CIGESMED’s goal is to understand the links between natural and anthropogenic pressures and ecosystem functioning to define and maintain the Good Environmental Status (GES) of the Mediterranean Sea, by studying the typical, complex and not well known habitats built by calcareous encrusting algae, the “coralligenous”
An integrated approach will be applied to share and visualize large datasets, and to manage the knowledge necessary to study coralligenous habitats. Indicators, from communities to infra-specific level (DNA), will be co-constructed and tested by scientists, Marine Protected Areas and reserves, and through the implementation of a “citizen science” network. The outcome will be an integrative assessment of the GES within the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).
CIGESMED gathers scientists from France, Greece and Turkey, making it possible to access to sites and to work on the same issues in both the northwestern Mediterranean basin and the Aegean-Levantine one. Ten laboratories of marine ecology are involved. It will also involve observers from other Mediterranean countries. It is coordinated by the IMBE (Mediterranean Institut of marine and terrestrial Biodiversity and Ecology), a unit of research of CNRS-INEE, Aix-Marseille University, IRD and the University of Avignon.
