Research

· Understanding Animal Behavior in Marine Ecosystems

Animal behavior is a crucial factor in ecology and evolution, acting as the fastest response to conservation and management plans. We aim to study animal behavior through experiments, biologging, field observations, and modeling, with the goal of integrating it into food web dynamics and Marine Ecosystems Models (MEMs). The challenge is to understand how animals respond to human stressors like fishing and urbanization, and how these changes affect marine ecosystems and their services.

Biologging techniques are essential for tracking marine organisms and allow for the remote monitoring of the oceans. Using autonomous recording tags attached to animals (e.g., acoustic transmitters, GPS, cameras), we obtain detailed data on animal behavior and their interactions with the environment. We aim to:

1. Investigate the biology, ecology, and behavior of marine species.
2. Evaluate responses to environmental and human impacts.
3. Develop an integrated system using Essential Ocean Variables (EOV) and Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBV) to monitor ocean health.

· Developing Ecological Studies on Interspecific Interactions

Understanding the nature of species interactions is crucial for advancing our comprehension of ecosystem dynamics and compensation mechanisms at the species, community, and ecosystem levels. Our group has led the study of trophic ecology for several key species in Mediterranean ecosystems, including pelagic fish, pelagic and demersal elasmobranchs, seabirds, and mammals. We aim to establish a Trophic Ecology Facility (TEF) to organize previous efforts, focusing on operationalizing the facility to collect and preserve samples, analyze and store results in a centralized dataset, and make it publicly available to all interested partners. The facility will provide the entire research institution and other international organizations with analytical capabilities and scientific advice regarding the trophic ecology of marine species (e.g., diet reconstruction, niche metrics, spatio-temporal changes…).

· Harnessing Big Data for Innovative Ecological Analyses

The digital revolution and the era of big data are opening new avenues for research. Culturomics and iEcology—emerging fields based on analyzing online data—offer fresh scientific insights and can enhance conservation and management efforts. We are at the forefront of applying these innovative approaches in marine ecology and fisheries. Specifically, we utilize digital data from social media and other aggregated sources (e.g., Google Trends) to study species’ distribution shifts, biological invasions, and recreational fisheries from both ecological and social perspectives (e.g., content and sentiment analysis). Conservation culturomics and iEcology are rapidly developing as cost-effective research methods using readily available digital data, with expanding applications for aquatic ecosystems.

· Developing Integrated Socio-Ecological Marine Ecosystem Models

Our team possesses extensive expertise in developing and applying Marine Ecosystem Models (MEMs) with both regional and global scopes. These models play a crucial role in our research projects and initiatives, including stakeholder engagement and capacity building for students and researchers. In the coming years, we aim to establish a Marine Ecosystem Modelling Facility (MEMf) to enhance our ability to support the development and application of MEMs both within and beyond our group. We will focus on advancing the mechanistic development, validation, and applicability of these models.

· Integrating Socioeconomic Dimensions into Marine Ecosystem Assessment

We are committed to enhancing our ability to incorporate socioeconomic factors into marine ecosystem assessments. Our goal is to expand our Marine Ecosystem Models (MEMs) by integrating various economic analyses, including value chain assessments in mixed fisheries areas. We aim to develop new coupled ecological-socioeconomic analyses to improve current evaluations of “transitional paths” towards future scenarios, considering diverse climate change impacts and marine resource exploitation patterns. This will be achieved through a transdisciplinary approach that combines ecological sciences, ecological economics, and social and historical research techniques.