First International Workshop on Global Trends in Marine Biodiversity in Africa and Mediterranean ecosystemsInternal

This workshop brought together nine experts on different African and Mediterranean ecosystems with local knowledge and access to local datasets, and experts on data analysis and statistical techniques. Five case studies were analysed and additional cases were identified for future inclusion. Scientific hypothesis about marine biodiversity changes were identified and tested using species, community, and ecosystem indicators based on richness and abundance. A comparative approach using common statistical techniques was used to identify changes in the study areas. 

The workshop successfully initiated the analysis of marine biodiversity changes in several African and Mediterranean ecosystems. Future work will include finishing the analyses and including additional case studies. A publication presenting the first analyses from the work will be submitted to the Ecosummit 2016 conference. There is the potential to submit a summary paper about the workshop in Biology Letter or the African Journal of Marine Science in 2017. Applications for future funding have been considered since a second workshop will be organised to continue the collaboration.

Update

• Preliminary results were presented at a conference: Coll, M.; Shannon, L.; Atkinson, L.; Fairweather, T. P.; Hidalgo, M.; Jouffre, D.; Kainge, P.; Steenbeek, J.; Watermeyer, K.; Yemane, D.; Bellido, J. M.; Camara, M. L.; Diallo, I.; Esteban, A.; Fall, K. B. M.; Fall, M.; Guijarro, B.; Jadaud, A.; Juan Jordà, M. J.; Kleisner, K.; Leslie, R.; Meisse, B.; Nsiangango, S.; Sobrino, I.; Thiam, N.; Vaz, S.; Cury, P.. 2016. Unravelling marine biodiversity changes in African and Mediterranean ecosystems. 5th International Ecosummit Ecological Sustainability Engineering change, 29 August – 1 September 2016, Montpellier, France.
• A paper to present these results is now under preparation.