Marine protected areas support sustainability of valuable Black Sea ecosystems

Marine Protected Areas Day is celebrated on 1 August each year. This global initiative aims at raising awareness about marine protected areas (MPAs) and their important role in ocean conservation, sustainable development, and community well-being. Since its launch in 2021, MPA Day has grown into an international movement endorsed by the UN Ocean Decade and …

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Εκδήλωση Ολοκλήρωσης του Προγράμματος MARMAPS: Συνάντηση Περιφερειακών Φορέων για την Υποστήριξη των Προσπαθειών για την Θαλάσσια Προστασία

Στις 2–3 Δεκεμβρίου 2025, στο Continental Forum στην Κωνστάντζα της Ρουμανίας, πραγματοποιήθηκε η τελική διασυνοριακή εκδήλωση του έργου «Open environmental eFolio for joint maritime spatial planning and conservation of the valuable Black Sea Basin marine ecosystems (MARMAPS)» (Ένα ανοιχτό περιβαλλοντικό ηλεκτρονικό χαρτοφυλάκιο για κοινό θαλάσσιο χωροταξικό σχεδιασμό και διατήρηση των πολύτιμων θαλάσσιων οικοσυστημάτων της Λεκάνης …

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MARMAPS Final Event Brings Together Regional Stakeholders to Support Marine Conservation Efforts

On 2–3 December 2025, at the Continental Forum in Constanta, Romania, the final cross-border event of the project Open environmental eFolio for joint maritime spatial planning and conservation of the valuable Black Sea Basin marine ecosystems, MARMAPS, https://marmaps.bsnn.org/, supported by the Interreg NEXT Black Sea Basin Programme 2021–2027, brought together regional partners and stakeholders discussing …

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Πρόσκληση σε Εκδήλωση δικτύωσης και προώθησης των αποτελεσμάτων του έργου MARMAPS

Invitation to the MARMAPS Regional networking initiative to promote project achievements and enhance impact

Η διεθνής εμπειρία στη διαχείριση Θαλάσσιων Προστατευόμενων Περιοχών ενισχύει τη διατήρηση των πολύτιμων θαλάσσιων οικοσυστημάτων της Μαύρης Θάλασσας

Δελτίο Τύπου 12.06.2025 Οι Θαλάσσιες Προστατευόμενες Περιοχές (ΘΠΠ) αποτελούν ένα ουσιώδες εργαλείο για την προστασία της θαλάσσιας βιοποικιλότητας, των οικοσυστημάτων και των υπηρεσιών που αυτά προσφέρουν. Καθώς τα σοβαρά οικολογικά προβλήματα της Μαύρης Θάλασσας βρίσκονται συνεχώς στο επίκεντρο της δημοσιότητας, όλο και περισσότερη έρευνα και προσπάθειες επικεντρώνονται στη διατήρηση της θαλάσσιας ζωής, στην πρόληψη της …

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Knowledge of marine protected area management from around the world supports conservation of valuable Black Sea ecosystems

Press release 12.06.2025 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are an essential tool for protecting marine biodiversity, ecosystems and the services they provide. As the serious ecological problems of the Black Sea are constantly in the public eye, more and more research and efforts are focused on activities related to the conservation of marine life, prevention of …

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Open environmental еFolio offers solutions for conserving biodiversity in the Black Sea

Press release 6 June 2025 Like all seas and oceans on the planet, the Black Sea is under intense pressure from human activities, and its valuable ecosystems need protection. To have any chance of stopping the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change, scientists agree that we need to protect at least 30% of …

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Ανοιχτό περιβαλλοντικό eFolio: Λύσεις για τη διατήρηση της βιοποικιλότητας στη Μαύρη Θάλασσα

Δελτίο Τύπου 6 Ιούνιος 2025 Η Μαύρη Θάλασσα, όπως όλα τα θαλάσσια οικοσυστήματα του πλανήτη, βρίσκεται υπό έντονη πίεση από ανθρώπινες δραστηριότητες, ενώ η ανάγκη για προστασία γίνεται επιτακτική. Για να υπάρξει πιθανότητα ανακοπής της οικολογικής κρίσης που οφείλεται τόσο στην απώλεια βιοποικιλότητας, όσο και στις επιπτώσεις της κλιματικής αλλαγής, οι επιστήμονες συμφωνούν ότι πρέπει …

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New Collaborative Project for the Black Sea to Improve Knowledge on Conservation of Valuable Ecosystems

Black Sea NGO Network, Bulgaria, with partners Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, NGO Mare Nostrum, Romania and Black Sea Branch of Ukrainian Environmental Academy of Sciences...

