The mission of the Integrative Marine Ecology Department (IME Department) is to conduct and to promote multi-faceted, scientific research focusing on the functioning of pelagic and benthic systems at the organism, community and ecosystem levels.
We focus on biological, physiological and evolutionary processes shaping organism-organism and organism-environmental interactions, and their implications for the preservation of biodiversity and environmental sustainability. Our research also explores the use of marine biodiversity for biotechnological applications in the food and health sectors.
Our shared expertise covers such fields as ecology, behaviour, taxonomy, phylogeny, population genetics, physiology, ecotoxicology, genomics and transcriptomics, chemistry, oceanography and mathematical modelling and includes a range of observational and experimental approaches both in the field as well as under controlled laboratory conditions.
Sampling of pelagic and ecosystems includes the use of oceanographic vessels, small boats, and SCUBA diving; the department also has logistic and instrument facilities that include a collection of marine microalgae, climate-controlled rooms for experimental work on marine organisms, fermenters and photobioreactors for the mass cultivation of microalgae, indoor and outdoor mesocosms for manipulative experiments in situ.
Other available platforms include light, confocal, SEM and TEM microscopy, molecular biology techniques, biological assays, flow cytometry, image analysis, HPLC, spectrophotometry and spectrofluorimetry.
