Inventory of EU Marine Climate Change Research

MEECE - Marine Ecosystem Evolution in a Changing Environment

Project website:
http://meece.eu/

Summary information
Funding:	FP7 - Collaborative Research Project-SICA
Total cost:	8670000
Ec contribution:	6500000
Start date:	2008-09-01
End date:	2012-08-31
Duration:	48 months
Coordinator:	Julian Icarus Allen (JIA@pml.ac.uk)
Organisation:	Plymouth Marine Laboratory - United Kingdom
Themes:	Ocean acidification; eutrophication; temperature changes; other abiotic changes; biological impacts; socio-economic consequences
Regio:	Arctic; North Atlantic
Keywords:	Climate change impact modelling; plankton and fish; climate drivers (acidification, light, circulation and temperature); anthropogenic drivers (fishing, pollution, invasive species and eutrophication)
Project name:	MEECE - Marine Ecosystem Evolution in a Changing Environment
Project summary:	MEECE is a scientific research project which aims to use a combination of data synthesis, numerical simulation and targeted experimentation to further our knowledge of how marine ecosystems will respond to combinations of multiple climate change and anthropogenic drivers, in a holistic manner, rather than driver by driver as has been done in the past. MEECE will explore the impacts of both climate drivers (acidification, light, circulation and temperature) and anthropogenic drivers (fishing, pollution, invasive species and eutrophication). With an emphasis on the European Marine Strategy (EMS), MEECE will improve the decision support tools to provide a structured link between management questions and the knowledge base that can help to address those questions. A strong knowledge transfer element will provide an effective means of communication between end-users and scientists. MEECE will also go a step further and provide methodologies to evaluate these new decision-making and management tools. MEECE obectives are to: - Review the impacts of the drivers on the marine ecosystem. - Scenario-test the impacts of drivers on the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems. - Develop indicators of ecosystem status. - Develop a coupled model system to predict ecosystem response from plankton to fish. - Create a model library of ecosystem modules couplers and decision support tools for management concerning the EC Marine Strategy, EC Maritime Policy and the EC Common Fisheries.