Marine habitats created by shellfish are hotspots of biodiversity of high conservation importance
Shellfish reefs such as those formed by the horse mussel (Modiolus modiolus), a large, slow growing species found in the Northern Atlantic, are complex habitats of high conservation value. A study by Dr. Jose M. Fariñas-Franco with colleagues in the United Kingdom analysed over 40 years worth of data from 100s of dives in 16 […]
Deep Sea Microplastic Pollution Extends Out to Sediments in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean Margins
Microplastics are ubiquitous emerging contaminants found in every habitat surveyed, building upon international databases globally. Costs and accessibility often correlate to few deep sea sediment surveys, restricting the number of stations within a given sampling area. An extensive survey of the Porcupine Seabight and Porcupine Bank canyons resulted in identifying microplastics in deep sea sediment […]
[New book chapter] Methodologies to Assess Microplastics in the Anthropocene
A new book chapter has been published in the new book “Influence of Microplastics on Environmental and Human Health”, published by Taylor and Francis Group, and edited by Yvonne Lang, ATU Sligo. The chapter written by Dr João Frias and Dr Róisín Nash from ATU Galway focuses on the wide range of methodologies to assess […]
[New paper] – Plastics, prawns and patterns: Microplastic loadings in Nephrops norvegicus and surrounding habitat in the North East Atlantic
A new manuscript assessing the levels of microplastics in Nephrops norvegicus and benthic sediment showed low levels of contamination in Ireland. For more details and access to the open-access manuscript, please visit here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154036
Launch of the GENIALG E-Learning course on seaweed cultivation
A new E-Learning course on sustainable seaweed farming practices with contributions from GMIT was launched this year by the EU Project GENIALG. The course addresses the environmental benefits and risks of seaweed farming, suggesting good practices to ensure a sustainable growth of the seaweed farming industry. This e-Learning resource is relevant to students, current practitioners […]
New report on marine microplastics
A new study commissioned by Seas at Risk VzW titled, “Microplastics in the marine environment: sources, impacts and recommendations”, was compiled by GMIT Microplastic Researchers (Dr João Frias, Dr Róisín Nash, Dr Elena Pagter, Sindhura Stothra Bhashyam, MSc) together with Malcolm Deegan from Maldeegan Productions, in Dublin. The publication of this report coincides with the […]
NEW PAPER – Can we study marine fish without catching them? Check out our new paper!
In this case study we combined Underwater Video and environmental DNA data to study marine fish communities in the SmartBay Ireland cabled observatory. Check out the full article in Science of the Total Environment here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.145351
NEW PAPER on non-invasive genetic studies of seals
Check out our new paper in the journal Conservation Genetics Resources! Genetic studies of elusive species such as pinnipeds are often confined by the number of samples available which may result in knowledge gaps due to a lack of representative data. Hence, this study evaluated the applicability of various protocols for the collection and processing […]
Explaining decrease in size of Atlantic herring
The effects of environmental change and fishing activity on herring populations in the Celtic sea and the Northwest coast of Ireland are looked at in a new paper in the journal Ecological Informatics from MFRC and Marine Institute researchers. This study used Gradient boosting regression trees to identify trends in extended time series (1959–2012) of […]
Opening access to collections of fish scales and otoliths
A new paper in the journal Ecological Informatics from MFRC and Marine Institute researchers, highlights the value of scale and otolith collections and provides an open source system to facilitate curation and access. Globally, millions of fish scales and otoliths and other calcified structures are held within research centres, museums, universities, government institutions and private […]
