Scientific news

Over the next four years, the research team will evaluate the usefulness of a network of newly created marine protected reserves in waters between 300 and 400 meters deep.

According to a new study led by the ICM-CSIC, the lockdown led to a reduction in microorganisms, which contributed to a more transparent, but also less productive water.

It allows to improve predictions on how marine microbes interact and could be applied to studies on climate change, bioremediation, and also to other fields such as medicine or agriculture.

More than 2,800 colonies have been returned to the sea throughout the project, and the survival rate is considerably high.

This citizen science event has also recorded observations of two species that had not been found until now in Catalonia.

According to the work, more than 12,000 species of bacteria and archaea live between the Mediterranean and the adjacent Atlantic waters.