.

FOR THE VERIFICATION OF THE MODEL IN PARTICULAR THE DYNAMICS OF PHYTOPLANKTON BLOOMS OF THE COLONY-FORMING FLAGELLATE PHAEOCYSTIS POUCHETII IN RELATION TO NUTRIENT FLUXES WILL BE INVESTIGATED. THIS WILL TAKE INTO ACCOUNT LIFE-CYCLE AND GROWTH STUDIES OF PHYTOPLANKTON SPECIES INVOLVED, STUDIES ON MECHANISMS AND KINETICS OF BACTERIAL MINERALIZATION OF THE ORGANIC MATERIAL, AND INVESTIGATIONS ABOUT ZOOLPLANKTON GRAZING ON PHAEOCYSTIS.

THE KINETICS OF EACH BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY AND ITS CONTROL MECHANISMS WILL BE IDENTIFIED ON THE BASIS OF BOTH CONTROLLED LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS AND IN SITU OBSERVATIONS.

Topic(s)

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Call for proposal

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Coordinator

Universite Libre de Bruxelles
EU contribution
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Address
Avenue Franklin Roosevelt 50
BRUXELLES
Belgium

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