| Summary: |
Cetaceans are strictly protected, strategic, sentinel species, playing important roles in ecosystem functioning, including enhancing productivity and carbon sequestration. Even so,multiple stressors, which result in cumulative impacts, threaten their populations. Impacts include deterioration of individual health and condition, reproductive failure, mortality, andconsequent population declines. Under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), Member States must monitor the status of cetacean populations to address MSFDDescriptor 1 (D1) of Good Environmental Status (Biodiversity is maintained). Established D1 criteria are related to bycatch (D1C1), abundance (D1C2), demography (D1C3),distribution (D1C4) and habitat (D1C5). Direct evaluation of the population's health (D1C3) and determination of species distribution range (D1C4) is thus important to assesspopulation status. Traditional techniques applied in routine monitoring are not adequate to address all these aspects. New efficient tools are needed to fill these gaps, ideallyinnovative and non-invasive, but also affordable and feasible in the long-term. EMPHATIC aims to generate and implement a monitoring toolbox for cetacean populations, suitable foruse in routine environmental assessments, and to develop distribution and health status indicators, applicable under the MSFD and Habitats Directive, and under regionalagreements (OSPAR, ACCOBAMS, ASCOBANS). We will analyse environmental DNA from seawater samples to create a research methodology for cetacean distribution monitoringthrough the detection of their genetic material. We will employ a novel integrated analysis to develop a population health index based on the microbiome of the respiratory tracts(blow and necropsy samples), stress levels (blow hormone content), and body condition (photogrammetry and necropsy data). The developed techniques will be included in thesurvey design and analytical pipelines of existing monitoring efforts, to be potent  |
Summary
Cetaceans are strictly protected, strategic, sentinel species, playing important roles in ecosystem functioning, including enhancing productivity and carbon sequestration. Even so,multiple stressors, which result in cumulative impacts, threaten their populations. Impacts include deterioration of individual health and condition, reproductive failure, mortality, andconsequent population declines. Under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), Member States must monitor the status of cetacean populations to address MSFDDescriptor 1 (D1) of Good Environmental Status (Biodiversity is maintained). Established D1 criteria are related to bycatch (D1C1), abundance (D1C2), demography (D1C3),distribution (D1C4) and habitat (D1C5). Direct evaluation of the population's health (D1C3) and determination of species distribution range (D1C4) is thus important to assesspopulation status. Traditional techniques applied in routine monitoring are not adequate to address all these aspects. New efficient tools are needed to fill these gaps, ideallyinnovative and non-invasive, but also affordable and feasible in the long-term. EMPHATIC aims to generate and implement a monitoring toolbox for cetacean populations, suitable foruse in routine environmental assessments, and to develop distribution and health status indicators, applicable under the MSFD and Habitats Directive, and under regionalagreements (OSPAR, ACCOBAMS, ASCOBANS). We will analyse environmental DNA from seawater samples to create a research methodology for cetacean distribution monitoringthrough the detection of their genetic material. We will employ a novel integrated analysis to develop a population health index based on the microbiome of the respiratory tracts(blow and necropsy samples), stress levels (blow hormone content), and body condition (photogrammetry and necropsy data). The developed techniques will be included in thesurvey design and analytical pipelines of existing monitoring efforts, to be potentially employed in long-term sampling programmes, including through consideration of citizen scienceinitiatives for sample collection, and liaison with competent authorities. The work developed within EMPHATIC will focus on the "Bay of Biscay and Iberian Coast" and the "WesternMediterranean" sub-regions. It will target species of relevance for cetacean conservation in these areas, and for which proof of concept has been undertaken. The application of thegenerated monitoring and research tools can be extended to other regions and species. EMPHATIC will acquire new and use available monitoring data and samples, as well as open-science resources such as genomic datasets. The developed tools will be designed taking into consideration data integration to complement other monitoring techniques, andultimately support policy-making. The generated data, protocols, and analytical pipelines, will be published in open databases to facilitate a more comprehensive application. |