Genetic tools for Ecosystem health Assessment in the North Sea region

Programme 2014 - 2020 INTERREG VB North Sea

Date of latest update: 2024-01-30

Description

Description (EN):

Several EU directives and OSPAR guidelines require transnational sustainable management of marine resources. Benthic organisms are key components in environmental impact assessments and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Currently, indicators are mainly based on morphological species identification, being time-consuming, labor-intensive and skills reliant. DNA-based tools promise cheaper, faster and more accurate methods, yet, different approaches between countries are used which hamper standard routine application.GEANS aims to harmonize and consolidate existing genetic tools and methods. Transnational co-operation will create synergies and assure comparability. An open library, linking DNA-sequences to species functioning, will guarantee continuity of traditional assessment series. Real time pilot studies, in close cooperation with managers, policymakers and involved stakeholders, will deliver proof of concept on the added value of genetic approaches in environmental health management. A decision support framework will include a fit for purpose choice of genetic tools and protocols, helping to translate genetic results into simple indicators.GEANS will mainstream implementation of fast, accurate, cost-effective DNA-based assessments, enabling national authorities to adapt management measures in a transnational coherent way, resulting in improved management of human activities and protection of the marine environment across the North Sea Region.

Achievements (EN):

With increased exploitation of the North Sea, sustainable management of the marine ecosystem is more important than ever, increasing the need for efficient monitoring. DNA-based methods can provide a cost-effective, early warning, and accurate alternative to traditional biodiversity monitoring. Several obstacles, however, impede effective implementation and application of DNA-based monitoring (metabarcoding) in a standard, harmonized way on a wider North Sea scale. GEANS partners have been working together, in close collaboration with stakeholders, striving towards implementation of DNA-based methods in environmental monitoring programmes. To this end, several pilot studies have been conducted as a proof-of-concept and different tools and products have been developed to help increasing implementation. GEANS produced a publicly accessible, centralised sequence reference library covering 712 species of the North Sea. It is the first well-curated DNA library covering such a wide range of North Sea macrobenthos species. What makes it unique is that sequences are validated across countries and that they are backed up by an actual specimen. Linking DNA sequences and existing taxonomy (species names) is one of the strengths of GEANS, as it is important that data and results from traditional monitoring surveys can still be used after implementation of DNA-based methods. Four different broad pilots (hard-bottom, soft-bottom, Non-Indigenous Species (NIS) and eDNA) have been performed in close collaboration with national or regional stakeholders and/or in alignment with existing environmental monitoring and wider networks. Overall, the different pilot studies proved consistent in species detection and identifying ecological species patterns. The DNA-based methods were on average also 66% faster and 40% cheaper than the traditional ones. Moreover, often more species were detected and often accuracy of detection increased. Each pilot has been wrapped up in a pilot report providing clear recommendations and conclusions. Generally, DNA-based methods can complement the traditional methods to improve ecosystem health assessment or even replace them, depending on the monitoring question at hand. The lessons-learned and recommendations have been summarized in an online interactive decision support tool aiming to facilitate end-users/stakeholders in finding the best suited DNA-based methodology for their specific monitoring goal. Application of the DNA-based methods in the pilots, together with performing a transnational ring test, helped to further optimise the tools and resulted in validated tools and in the publication of a number of, freely available, protocols. Furthermore, four methodological peer-reviewed papers have been published, supporting these protocols. These show that both reproducible and robust assessments of biodiversity are delivered using our protocol, which is pivotal for harmonisation and wide applicability at regional level. The different activities (pilots, protocols, reference library), always in close collaboration with stakeholders, resulted in implementation of DNA-based methods by eight public authorities for certain aspects of ecosystem health assessment, which will eventually lead to improved transnational environmental health assessment. Furthermore, to promote the legacy of the project, we launched an output website (https://www.geans.eu/) including, among others, the interactive decision support tree, a link to the sequence reference library, all produced reports and publications and our protocols.

