MARINEGAPS: Mapping and addressing marine biodiversity knowledge gaps in the global ocean

Species distribution data is a key component of modern ecology.

However, the unequal distribution of species records biases our understanding of ecological patterns, distorting impact assessments even for well-sampled regions.

Therefore, quantifying the dimension of our ignorance in biodiversity information is essential to: 1) identify key knowledge gaps, 2) design research efforts that maximise scientific discoveries and 3) account for uncertainty in species distribution models. MarineGaps will attend to these demands adapting methods already employed in terrestrial systems to the global ocean.

Specifically, MarineGaps will scrutinise marine big data in order to measure biodiversity ignorance at multiple layers (WP1), identify priority areas for data acquisition (WP2), and develop a software to account for uncertainty in macroecological models (WP3).

Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, MarineGaps will generate results and provide tools to be exploited by both researchers and international organisations. All research outputs will be made freely available following FAIR principles.

Through MarineGaps, the applicant will receive world-class training in big biodiversity data, learn a new programming language, and gain new skills on knowledge transfer and scientific communication.

MarineGaps will be a benchmark for marine ecologists of the entire world, redefining the career of the applicant and providing him with an outstanding place to obtain a permanent research position in the European research space.

The successful implementation of the project and achievement of the objectives is ensured by the solid tradition of the host institution with EU-funded programs, the expertise of the supervisors on the research topic, the experience of the applicant in handling large data sets, and a rigorous plan to achieve the project's goals in the effective time.