Understanding and tracking biodiversity changes in marine ecosystems is critical with accelerating anthropogenic pressures and climate change. This session invites contributions on innovative and integrative methodological approaches for assessing biodiversity across marine domains with the focus on plankton and benthos, using a combination of morphological, molecular, acoustic, optical, advanced statistical and analytical techniques.
We aim to explore how these complementary methods can be used to improve biodiversity assessments and knowledge of ocean ecosystems, as well as how they can be transferred into operational monitoring tools for authorities, industry stakeholders, and marine spatial planning.
We welcome contributions that explore a broad range of topics related to marine biodiversity monitoring and assessment. Suggestions include but are not limited to (a) The role of morphological and taxonomic expertise in biodiversity assessments, including its integration with modern analytical tools to enhance accuracy and depth of understanding. (b) The application of molecular techniques including metabarcoding of environmental samples and DNA (eDNA), and other omics approaches. (c) The use of acoustic technologies for classifying organisms, estimating biomass and monitoring behaviour of marine species. (d) Advancements in optical and image-based methods, including artificial intelligence-assisted classification of organisms and mapping of habitats. (e) The application of advanced statistical/analytical methods. (f) The development and implementation of multi-method approach for time-series biodiversity monitoring of diverse marine ecosystems, including coastal, offshore, pelagic, and benthic environments. (g) The calibration of diverse methodologies to ensure data comparability and scalability across studies and ocean regions.
