The BIOMETORE project aims to acquire knowledge about the biodiversity in seamounts from the complexes Great Meteor and Madeira-Tore, and to understand the human pressures that ecosystems are subjected to. These areas are unique ecosystems, and are exceptional marine life hotspots. To achieve the goal, a team built by all the main portuguese marine research institutions, together with a Norway partner, was gathered to collect and analyse data from several oceanographic surveys, conducted in both areas. On the 28th of April 2017, the BIOMETORE Open Day will take place at IPMA - Algés, in which will be presented and discussed the project main results.

 

Agenda

9h30        Opening session

                Prof. Dr. Miguel Miranda (IPMA's President) and guests

                The BIOMETORE project (Antonina dos Santos, IPMA)

9h50        Coffee break

10h10       WP1 - "Surveys and Data Management"

                 BIOMETORE surveys in the Great Meteor and Madeira-Tore seamounts complexes (Eva Giacomello, IMAR)

                 Natural history collections - why are they important? (Alexandra Cartaxana, MUHNAC)

                 Discussion / Questions

10h40       WP2 - "Benthic Habitats characterization"

                  Benthic habitats of the Madeira-Tore and Great-Meteor seamount complexes (Miriam Tuaty Guerra, IPMA)

                  Deep-sea benthic megafaunal communities at the Great Meteor seamount complex (IMAR Açores, presented by M Tuaty Guerra)

                  Planning and conducting video based habitat mapping - the IMR contribuition to BIOMETORE (Lene Buhl-Mortensen, IMR)

                  Marine habitats and biodiversity in the Gorringe bank (Jorge Gonçalves, CCMAR)

                  Quantitative and qualitative studies of meiobenthos at Irving Seamount (Marcos García, CIIMAR)

                  Autonomous submarine vehicles to map and collect data from the water column (João Tasso, FEUP)

                  Discussion / Question

11h40        WP3 - "Pelagic habitats characterization" (Part I)

                  Oceanographic aspects of the NE Atlantic seamount regions: Great-Meteor and Madeira-Tore (Rui Caldeira, ARDITI)

                  Circulation and Eddies in the Azores - Current zone: interactions with topography (Álvaro Peliz, FCUL)

                  Metagenomic assessment of the BIOMETORE samples (José Pereira - Leal, IGC)

                  Zooplankton as an indicator of good environmental health (Sérgio Leandro, IPL)

12h10        Lunch break

14h00        WP3 - "Pelagic habitats characterization" (Part II)

                  Fish diversity of the Great Meteor, Seine and Unicorn Seamounts, North Atlantic Ocean (Manuel Biscoito, ARDITI)

                  Cetacean usage of seamounts of the Great Meteor and Madeira - Tore geological complexes (Mónica Silva, IMAR)

                  Discussion / Questions

14:30         WP4 - "Identification and characterization of Anthropogenic pressures"

                  Fishing pressures in critical areas of the Madeira - Tore and Great Meteor (Aida Campos, IPMA)

                  Details on the fishing activity of the Madeira fleet in the Madeira - Tore and Great Meteor seamounts (2012 - 2014) (João Delgado,                      ARDITI)

                  Discussion / Questions

15h10        WP5 - "Sustainability Plan"

                  Protected Marine Areas, Azores case (Filipe Porteiro, DRAM)

                  Protected Marine Areas, Madeira case (Ara Oliveira, DROTA)

                  Sustainability plan - the way forward (António Teixeira, DGRM)

                  Discussion / Questions

15h50        Coffee break

16h10        WP6 - "Outreach"

                  Didactic tools about seamounts (Carla Dâmaso, OMA)

                  The movie - "On board the Noruega" (Aurora Ribeiro, OMA)

                  Discussion / Questions

16h50        Closing session