Madeira Island, Portugal
MARE-Madeira
The MarineGEO Madeira seascape is a beautiful sheltered bay located in the southeastern section of Madeira Island, Portugal. It is conveniently located in the vicinity of a Resort Hotel with marina and characterized by four main habitats: subtidal rocky reef, seagrass, and intertidal and artificial substrates.
MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre is a hub for research, technology development, and innovation in Portugal, with several research units across the country, including mainland and islands. The MARE Centre has an integrative and holistic approach, concentrating a wide diversity of expertise, skills, and capabilities, with a nationwide territorial implementation, that develops its activities oriented to societal challenges, in close partnership with national and international research centers.
The Madeira unit of MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre (MARE-Madeira) includes researchers and technicians with diverse scientific background and affiliations, and has recently established an operational and technical facility for marine research through a cooperation agreement between MARE and Quinta do Lorde Hotel and Resort.
The facility at Quinta do Lorde Marina hosts a research team with broad interests and formal training in marine biology, community ecology, habitat mapping, marine biogeography and invasion biology. Their research focuses primarily on marine benthic communities. In addition to field surveys and experiments, researchers also conduct experimental trials in this facility, which is equipped with a mesocosm system (MOSS – Marine Organisms Stress Simulator) designed to test key questions in marine ecology and biology.
The conceptual scientific approach of MARE - Madeira team combines field surveys and experiments, including use of imagery and photogrammetry for habitat mapping and assessment; mesocosm experiments focusing on the interplay between biological invasions, climate change and stress ecology; and rigorous statistical analyses of complex relations between marine life and environmental and human drivers. MarineGEO research at MARE - Madeira focuses mainly in rocky reef, intertidal, and human-built habitats.
Participating institutions
Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Madeira
Agência Regional para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação Tecnologia e Inovação (ARDITI)
People
João Canning-Clode
Principal Investigator
