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ARCHIVED - Research project will help predict the environmental collapse of the Mar Menor
The innovative study will examine the relationship between nitrogen and the eutrophication of the Mar Menor
Using the huge volumes of data that have been collected on the ecosystem of the Mar Menor over the past 7 years, the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) will begin an extensive study of the causes of the degradation of the lagoon.
The ‘Nitromar’ project will delve into the specific role nitrogen has to play in the massive growth of algae and loss of oxygen, and the continuous process of eutrophication that has created this environmental disaster.
Excessive amounts of harmful nitrates routinely wash into the Mar Menor, mainly from the surrounding farms in Campo de Cartagena, and the research will investigate the main biological processes involved in nitrogen transformations and their relationship with phytoplankton growth.
Crucially, the knowledge garnered from the project could help predict additional episodes of anoxia in the future.
Since 2016, the IEO has been collecting monthly data from the water including temperature, salinity, chlorophyll and nutrient levels as well as samples of plankton that have been preserved for genetic analysis.
Using this vast amount of research, Nitromar specialists hope to establish concrete connections between environmental conditions and the development of nitrogen in the water, which could help predict ecological catastrophes like the one which occurred in the summer of 2021.
"The results of the project will provide relevant information to implement innovative tools applicable not only to the management of this singular space, but also to that of other coastal environments that are threatened by similar human pressures," explained Jesús Mercado, co-leader of NITROMAR.
The important project will be coordinated by scientists from the Oceanographic Center of Malaga who work in collaboration with the Oceanographic Center of Murcia. In addition, Nitromar will receive support from the Supercomputing and Bioinformatics Service of the University of Malaga, as well as from the University of Southern Denmark and the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
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