The TREC marine biodiversity expedition reaches Barcelona's coastline
The scientific expedition TREC, a European project that studies the biodiversity of its coastline, will arrive in Barcelona to share a programme of activities for all audiences to discover the reality of our coasts according to scientific research. From 16 to 30 March, talks, games, workshops and guided tours of all kinds will be offered in areas close to the city’s maritime zones. The programme is organised by research centres such as the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the Tara Océan Foundation, the Institute of Environmental Diagnosis and Water Studies (IDEA) and the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE).
During the expedition, the scientists travel with their equipment by land and sea. Thanks to the EMBL Advanced Mobile Lab, the scientific research vessel Tara and the support of more than 70 national scientific institutions in Europe, the project is able to explore and analyse species from different areas and countries. Due to this constant mobility, there are very few opportunities to see all the teams in one place. Luckily, thanks to the guided tours of the activity programme, you will be able to visit the EMBL, the Tara research vessel and the ICM-CSIC, the only marine research centre in Barcelona and one of the most important in the Mediterranean region.
On the other hand, there will also be proposals such as the workshop Observing the invisible inhabitants of the ocean; the dynamic focused on the youngest children Plastic in the sea, solutions on land, and the Science on Tour evening, in a relaxed atmosphere open to questions with certain people from the expedition.
The TREC project
TREC is a European project that studies the biodiversity of our coasts. Thanks to a fleet of mobile laboratories and the support of institutions, the scientists working on it have been studying coastal and marine ecosystems for two years from 120 selected sites across 21 countries.
To explore the biodiversity and molecular adaptability of microbial communities as well as key organisms, they focus on coastal habitats, as they are the richest in species biodiversity and often also have the highest levels of pollution.
During the last few months, the expedition has been immersed in the second phase in which the study of the Mediterranean coast is being carried out and, after 8 months travelling the Atlantic and northern Europe during 2023, it arrives in Barcelona.
