As a regional facility of EMSO-ERIC, the OBSEA Underwater Observatory continues to support high-impact marine research. This year, two journal articles have been published in collaboration with OBSEA, showcasing the observatory’s role in environmental monitoring and marine ecology:
“10-Years of imagery from a cabled-observatory reveals a decreasing trend in coastal fish biodiversity”
This work presents a decade-long analysis of fish communities using more than 78,000 time-lapse images collected every 30 minutes by OBSEA. The study revealed a significant decline in biodiversity indices and a rise in species turnover, with environmental variables like temperature and chlorophyll-a explaining part of the seasonal patterns. This work demonstrates how high-frequency, long-duration datasets can support marine conservation and ecosystem assessments
The research involved contributions from the SARTI – UPC, ICM-CSIC, Stazione Anton Dhorn, GEOMAR, and Fundación Oceanogràfic.
“Enhancing fish community monitoring at a cabled observatory by combining environmental DNA and imaging analysis”
This study explores the use of environmental DNA (eDNA) combined with video imagery to better understand fish communities in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea. The work was carried out near the OBSEA cabled observatory, and highlights how 𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐬-𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 (e.g., eDNA metabarcoding) can enhance species detection and complement visual observations.
This work was carried out by researchers from Atlantic Technological University (Ireland), Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (Italy), ICM-CSIC, and UPC-SARTI.
These contributions reaffirm OBSEA’s commitment to open, continuous, and multidisciplinary marine research—core values shared across the EMSO community.
Photo: OBSEA infrastructure. Credit: Obsea
Author: Ikram Bghiel, UPC- OBSEA