‘I applied to ASSEMBLE Plus to collect ascidians species from the marine environment of three access providers: Station Biologique de Roscoff (SBR), The Interuniversity Institute for Marine Sciences in Eilat (IUI), and Hellenic Centre of Marine Research (HCMR). Ascidians are one of the main components of biofouling: when introduced, they can rapidly grow and become invasive.
My goal is the early identification of non-indigenous species, as well as the identification of possible complex/cryptic/new species, through an integrated taxonomy approach, since exact specific identification is the major difficulty in ascidians studies.
“Thanks to ASSEMBLE Plus I had the opportunity to find and collect several non-indigenous species from all the access providers and this amazing experience gave me the opportunity to obtain a huge quantity of data that I will analyse during my PhD.”
‘And more to the point, all the different local teams of researchers were incredibly supportive, playing a fundamental role in the success of the project!’
*ASSEMBLE Plus is an EMBRC-coordinated programme funded by Horizon 2020 under grant agreement number 730984
ASSEMBLE Plus: Association of European Marine Biological Laboratories Expanded
ASSEMBLE Plus is a Horizon 2020-funded project which brings together 32 marine stations and institutes. Coordinated by EMBRC, the project provides research and networking opportunities to scientists in Europe and beyond to enhance marine biology research.
