Coastal seas are valuable habitats for recreational activities and harvestable resources. Exposed to socio-economic pressures at sea and from the watershed, these areas constitute ecologically sensitive and vulnerable zones.

ESA research activities focus on the study of the microbial network dynamics and the mechanisms structuring marine food chains. This research aims to better assess the resilience properties of coastal ecosystems and identify points of non-return.

Such research has been conducted in the Black Sea between 1994 and 1998 in the scope of the EU EROS-21 project and is currently conducted in the Southern Bight of the North Sea in the scope of the Belgian AMORE project.

In the scope of the BELCOLOUR project, the Southern North Sea has been intensively sampled in order to study the Inherent Optical Properties which will give the information necessary to develop algorithms for retrieval of biogeochemical parameters like Chlorophyll-a, Total Suspended Matter and also identification of phytoplankton species.

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Publications:

Astoreca R., V. Rousseau, K. Ruddick, C. Knechciak, B. VanMol, J.-Y. Parent & C. Lancelot. Development and application of an algorithm for detecting Phaeocystis globosa blooms in the Case 2 Southern North Sea waters. Journal of Plankton Research, 2009, 31: 287-300.

Astoreca R., K. Ruddick, V. Rousseau, B. Van Mol, J.-Y. Parent & C. Lancelot. Variability of the inherent and apparent optical properties in a highly turbid coastal area: Impact on the calibration of remote sensing algorithms. EARSeL eProceedings, 2006, 5(1): 1-17.

Becquevort, S., V. Rousseau & C. Lancelot. 1998. Major and comparable roles for free-living and attached bacteria in the degradation of Phaeocystis-derived organic matter in Belgian coastal waters of the North Sea, Aquatic Microbial Ecology, 14 : 39-48.

Bouvier, T., S. Becquevort, C. Lancelot. 1998. Biomass and feeding activity of phagotrophic mixotrophs in the north-western Black Sea during the summer 1995. Hydrobiologia 363: 289-301.

Lancelot, C., Rousseau, V., Becquevort, S., Parent, J.-Y., Déliat, G., Leblanc, C., Daro, M.-H., Gasparini, S., Antajan, E., Meyer, A, Ruddick, K., Ozer, J., Spitz, Y. 2003. Study and modeling of eutrophication-related changes in coastal planktonic food-webs: a contribution of the AMORE (Advanced MOdeling and Research on Eutrophication) consortium. Final report 70pp. OSTC publication.

Lancelot, C, Martin, J.-M, Panin, N;, Zaitsev, Y. 2002. The North-Western Black Sea: A pilot Site to understand the complex interactions between human activities and the coastal environment. Coastal and Shelf Science. 54: 279-284.

Lancelot, C., J. Staneva, D. Van Eeckhout, Beckers, J.M. & Stanev, E. 2002. Modelling the Danube-influenced North-western continental shelf of the Black Sea: II: Ecosystem response to changes in nutrient delivery by the Danube river after its damming in 1972. Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science. 54: 473-499.

Olsen, Y., Reinertsen, H., Vadstein, O., Andersen, T., Gismervick, I., Duarte, C., Agusti, S., Stibor, H., Sommer, U. Lignell, R., Tamminene, T., Lancelot, C., Rousseau, V., Hoell, E. & Sanderud, K.A. 2001. Comparative analysis of food web based on flow networks: effects of nutrient supply on structure and function of coastal plankton communities. Continental Shelf Research. 21: 2043-2053.

Rousseau, V., S. Becquevort, J.Y. Parent, S. Gasparini, M.-H. Daro, M. Tackx & C. Lancelot. 2000. Trophic efficiency of the planktonic food web in a coastal ecosystem dominated by Phaeocystis colonies. J. Sea Res. 43:357-372.