Open Marine Archive

Volckaert, A.

Durinck, R.

Strategische milieubeoordeling van het ontwerp marien ruimtelijk plan

Maris, S.

Van Langenhove, M.

Viaene, P.

Speurgids Ondernemen & Innoveren 2018. Het Vlaamse overheidsbudget voor Economie, Wetenschap & Innovatie

Amadei Martínez, L.

Mortelmans, J.

Deneudt, K.

Hernandez, F.

-  68  -  
Oral presentation Science in a modern era 
Long-term plankton measurements using semi-automatic image 
classification techniques 
Amadei Martínez Luz, Mortelmans Jonas, Deneudt Klaas and Hernandez Francisco 
Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Wandelaarkaai 7, 8400 Oostende, Belgium 
E-mail: luz.amadei.martinez@vliz.be  
 
Long-term biodiversity measurements are necessary to understand changes and pressures on an 
ecosystem. To support scientific research on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, the Flanders Marine 
Institute (VLIZ) established a marine observatory as part of LifeWatch Belgium within the European 
Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI). This observatory carries out sampling campaigns in 
the Belgian part of the North Sea (BPNS) onboard the RV Simon Stevin, visiting in total 17 stations on a 
monthly or seasonal basis. During these campaigns, various seawater and seabed characteristics are 
measured, as well as biological samples including phytoplankton, zooplankton, and macrobenthos.  
 
Large amounts of biological samples are generated, and processing these using traditional 
methodologies is labor-intensive and time-consuming. Thus, innovative techniques that generate high-
resolution data in a time-efficient process are favored. 
 
As an accepted technique to carry out taxonomic classification of plankton samples, image analysis is 
applied within LifeWatch with two different methodologies. For zooplankton, samples are collected with 
a vertical 200 µm WP2 plankton net and fixed in formaldehyde. Zooplankton samples are scanned with 
the ZooScan (Hydroptic) and the images are processed with ZooProcess and Plankton Identifier. On the 
other hand, Phytoplankton samples are collected by filtering surface water in a 50 µm Planktonnet 
Apstein net and fixed in Lugol. The samples are processed with the FlowCam using the VisualSpreadsheet 
software. Both techniques generate pictures of the particles in the water sample that can be classified 
on the basis of the imaged particle’s properties. After the automatic classification, the annotation by 
software is manually validated. 
 
In total, we have measured the abundance of plankton from January 2014 onwards for zooplankton, and 
from May 2017 onwards for phytoplankton. Zooplankton is processed only at a higher taxonomic level: 
18 taxa over 900.000 observations are currently validated. Phytoplankton is processed mostly at genus 
level, and 45 taxa over 120.000 observations are currently validated. In both cases, the use of software 
allows experts to work on the samples and enhance taxonomic resolution.   
                                                                                                                 
In addition, the datasets generated are freely available through the LifeWatch Data Explorer 
(http://www.lifewatch.be/en/lifewatch-data-explorer), on the condition that the dataset is cited. The 
improvement of classification algorithms and camera resolution would result in even more accurate 
classifications, and require less human effort. Nonetheless, we have succeeded in implementing image 
analysis methodologies to process large amounts of plankton samples. By distributing these data to the 
wider scientific community, we hope to enable researchers to gain quick access to biodiversity 
parameters in the BPNS. 
 
Keywords: biodiversity; plankton; image analysis; zooplankton; phytoplankton; Belgian Part of the North 
Sea 
  


Long-term plankton measurements using semi-automatic image classification techniques

Appeltans, W.

Provoost, P.

Bosch, S.

Bristol, S.

Klein, E.

-  69  -  
Oral presentation Science in a modern era 
OBIS 2.0: Towards real-time integration, quality control, and analysis of 
rich marine data streams 
Appeltans Ward
1
, Provoost Pieter
1
, Bosch Samuel
1
, Bristol Sky
2
 and Klein Eduardo
3 
1
  OBIS, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, IOC Project Office for IODE, 
Wandelaarkaai 7/61, 8400 Oostende, Belgium 
E-mail: w.appeltans@unesco.org 
2
  OBIS-USA, United States Geological Survey, W 6th Ave Kipling St Lakewood, CO 80225, United States 
3
  Caribbean OBIS, Universidad Simon Bolivar, Depto Estudios Ambientales AP 89000, 1080 Caracas, 
Venezuela 
Millions of marine species observations as well as measurements of abundance and biomass can be 
accessed through the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS). In recent years, OBIS developed a 
RESTful Application Programming Interface (API) to help drive a new portal interface and an R package 
for analytical use, which is proven to be attractive to users and now drives multiple third-party 
applications. However, the system for harvesting new data was experiencing major delays due to aging 
and out of date processes and software infrastructure. The process of quarterly data loads through a 
process that involves a fair bit of manual labor in addition to long processing times to rebuild database 
indexes and other aspects of the system was problematic in getting new data online and meeting user 
expectations - from both data providers and data consumers.  
 