Website: https://northsearegion.eu/geans

Thematic information

Coastal management and maritime issues Managing natural and man-made threats, risk management

Specific Objective: Develop new methods for the long-term sustainable management of North Sea ecosystems

Thematic Objective: (06) preserving and protecting the environment and promoting resource efficiency by:

Investment Priority: (06d) Protecting and restoring biodiversity and soil and promoting ecosystem services, including through Natura 2000, and green infrastructure

Partners (9)

Lead Partner: Eigen Vermogen van het Instituut voor Landbouw-, Visserij- en Voedingsonderzoek

Address: Ankerstraat 1, 8400 Oostende, Belgium

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.ilvo.vlaanderen.be

Total budget: EUR 935 901.00

ERDF budget: EUR 467 950.00

Aarhus Universitet

Name: Aarhus Universitet

Address: Department of Bioscience, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.au.dk

Total budget: EUR 134 199.00

ERDF budget: EUR 67 099.00

Fakultet for biovitenskap og akvakultur, Nord universitet

Name: Fakultet for biovitenskap og akvakultur, Nord universitet

Address: Universitetsalléen 11, 8026 Bodø, Norway

Legal status: public

Website: https://www.nord.no/en

Total budget: EUR 166 385.00

Naturalis Biodiversity Center

Name: Naturalis Biodiversity Center

Address: Vondellaan 55, 2332AA Leiden, Netherlands

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.naturalis.nl

Total budget: EUR 213 050.00

ERDF budget: EUR 106 525.00

SeAnalytics AB

Name: SeAnalytics AB

Address: Samsmarka 14, 47537 Bohus-Björkö, Sweden

Legal status: private

Website: https://seanalytics.se/

Total budget: EUR 109 560.00

ERDF budget: EUR 54 780.00

Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung

Name: Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung

Address: Südstrand 44, 26382 Wilhelmshaven, Germany

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.senckenberg.de

Total budget: EUR 663 710.00

ERDF budget: EUR 331 855.00

The Centre for the Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science

Name: The Centre for the Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science

Address: Pakefield Road, NR33 0HT Lowestoft, United Kingdom

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.cefas.co.uk

Total budget: EUR 162 274.00

ERDF budget: EUR 81 137.00

Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee

Name: Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee

Address: Wandelaarkaai 7, 8400 Oostende, Belgium

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.vliz.be

Total budget: EUR 544 180.00

ERDF budget: EUR 272 090.00

Wageningen University, Department of Animal Sciences

Name: Wageningen University, Department of Animal Sciences

Address: De Elst 1, 6708 WD Wageningen, Netherlands

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.wur.nl

Total budget: EUR 380 307.00

ERDF budget: EUR 190 153.00

Partners map

Partners and Projects info

Own Capital of the Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

Genetic tools for Ecosystem health Assessment in the North Sea region

Partners and Projects info

University of Aarhus

Genetic tools for Ecosystem health Assessment in the North Sea region

Partners and Projects info

Faculty of Biosciences and Aquaculture, Nord University

Genetic tools for Ecosystem health Assessment in the North Sea region

Partners and Projects info

Naturalis Biodiversity Center

Genetic tools for Ecosystem health Assessment in the North Sea region

Partners and Projects info

SeAnalytics AB

Genetic tools for Ecosystem health Assessment in the North Sea region

Partners and Projects info

Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung

Genetic tools for Ecosystem health Assessment in the North Sea region

Partners and Projects info

The Centre for the Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science

Genetic tools for Ecosystem health Assessment in the North Sea region

Partners and Projects info

Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee vzw

Genetic tools for Ecosystem health Assessment in the North Sea region

Partners and Projects info

Wageningen University, Department of Animal Sciences

Genetic tools for Ecosystem health Assessment in the North Sea region

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): Genetic tools for Ecosystem health Assessment in the North Sea region

Project acronym: GEANS

Project start date: 2019-03-01

Project end date: 2023-06-30

Project status: closed

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 3 309 566.00

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 1 571 589.00

Co-financing sources:

ERDF: Amount, .

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2014 - 2020 INTERREG VB North Sea

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2023-02-14

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

73 / 73 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

871 / 871 (100%)

Notes on the data

Information provided by the Programme. Achievements were retrieved by Interact from the Programme website (http://www.northsearegion.eu/), or a website directly linked from it, on 2021-09-20 and 2023-01-12.

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Genetic tools for Ecosystem health Assessment in the North Sea region

Description

Thematic information

Partners (9)

Partners map

Summary

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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