Slovenian Research Agency selected research work »Bacterial community shift is induced by dynamic environmental parameters in a changing coastal ecosystem (northern Adriatic, NE Mediterranean Sea) - a 2 year time series study«, published in Environmental microbiology as the achievement of the Excellence in Science for 2015. The work was presented in the form of open public event in collaboration with the 'Science on the Street' popular lectures to promote the general enrichment of knowledge. The work in co-authorship with J. Vojvoda, P. Mozetič, I. Talaber, M. Vodopivec, F. Malfatti and V. Turk was presented by T. Tinta. Tinta’s presentation was presented at Videolectures.net Predavanja na Videolectures.net and a short movie was recorded in collaboration with the Slovenian Press Agency.
E.01 National awards
COBISS.SI-ID: 3156559During the September 28 – October 2, 2015 the '22nd International Symposium on Environmental Biogeochemistry' (www.iseb22.ijs.si) was organized in Piran by the Department of Environmental Sciences, JSI in collaboration with the Marine Biology Station of the National Institute of Biology. Two members of research program were part of the local organising committee. More than 100 participants from 23 countries attended the symposium. The main purpose of the ISEB was to bring together scientists from a range of disciplines relating to biogeochemistry in various fields including soil science, microbial ecology and marine, lacustrine and atmospheric research. Strong international representation with six invited speakers and 52 oral and 54 poster presentations was delivered over the four days of symposium. During the symposium also two special sessions took place dedicated to the research in marine and coastal environments (GMOS and GEOTRACES) and to surface and groundwater systems (GLOBAQUA). Soil sessions were devoted to the International Year of Soils (IYS).
B.01 Organiser of a scientific meeting
In 2015 we successfully setup the HF radar, an observing system that monitors the surface currents and waves in the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Koper. The installation of this cross border infrastructure increased the efficiency of search and rescue interventions and activities in cases of oil, toxic and hazardous substances spills. It is important for the improvement and shortening deployment time of the civil protection and other institution measures taken on sea. Data are delivered on the NIB’s web page in near real time (http://www.nib.si/mbp/sl/tools/hf-radar), while raw and processed data are already exchanged between NIB and the national Environmental agency (ARSO). Measured data analysis (currents and waves) will improve the existing oceanographic model interpretations while all together this information can make a solid knowledge base that will help in future planning in the coastal area. The new HF radar has been presented to public and experts in the framework of the cross border POSOW workshop that was organized within the project 'Strengthening common reaction capacity to fight sea pollution of oil, toxic and hazardous substances in Adriatic Sea –HAZADR'. The workshop was organized by NIB, the Administration for civil protection and disaster relief, DOPPS-BirdLife Slovenia and the Adriatic Training and Research Centre from Rijeka (Croatia). The public was informed about the basic features of HF radar technology, the setup within the city of Piran and the positive effects that such measurements of surface currents brings. It was also stressed that there would not be such an infrastructure setup without close cooperation between two research institutions, the National Institute of Biology, Marine Biology Station in Piran and the National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics from Trieste (Italy).
F.11 Development of a new service
COBISS.SI-ID: 3555151Slovenian Science Foundation at its gala ceremony on 16 January 2017 granted the award ‘The Prometheus of Science for Excellence in Communication’ for the year 2016 to Lovrenc Lipej, Martina Orlando Bonaca, Borut Mavrič and Domen Trkov, researchers of the scientific team dealing with the research of marine biodiversity at the Marine Biology Station. They achieved the award for their contribution in promoting the understanding of natural processes in the sea and man's impact on the environment. In support of the candidature three important activities of this group were highlighted: i) biodiversity research published in the scientific community, ii) popularization of the natural history science from the aspect of biological species richness of Slovenian part of the Adriatic in the popular science media and iii) the editorial work of the candidates. In the 2016 candidates wrote a scientific monograph entitled Biogenic formations in the Slovenian Sea by authors and photographs L. Lipej, M. Orlando Bonaca and B. Mavrič, published by the National Institute of Biology. The monograph is a result of the project 'MedKeyHabitats Project', which dealt with the mapping of the key marine habitats in the Mediterranean Sea.
E.01 National awards
COBISS.SI-ID: 284112896Within the 4PILLARS IPA capitalization project the Marine Biology Station in Piran organized on 21st of November 2016 a workshop aimed to transfer and use good practices of some previously financed projects of the Adriatic Ionian Initiative: NETCET, SHAPE, DeFishGear, HAZADR, BALMAS in SPEEDY. Preserving marine biodiversity, the necessity of the upgrade of the Environmental Impact assessment by introducing the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and the Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) were the main subjects of the meeting. Beside the Marine Biology Station (NIB) the Regional Research Centre (RRC) Koper and the newly formed IPA facility point from Izola joined to organize the workshop. During the day, the participants split into two working groups. The group 1 debate was dedicated to marine biodiverstity preservation and Strategic Environmental Assessment, while the participants in group2 were discussing some particular problems related to the Marine Spatial Planning along the Slovenian coastal area. In the joint, concluding remarks both groups stressed the importance of the necessary synergy between a political and scientific approach related to the costal spatial planning and the open opportunity for Slovenia in becoming a testing environment for sustainable pilot projects within the EUSAIR strategy.
F.17 Transfer of existing technologies, know-how, methods and procedures into practice