Staring in April 2010 the GAME project VIII (Global Approach on Modular Experiments) will begin the study of the few very invasive species of marine life and their effect over the marine ecology.
The Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas, the Mediterranean mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis, the barnacle Elminius modestus, the red alga Gracilaria vermiculophylla, or the vase tunicate Ciona intestinalis are currently the most invasive species under the attention of the researchers.
The program will focus on studying the migration of species both in their natural habitat and on the habitat they invaded.
The GAMA program was started on the hypothesis that such invasive behavior manifested by even the smallest is going to disrupt the pattern of marine life migration.
Built on this theory and responding to the climate changes who already are disrupting the pattern of marine population this project comes with the idea of studying the invaders out of their habitat. This will allow the scientists to observe if the species maintain their invasive behavior if they are taken out of their environment.
Samples from each species will be transferred inside water tanks where their evolution will be observed by dedicated personnel and the changes registered.
The result of this process will be recorded and maybe based on it, the drastic changes caused by these species will be stopped or at least slowed down.
Source: Ifm-Geomar
