VLIZ Marine Science Day 2017

On 3 March 2017, several demo sessions at the VLIZ Marine Science Day in Bruges (Belgium) highlighted different aspects of the Flemish LifeWatch infrastructure, and its related components: The LifeWatch infrastructure [Dekeyzer Stefanie, Deneudt Klaas, Vandepitte Leen, Goffin Annelies, Claus Simon and Hernandez Francisco] GPS tracking network of Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Herring Gulls breeding at the southern North Sea coast [Stienen Eric, Desmet Peter, Hernandez Francisco, Lens Luc and Müller Wendt] Studying plankton diversity in the Belgian Continental Zone: Research opportunities (live demo of the FlowCam) [Mortelmans Jonas, Debusschere Elisabeth, Vranken Sofie, Tyberghein Lennert, Deneudt Klaas and Hernandez Francisco] The acoustic receiver network: a sea of opportunities [Reubens Jan, Verhelst Pieterjan, Pauwels Ine, Van Hoey Stijn, Deneudt Klaas, Desmet Peter, and Hernandez Francisco] A new version of the Maritime Boundaries Geodatabase [Oset Garcia Paula, Souza Dias Francisco, Claus Simon, De Hauwere Nathalie, Vanhoorne Bart, Hernandez Francisco and Mees Jan] Especially the physical presence of the FlowCam device at the plankton demo proved to be a big hit and attracted many interested people. Oral presentations mentioning/based on the Belgian LifeWatch infrastructure: Phaeocystis blooms in the Belgian coastal zone - Routine phytoplankton monitoring with the Cytosense flowcytometer [De Blok Reinhoud, Tyberghein Lennert, Mortelmans Jonas, Deneudt Klaas, Hernandez Francisco, Sabbe Koen and Vyverman Wim] Detection and degradation of environmental DNA (eDNA) in the marine environment: a lab and field approach using plaice [Grosemans Tara, Asselman Jana, Boets Pieter, Mees Jan, De Schamphelaere Karel and Janssen Colin R.] Automatic monitoring of birds in marine video content [T'jampens Roeland, Hernandez Francisco, Vandecasteele Florian and Verstockt Steven] Poster presentations mentioning/based on the Belgian LifeWatch infrastructure: Abiotic modelling options of estuarine areas as building blocks for ecological predictions [Bruneel Stijn, Verhelst Pieter-Jan, Reubens Jan, Moens Tom and Goethals Peter] How to cope(pod) with a multistressor environment? [Deschutter Yana, Everaert Gert, De Schamphelaere Karel and De Troch Marleen] The influence of pile driving noise on harbour porpoises [Rumes Bob, Debusschere Elisabeth, Reubens Jan, Norro Alain and Deneudt Klaas] The “Landgull”: how important is terrestrial food for Lesser Black-backed gulls Larus fuscus in Belgium, and are there consequences to this diet? [Sotillo Alejandro, Stienen Eric, De Neve Liesbeth and Lens Luc] The book of abstracts is available here.