Νέο έργο διακρατικής συνεργασίας για τη Μαύρη Θάλασσα που στοχεύει στη βελτίωση της γνώσης για τη διατήρηση των πολύτιμων οικοσυστημάτων της περιοχής

Το Black Sea NGO Network της Βουλγαρίας, με συνεργάτες το Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης στην Ελλάδα, τη Mare Nostrum NGO της Ρουμανίας και το Black Sea Branch of Ukrainian

Έργο MARMAPS: Προστασία των Πολύτιμων Οικοσυστημάτων της Μαύρης Θάλασσας

Έργο MARMAPS: «Ένα ανοιχτό περιβαλλοντικό ηλεκτρονικό χαρτοφυλάκιο (eFolio) για κοινό θαλάσσιο χωροταξικό σχεδιασμό...

MARMAPS Project: Protecting the Black Sea’s Valuable Ecosystems

We are excited to announce the launch of the MARMAPS project: "Open environmental eFolio for joint maritime spatial planning and conservation...

RESPONSE Project: Building Response Frameworks under existing and new Marine Pollution Challenges in the Black Sea

RESPONSE is a cross-national 3-year long project (01/10/2023 – 30/09/2026), supported by the European Union within the framework of the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF). It aims to develop and test new training schemes and curricula for the monitoring, reporting, management and mitigation of marine pollution, with particular attention to pollution caused by …

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Ανοιχτά δεδομένα, εργαλεία πολιτικής και δραστηριότητες e-learning του MARLITER προωθούν την ενεργή συμμετοχή όλων των ενδιαφερόμενων φορέων

Οι δραστηριότητες ανάπτυξης ικανοτήτων που πραγματοποιήθηκαν στο πλαίσιο του MARLITER, αξιοποιώντας ανοιχτά δεδομένα, εργαλεία ΤΠΕ και διαδικασίες e-learning, υποστηρίζουν...

Το MARLITER πορωθεί ένα φιλικό προς το χρήστη εργαλείο ΤΠΕ για την περιοχή της Μαύρης Θάλασσας

Το έργο MARLITER «Κοινές δράσεις για την αύξηση της προσβασιμότητας των πολιτών σε βάσεις περιβαλλοντικών δεδομένων και εργαλεία παρακολούθησης µε στόχο τον περιορισμό των θαλάσσιων απορριμμάτων στη Λεκάνη της Μαύρης Θάλασσας»...

Έργο VALOR: Αξιοποίηση των αρχέγονων καλλιεργητικών τεχνικών στη γεωργία

Το έργο VALOR (Valorization of Ancient Farming Techniques in Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture), μέσω καινοτόμων εκπαιδευτικών προγραμμάτων...

Κοινές δράσεις για την αύξηση της προσβασιμότητας των πολιτών σε βάσεις περιβαλλοντικών δεδομένων και εργαλεία παρακολούθησης με στόχο τον περιορισμό των θαλάσσιων απορριμμάτων στη Λεκάνη της Μαύρης Θάλασσας – Δελτίο Τύπου

Περίπου τα τρία τέταρτα των θαλάσσιων απορριμμάτων τα οποία εντοπίζονται στις θάλασσες του πλανήτη είναι πλαστικά. Ο όγκος των επιστημονικών ευρημάτων σχετικά με τις πολυδιάστατες επιπτώσεις αυτών στη θαλάσσια βιοποικιλότητα...

National Training of Trainers – MARLITER

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) organized a 2-day national training of trainers, within the project MARLITER ...

Stay tuned! Something really cool is coming soon…

A documentary is implemented within the project Combine2Protect (Interreg IPA CBC Programme Greece – Republic of North Macedonia) and focuses on unique Protected Areas (PAs)...

