MarHIST · Historical dynamics of coastal and marine ecosystem services.
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2018-10-01 → 2020-09-30
- EU contribution
- €195,455
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-RI
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Historical dynamics of coastal and marine ecosystem services.
Natural ecosystems provide services that we rely upon for survival and well-being, yet many of these systems are experiencing profound changes as a result of accelerating habitat degradation and biodiversity loss. Ecosystem services are the benefits humans gain from ecosystems. While this is a rapidly expanding area of research, research into ecosystem services gained from coastal and marine systems lags behind its terrestrial counterpart. Moreover, long-term dynamics of ecosystem services are frequently overlooked. Without understanding the direction and rate of change in ecosystem service dynamics, we risk missing declines in services that may affect our well-being. This project aimed to explore historical sources (archival, material and oral history) to reveal the dynamics of coastal and marine ecosystem services over decadal to centennial timescales. By integrating sources and approaches from history and ecology, the project aimed to understand past marine ecosystem service dynamics in provisioning, regulating and cultural coastal marine ecosystem services.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
This project addresses the globally important problem of how we sustain coastal and marine ecosystem services. Ecosystem services, the benefits humans gain from ecosystems, are fundamental to societal well-being, but marine ecosystem services research lags behind its terrestrial counterpart, while historical dynamics are frequently overlooked. Without understanding long-term dynamics in marine ecosystem services, we risk missing declines in services that may affect societal well-being. This includes our understanding of interactions among services, the role of societal feedbacks on service provision and prediction of social-ecological tipping points. This project aims to interrogate historical data to reveal the dynamics of coastal marine ecosystem services over decadal to centennial timescales. By integrating interdisciplinary sources and methodologies from archaeology, history and ecology disciplines, the project will examine dynamics and social-ecological feedbacks in provisioning, regulating and cultural coastal marine ecosystem services. Under the mentorship of Profs Godley and Bateman, and by collaborating with University of Exeter researchers from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, I will be able to expand my research horizons and learn new interdisciplinary skills. This will not only enable me to strengthen my CV, placing me in a strong position to achieve my career goals of becoming a leading researcher within the European community, it will contribute new interdisciplinary research to the ecosystem services and ecology fields, thus improving our understanding of the links between marine ecosystems and societal well-being, a critical knowledge gap of global relevance. These findings will also produce baseline data and methods that will be readily translatable to policy (such as the European Commission’s Blue Growth Strategy) and able to inform sustainable resource management goals, with benefits for both society and the environment.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER · ExeterCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union