Ocean & Climate Seminar: "Ocean acidification impact on marine calcifiers and aquaculture in the mediterranean sea and beyond", by  Dr. Nina Bednaršek

Dr. Nina Bednaršek, from the Marine Biology Station Piran, National Institute of Biology (Slovenia) will be giving an online seminar in the framework fo the Ocean & Climate Seminar.

Title: "Ocean acidification impact on marine calcifiers and aquaculture in the mediterranean sea and beyond"

Speaker: Dr. Nina Bednaršek, Marine Biology Station Piran, National Institute of Biology (Slovenia)

Date: Wednesday, 26th May 2021
Time: 10h CEST
Venue: Online.  https://zoom.us/j/97173110308?pwd=elR5MGsxZmpjei9UOXBKeDhYYzNXUT09 Meeting ID: 971 7311 0308 - Passcode: ICTA_Ocean

My recent work focuses on investigating regional risks related to aquaculture and fisheries due to ocean acidification (OA) within an ocean governance framework of the Mediterranean Sea and its sub-basins. The premise of this research is that by understanding the risks under future OA scenarios and improved governance, we can improve informed near-term management response to allow for sustainability of the ecosystem services. The identified risks were based on the current and future OA conditions with specific focus on the horizontal and vertical pH and aragonite saturate state gradients and thresholds important for the aquaculture and associated ecosystem services. To link OA exposure and biological sensitivity, we produced depth-related pH and aragonite saturation state exposure maps and overlaid it with the existing aquaculture industry in the coastal waters of the Mediterranean basin. This provided a regional baseline for delineating future risks for the aquaculture sustainability under 2100 scenarios across the entire Mediterranean basin. This working framework ties closely with my concurrent research across different spatial scales (coastal, upwelling, polar to global) on marine calcifiers (pteropods, decapods, echinoderms, bivalves), combining observations, experiments, modelling and large data synthesis to develop specific thresholds and indicators. I will present several different aspects of my work to delineate the framework behind biological risk assessment under current and future OA scenarios.

Bio
I am a senior scientist with the primary focus on the ocean ecosystem change due to climate change. I study the interactions between calcifying invertebrates with associated environmental and oceanographic processes, including ocean acidification, warming, deoxygenation. This work aims at elucidating mechanistic understanding of responses across different levels of biological organization. For that, I use integrative approaches that include sea-going field surveys and sampling, experiments, remote sensing, population and biogeochemical models. Specifically, I conduct the laboratory and field studies across different ‘stress’ gradients to underpin the observed biological responses and place it within an ecosystem perspective. Over the years, my studies targeted highly sensitive polar and upwelling habitats, as well in the highly variable estuarine systems. This work led to the development and implementation of the “early-warning” indicators related to OA across various regional monitoring efforts, where the jurisdiction of state waters carries direct implications for management and policy decisions. Recently, a relevant component of my work also relates to the explorative mitigation and adaptation strategies related to the ‘ocean solutions’. This involves working with macrophytes (kelp forest) as a potential OA habitat refugia providing resilience to various aquaculture important species, an effort that could facilitate conservation efforts with socio-economic benefits.