Θαλάσσια Ανοιχτά Δεδομένα: Προκλήσεις και Ευκαιρίες για την περιοχή της Μαύρης Θάλασσας

Πώς θα μπορούμε να αξιοποιήσουμε τα ανοιχτά δεδομένα ώστε να εξυπηρετήσουμε τις ανάγκες μας για μια αποτελεσματική προστασία του περιβάλλοντος; Αυτό αποτελεί μια πρόκληση...

New paper: Gaps in the protection of European lakes

Protected areas represent the main tool for halting the continuing loss of biological diversity. About one fifth of the terrestrial surface...

New paper: Thermal heterogeneity along the migration corridors of sea turtles: Implications for climate change ecology

Species that migrate over long distances are affected by altered climatic conditions at the various sites they frequent and en route. In our new paper, published in Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology,...

Περιφερειακή συνάντηση εργασίας του έργου MARLITER

Κοινές δράσεις για την αύξηση της προσβασιµότητας των πολιτών σε βάσεις περιβαλλοντικών δεδοµένων και εργαλεία παρακολούθησης µε στόχο τον περιορισµό των θαλάσσιων απορριµµάτων στη Λεκάνη της Μαύρης Θάλασσας...

Our new paper is out!

Threats to marine biodiversity in European protected areas: In this comprehensive analysis...

Marine Ecomed in Marseille

The second meeting of the Erasmus+ MARINE ECOMED

National level workshop of MARLITER

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) organized a 2-day national level workshop, entitled.

Kick off meeting of Marine Ecomed

The first meeting was hosted by the Department of Design and Planning in Complex Environment, Università IUAV di Venezia...

Public Event of MARLITER

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) organized a Public Event with news conference and stakeholder participation, within the project MARLITER ...

9th National Conference of the Hellenic Ecological Society

Our research group participated in the 9th National Conference of the Hellenic Ecological Society, that took place in Heraklion ...

Workshop in Nicosia

A fruitful two-day meeting of Management Committee and Working Groups ...

Harmonized UAS techniques!

Α 7 days training school that was held in Reykjavik, Iceland (September 2 – 8) and supported under the EU project HARMONIOUS...

New paper: Conserving European biodiversity across realms

Identifying and quantifying links among ecosystems, i.e. terrestrial, freshwater and marine, is necessary for the uptake of integrated conservation actions across realms. In this new paper...

Torre Guaceto: MPA Marine turtle working group

Focusing on the development of a Methodological guide for the monitoring of Marine Turtles in MPAs, a 2-days meeting...

New paper: Biological Invasions in Conservation Planning: A Global Systematic Review

Biological invasions threaten biodiversity, requiring substantial conservation and management efforts. In this new paper...

Workshop in Rome

“Threat “Syndromes”: assessment of threats in the marine Natura 2000 sites - a pan european study”...

Workshop in Haifa

“Detecting climate change hotspots and potential refugia at different scales to advance marine conservation”...

Training school: Cumulative Effects Analysis applied to marine ecosystems

Organized by MarCons, the basic objective of this training school were to teach participants...

New paper: A risk-based approach to cumulative effect assessments for marine management

Cumulative effect assessments (CEAs) are needed to inform environmental policy and guide ecosystem-based management for marine ecosystems. This new paper...

New paper: The sociology of sea turtle research: evidence on a global expansion of co‑authorship networks

The transfer of scientific knowledge and results represents a critical step towards enhancing conservation efficiency. In our new paper...

New paper: The efficiency of phenological shifts as an adaptive response against climate change: a case study of loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in the Mediterranean

Phenological shifts are widely reported for different species as a response to climate change but the efficiency of this mechanism is still questioned. In this new study...

The first Trans-ENGI in South Eastern Europe

After months of design, we manage to have the basic structure of the Trans-European Network for Green Infrastructure...

Why females would mate with multiple partners and have multiple fathers for clutches

In our new global study, we make an effort to deal with the long standing enigma of multiple paternity...