Here we present our new OBIS infrastructure and technology stack which aims to achieve the following 
high-level objectives: 
1. Near real-time data integration from OBIS Nodes - as soon as OBIS Nodes advertise the availability of 
new or updated data, the OBIS system begins automated processing to ingest data and completes 
integration routines in a timely manner. 
2. The ability to scale the system to hundreds or thousands of new datasets and millions of new records 
while providing timely results for queries, data access (download and streaming), and products 
(analytics and indexes). 
3. The ability to integrate environmental variables in addition to biological observations and to fully 
leverage this new type of data in queries, data access, and products. 
4. Improve on the real-time analytics capability of OBIS to directly inform biodiversity indices, essential 
ocean variables and biodiversity indicators, starting at the API level to support science end users (e.g., 
via R/Python packages) and custom apps/portals along with a flexible and ever evolving set of reports 
through the OBIS portal. 
5. Improve the full visibility of the OBIS Network by persistently linking OBIS Nodes, data provider 
institutions, and individual contributors (data providers, authors, etc.) together such that each entity 
is cited and their full contribution to OBIS easily accessible. 
 
Future plans include an online data entry and editing tool including the capability to manage both open, 
public data as well as data that are under limited embargo due to research project constraints and the 
ability to provide and share annotations on the quality of the published data. 
 
Keywords: OBIS; biodiversity data; software infrastructure; quality control; FAIR principles 
  


OBIS 2.0: Towards real-time integration, quality control, and analysis of rich marine data streams

Uvarov, D.

Van Walraven, L.

van der Veer, H.

-  58  -  
Poster Science in the North Sea 
Response of different estuarine zooplankton taxa to instantaneous 
salinity reductions 
Uvarov Danila
1,2
, Van Walraven Lodewijk
1
 and Van Der Veer Henk W.
1
 
1
  Royal Dutch Sea Research Institute, Department of Coastal Systems, Utrecht University, PO Box 59, 
1790 AB Den Burg Texel, The Netherlands 
 E-mail: danila.uvarov@nioz.nl 
2
  Marine Environment and Resources (MER), Areatza z/g, 48620 Plentzia-Bizkaia, Basque Country, Spain 
 
Salinity variation is a key factor influencing the distribution of estuarine biota and constitute a 
considerable stress on the living organisms. In the ocean and estuarine systems, zooplankton can 
experience rapid salinity changes due to heavy precipitation, ice and snow melting, storms or its own 
vertical migration in a stratified waters. However, this rapid natural salinity change has a smoother 
character, rather than instantaneous changes in salinity of anthropogenic nature, such as periodic 
discharges of water from dams separating seas and freshwater lakes. A novel cause of anthropogenic 
salinity variation is a Blue Energy production. 
 
In the Blue Energy production, energy is generated from the mixing of waters with different salinities in 
a process called Reverse Electrodialysis (RED). The world’s first Blue Energy power plant is currently being 
tested in the Netherlands. Organisms passing through a RED plant are subjected to multiple stressors, 
including salinity shock that zooplankters experience when sea water and freshwater merge. Rapid 
salinity reductions may have a negative consequence for planktonic organisms such as mortality, 
decrease in growth rates and impaired feeding ability, but knowledge on this is currently limited. 
 
We study the possible impact of Blue Energy generation on zooplankton by reviewing available work on 
the impact of salinity reductions on zooplankton. In a series of controlled experiments using natural 
zooplankton assemblages collected in the western Wadden Sea we investigate the impact of 
instantaneous salinity changes on survival of different estuarine mesozooplankton taxa. 
 
Keywords: zooplankton; salinity shock; mortality; blue energy 
  


Response of different estuarine zooplankton taxa to instantaneous salinity reductions

Schepers, L.

