Hüsne Altıok

A study on phytoplankton following ‘Volgoneft-248’ oil spill on the north-eastern coast of the Sea of Marmara

Following the ‘Volgoneft-248’ oil spill, phytoplankton distribution within the affected area was investigated for two years. Simultaneously measured physical variables such as salinity, temperature, Secchi disc, current speed and direction, and total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) were evaluated together with phytoplankton data. At the time of the accident, the TPH concentration in surface water was measured as 2.17 mg l and decreased to 88.5 mg l after five days. In the first sampling period, no diatoms were detected in surface water, while dinoflagellates were dominant in the phytoplankton community. The species composition of phytoplankton changed rapidly in two months and the diatoms increased in terms of abundance and diversity. This indicated that the diatoms might be more sensitive to oil pollution than the dinoflagellates. In comparison with the historical datasets, the low phytoplankton abundance following the oil spill should be considered as the small effect of oil on the phytoplankton rather than natural variability of the ecosystem. High oil concentration in the water column caused stress on the phytoplankton and influenced the species composition negatively depending on the sensitivity of groups and the natural variability of the ecosystem.

The MARINA Project: Promoting Responsible Research and Innovation to Meet Marine Challenges

The MARINA project was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme with the aim to create an all-inclusive Knowledge Sharing Platform for catalysing and federating the convergence of already existing networks, communities, online platforms and services by addressing marine research issues and topics according to Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) principles. Several marine research issues and topics have been discussed in the 17 Mobilisation and Mutual Learning work-shops during the first year of the project. This paper shows the results of the first series of workshops analysed according to RRI principles and societal and marine challenges.