Science News article on our recent work

Our paper on “Global sea turtle conservation successes” published in Science Advances, featured in Science news! http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/09/sea-turtles-still-peril-many-populations-are-climbing

New paper: Unravelling the climatic niche overlap of global sea turtle nesting sites: Impact of geographical variation and phylogeny

The processes that determine climatic niche dynamics are complex, especially for wide-ranging species where niche conservatism might differ at different life stages. In our new paper, published in Journal of Biogeography...

Global Media attention on our research

Happy to see that our recent paper on sea turtle conservation that was published in Science Advances (http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/9/e1600730), is receiving global attention. More than 90 articles in the world media...

New paper: Open data and the future of conservation biology

ere, the basic concept behind recent methodological advances — viz. (1) decision support tools for spatial conservation planning, (2) cumulative effect assessments and (3) ecological niche models — which offer innovative analyses for conservation of biodiversity, is briefly presented...

New paper: Extinction debt in plant communities: where are we now?

In this commentary we build upon an interesting study published in Journal of Vegetation Science ...

Lancaster, U.K. 7-10 June, 2017

A new multi-disciplinary project on maritime security has just started…

More efforts for integrating climate change into marine conservation planning

Great hospitality, new ideas, and interesting plans during the visit at ECOMERS laboratory (FRE 3729) - CNRS - Nice Sophia Antipolis University, France....

New paper: Population viability at extreme sex ratio skews produced by temperature dependent sex determination.

For species with temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) there is the fear that rising temperatures may lead to single-sex populations and population extinction....

Workshop: Impacts of Climate Change on marine ecosystems and implications for conservation

Supported a Marcons, the basic objectives of the workshop target on the formation of a coherent group of researches...

New OA Article: Importance of Roadless Areas for the European Conservation Network

We demonstrated that the enlargement of the EU conservation network could be achieved by designating RAs as protected sites, or by incorporating adjacent RAs...

New OA paper: Advancing marine conservation in European and contiguous seas with the MarCons Action

An new paper that summarizes the main regulatory framework for marine conservation in European and contiguous seas, outlines the need for maritime (or marine) spatial planning (MSP) ...

New Publication: Knock-on effects of national risk assessments on conservation of global biodiversity

Knock-on effects of national risk assessments on conservation of global biodiversity
January 2017
Terrorism, natural hazards and global biodiversity conservation… Our new paper which is now available on line, suggests that risk of national security issues should be incorporated into the management schemes of Marine Protected Areas..

New Publication: Manifestation of maritime piracy as an additional challenge for global conservation

Manifestation of maritime piracy as an additional challenge for global conservation
January 2017
Check out the new paper published in Marine Policy exploring the spatial patterns of hostile acts against ships and marines. Interestingly hotspots of anti-shipping acts overlap with marine biodiversity hotspots, likely to alter conservation efficiency.

International efforts for conservation

International efforts for conservation
15-16 December 2016
Researchers and stakeholders from 8 countries participated in the meeting “The Holistic Mixture of Natural Values and Human Growth” held in Dojran, Fyrom.

PROLIFE Project gets attention

PROLIFE Project gets attention
1st December 2016
During the international meeting of our IPA project Antonios had the chance to present the main objectives and outputs of PROLIFE project to the Samuel Žbogar, Head of the Delegation of the EU to the FYROM and to Gjorge Ivanov, President of the FYROM.

HELECOS the national conference of the Hellenic Ecological Society

HELECOS the national conference of the Hellenic Ecological Society
2-23 October
More than 300 participants joined the 8th conference of the Hellenic Ecological Society (HES). The president of the HES, Prof. Despoina Vokou led the organization of a successful conference hosted by our University in Thessaloniki.

New Publication: Using climatic suitability thresholds to identify past, present and future population viability

Using climatic suitability thresholds to identify past, present and future population viability
October 2016
Our new study was just published in Ecological Indicators! we generate a threshold as an index of a minimum climatic suitability required to sustain large populations, offering an alternative way of interpreting the outputs of climatic niche models.

MarCons in Croatia

MarCons in Croatia
13-14 October 2016
Colleagues from the Croatian Natural History Museum and the Blue World Institute originated a great meeting of the MarCons project in Zagreb!