Oset Garcia, P.

Lonneville, B.

Claus, S.

Vanhoorne, B.

Mees, J.

310
Session 4 - Services for users and education Posters
MarineRegions.org - a world reference for 
marine placenames and Maritime Boundaries
Lennert Schepers, Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee (Belgium)
Paula Oset Garcia, Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee (Belgium)
Britt Lonneville, Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee (Belgium)
Simon Claus, Bart Vanhoorne, Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee (Belgium)
Francisco Hernandez, Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee (Belgium)
Jan Mees, Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee (Belgium) 
info@marineregions.org
Marine Regions is a global geographic database containing georeferenced geoobjects on 
(i) marine placenames and (ii) maritime boundaries. The database containing both types of 
information is accessible through MarineRegions.org and by various web service applications. 
The marine placenames gazetteer started with geographic, mainly marine names such as seas, 
sandbanks, seamounts, ridges, bays or even standard sampling stations used in marine research. 
The geographic cover initially focused on the Belgian Continental Shelf and the Scheldt Estuary, 
but gradually more regional and global geographic information were added. The gazetteer 
now includes almost 50,000 placenames, including national, regional as well as global marine 
gazetteers such as the GEBCO and ACUF gazetteers.
The basis for the Maritime Boundaries dataset is the United Nations Convention on the Law of 
the Sea (UNCLOS), which was signed in 1982 and came into force in 1994. This convention has 
defined a series of maritime zones (internal waters, archipelagic waters, territorial sea, contiguous 
zone, exclusive economic zone and continental shelf) and establishes the degree of rights and 
obligations of a country in each of those areas. The Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is a country’s 
basic geo-unit for the management of marine natural resources. Despite the strategic significance 
of EEZs, a standard georeferenced product with maritime boundaries was not available at the 
global level (Claus et al., 2014), until it was developed and made available by the Flanders 
Marine Institute (VLIZ) in 2006 (Deckers and Vanden Berghe, 2006). Importantly, the Maritime 
Boundaries database is regularly updated with the latest international treaties. The latest version, 
Fig. 1 - Marine Regions Logo.
International Conference on Marine Data and Information Systems 5-7 November, 2018 - Barcelona (Spain)
311
Version 10, was launched in February 2018 by the portal website MarineRegions.org and has 
already been downloaded 2173 times (as of April 2018).
The Maritime Boundaries is the most popular product available at Marineregions.org. In all its 
different versions, the product has been downloaded more than 50,000 times, representing 65% 
of the total downloads. These boundaries and other derived products are used in many projects 
related to bio-geographic research and conservation, such as the World Register of Marine Species 
(WoRMS), The Sea Around Us (Pauly and Zeller, 2015), Global Fishing Watch or The Ocean 
Health Index (Halpern, 2012).
The MarineRegions products are accessible by the website MarineRegions.org, which offers 
a map viewer, a search page and a download page. Marine Regions also provides several web 
services which allow the user to have direct access to the geographic data, maps and metadata 
from a GIS desktop or other applications.
References
clauS, S.; de hauWere, n.; vanhoorne, B.; deckerS, p.; Souza diaS, f.; hernandez, f.; MeeS, J. (2014). 
Marine Regions: Towards a global standard for georeferenced marine names and boundaries. Mar. 
Geod. 37(2): 99-125.
deckerS, p., and e. vanden BerGhe, 2006. The VLIZ maritime boundaries geodatabase as a bio-
geographical tool. Book of Abstracts ICES 2006 Annual Science Conference, Maastricht, The 
Netherlands
pauly d. and zeller d. (editorS), 2015. Sea Around Us Concepts, Design and Data (seaaroundus.org)
halpern, B. S. et al. An index to assess the health and benefits of the global ocean. Nature Nature 
488, 615-620 (30 August 2012).


MarineRegions.org - a world reference for marine placenames and Maritime Boundaries

Degraer, S.

Provoost, S.

Stienen, E.

De Troch, M.

Hostens, K.

Pirlet, H.

Devriese, L.

Nature and environment

Ong, E.Z.

Behavioural and ecophysiological responses of marine benthos to ocean acidification and warming

Gevlekte gladde haai - <i>Mustelus asterias</i>

Grootoogrog - <i>Leucoraja naevus</i>

Flanders Marine Institute

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