IMAR-CMA aims at developing fundamental and applied research on marine and environmental sciences, with strong focus on coastal ecosystems and river catchment areas. Research carried out complies simultaneously with the pursuit for international excellence standards and the need of providing scientific and technical answers to solicitations from public and private entities regarding: a) environmental quality evaluation and management; b) optimised use of water resources, and c) development of biological conservation strategies. Results aim at contributing to a more efficient Portuguese national response in these areas. |
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A comprehensive awareness of the processes behind the characteristics and ecological condition of coastal systems and river catchment areas, allowing the identification of pressures and impacts, and the creation of the skills necessary to follow and forecast their evolution have been approached as essential conditions for the sustainable use of ecosystems’ services and integrated environmental management optimisation, as well as for developing conservation strategies. Furthermore, risks related to coastal erosion have been approached through the quantification of sediment’s budgets, and coastal dynamics and climate related forcing mechanisms have been studied, associating long term observations with modelling to provide developing scenarios. |
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| Within this working frame, the general objectives of IMAR-CMA may be summarised as follows: |
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Baseline studies and monitoring of wetlands, estuaries and coastal marine ecosystems accounting for a) the response of biological communities to natural and human induced physicochemical changes; b) biological conservation and habitat restoration strategies; c) long term ecological research, namely on response to global changes; d) application of the ecosystem services approach to integrate the ecological and economic perspectives. |
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Research on processes governing energy and nutrients transferences in freshwater ecosystems and associated landscapes, as well as on the influence of anthropogenic derived changes in the environment, with a strong focus on: a) decomposition of leaf litter; b) bio-monitoring; c) animal-plant interactions. |
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Research on the behaviour of natural depositional systems in fluvial basins, transitional waters, and near-shore to marine environments, both functioning and ancient, either clastic or carbonate dominated, considering mechanisms and products and their changes in space and time. |
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Research on a) sources, fate, routes of exposure, and effects of natural and anthropogenic stressors and their mitigation at all levels of biological organization, b) biogeochemistry of natural waters, emerging pollutants and the global environment, and c) development of technical and management solutions to these issues. |
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Research on hydraulic and hydrologic modelling, analysis, laboratory and field tests, to solve problems of fluid mechanics, hydraulics, hydrology, and water resources. |
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Contribute for developing the science of ecological modelling, approached in a comprehensive way, including a better utilisation of cutting-edge modelling tools in management applications, with particular reference to integrated coastal zone management. |
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Channelling of selected Ph.D. graduates towards the SME sector, and transfer of technology to third countries. |
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|tel: +351 239836386| |fax: +351 239823603| |email: imar@ci.uc.pt| |
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