COMBER is a project that aims at engaging citizen scientists – all persons interested in nature, not necessarily professionals – in a coastal marine biodiversity observation network.
Case Studies
From the point of view of socio-economic benefits, marine organisms are of enormous interest, for two major reasons:
- The sea provides amazing biological diversity; of 34 fundamental phyla, 17 occur on land, whereas 32 occur in the sea and 13 are exclusively marine. The diversity of marine species, together with the relatively large number of species that are exclusively marine, are the reasons why the sea is an important new source of biotechnology materials, chemicals and processes.
- Marine organisms often possess unique structures, metabolic pathways, reproductive systems, and sensory and defence mechanisms because they have adapted to environments ranging from the warm tropical surface waters and the cold polar seas to the great pressures of the ocean floor.
Underwater Vision Profiler
The UVP can measure the quantity of marine particules and macroplankton from the sea surface to 1000m deep.
ZOOSCAN for plankton measures
ZooScan integrated system for digital zooplankton image analysis.
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Trabectedin
Trabectedin is an alkaloid isolated from the Caribbean marine tunicate Ecteinascidia turbinata.
Ecteinascidins
Ecteinascidins belong to a family of alkaloids extracted from the marine tunicate Ecteinascidia turbinata.
