Videoconference with Gabriel de Castilla base in Antarctica

From January 15 to March 20, 2017, the experts will study the communities of invertebrates that are part of the marine benthos.
From January 15 to March 20, 2017, the experts will study the communities of invertebrates that are part of the marine benthos.
Research
(30/01/2017)

Exploring the richness of invertebrate communities that are part of the marine benthos in Antarctic polar ecosystems is the objective of the new research campaign by the team led by Professor Conxita Àvila, from the Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute of the University of Barcelona (IRBio). This scientific team, now set in the Antarctic base Gabriel de Castilla, in Deception Island (Antarctic Peninsula), will make a videoconference with the Aula Magna of the Faculty of Biology of the University of Barcelona on Wednesday, February 1, at 13 h.

From January 15 to March 20, 2017, the experts will study the communities of invertebrates that are part of the marine benthos.
From January 15 to March 20, 2017, the experts will study the communities of invertebrates that are part of the marine benthos.
Research
30/01/2017

Exploring the richness of invertebrate communities that are part of the marine benthos in Antarctic polar ecosystems is the objective of the new research campaign by the team led by Professor Conxita Àvila, from the Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute of the University of Barcelona (IRBio). This scientific team, now set in the Antarctic base Gabriel de Castilla, in Deception Island (Antarctic Peninsula), will make a videoconference with the Aula Magna of the Faculty of Biology of the University of Barcelona on Wednesday, February 1, at 13 h.

 

During the videoconference, the team of the UB and the IRBio will tell the details of the new Antarctic campaign of the project Distantcom, which analyses the chemical ecology, phylogeny, taxonomy, philogeography and trophic ecology of the benthic organisms in the Antarctic continent. This project also includes the identification of molecules involved in the relations between these organisms to assess its possible drug use.

The videoconference, open to the public, can be followed live through UBtv. During this connection, it is expected to have the participation of the commander-in-chief of the Antarctic base Gabriel de Castilla, Daniel Vélez, and Professor Conxita Àvila with her collaborators: Carlos Angulo, Blanca Figuerola, Elisenda Ballesté, Joana Vicente, Rafa Martín and Joan Gimenez. At the Faculty of Biology, the table will be formed by Gustavo Llorente, Dean of the Faculty, and Montse Busquets, Vice-Dean for Academic Area - Bachelor Degrees and Postgraduate Studies; Maria Teresa Sauras, Vice-Dean for Mobility and Employability; and Marta López, Academic Secretary and Head of the Doctoral Studies Area, among other participants.


Studying the marine benthos in the most extreme ecosystems of the planet

The polar ecosystems of the Antarctica represent one of the big unexplored frontiers. From the base “Gabriel de Castilla”, set up in Deception Island, in the South Shetland Island archipelago, the research team will cover new challenges of the project Distantcom, which is the continuation of the projects Ecoquim and Actiquim, led by Professor Conxita Àvila, from the Department of Evolutionary Ecology and Environmental Sciences.

The new austral campaign, started in January 15, will last until March 20. One of the new objectives is the study of the impact of the climate change on the ecology of benthos in order to understand the global effects of acidification in the planetʼs southern ecosystems. The scientific team, which this year reaches its ninth campaign in Antarctic latitudes, counts with the collaboration of experts from the faculties of Biology and Pharmacy and Food Sciences of the University of Barcelona, and the Doñana Biological Station (EBD-CSIC).

The project Distantcom has driven the discovery of new species in the Antarctic extreme habitats (such as the nudibranch Doto carinova, the nemertean Antarctonemertes riesgoae, the bone-eating worm Osedax deceptionensis, the annelid Parougia diapason, etc.). In the field of the study of chemical ecology of the marine benthos, the team of the UB and IRBio have described new molecules of great interest in biomedicine.