European Directory of Marine Organisations (EDMO)

details

Name

Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Biology, Laboratory of Ecology and Systematics (VUB-ECOL)

Native name

Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Faculteit Wetenschappen, Vakgroep Biologie, Laboratorium voor Ecologie en Systematiek

Country

Belgium

organisation profile

The main research topic is the functioning of marine and coastal ecosystems, focusing on the management and conservation of endangered systems. Plankton (particularly phytoplankton) in aquatic systems represents the basis of all food chains. In coastal systems, plants as sea grasses and sea algae have an important contribution to the formation of organic material in the water. In tropical systems, trees, as mangroves play an additional important role in this process. In our research team we are focusing on the role of plankton in open versus coastal systems. The biodiversity and the function show large differences, due to the difference in terrestrial inputs, including pollution. In estuaries this difference is still reinforced: a decrease of biodiversity can be shown in a gradient from open sea to estuarine systems, and an opposite increase of material in suspension from various origins. The functioning of these systems is in turn completely different: in open sea systems food chains are prevalent and in coastal and estuarine systems the microbial so called "loop" prevails. This knowledge is applied in the assessment of the influence of the organic material in suspension on wetlands of the Scheldt estuary. In order to understand this ecological functioning better, comparative research is done at different latitudes: temperate and cold seas versus tropical and equatorial seas. In tropical seas, besides the role of plankton, the role of groundwater regarding the distribution of mangroves and the ethology and developmental biology of the mangrove oyster Saccostrea cucullata is under study. The relevance of the mangrove ecosystem is enormous. However, it is only during the last ten years that its importance has been recognised. Our research results, especially in the field of groundwater flow, are internationally recognised as a new breakthrough towards sustainable management of mangrove forests. Furthermore, the three way chemical communication between adult oysters and their larvae is a new finding in science. Finally, a new research group is starting a study of the phylogeny and biodiversity as a tool for conservation and management of marine and terrestrial tropical systems.

results in other services

edmo metadata

EDMO record id

2072

Collating centre

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Management Unit of North Sea and Scheldt Estuary Mathematical Models, Belgian Marine Data Centre (MUMM-BMDC)

Latest update

6 March 2015 4:19:10 PM