Scientific news

This citizen science event has also recorded observations of two species that had not been found until now in Catalonia.

According to the work, more than 12,000 species of bacteria and archaea live between the Mediterranean and the adjacent Atlantic waters.

The details of this research, led by the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM) in collaboration with the Tara Oceans consortium members, are reported in an article published this week in the journal Nature Microbiology.

Until 2026, the initiative, coordinated by the ICM, will carry out a series of actions in close collaboration with the scientific community, administrations and the fishing sector.

Plasticizer contamination could be one of the causes of the decline in the populations of these species, along with climate change and fishing pressure.

According to the experts, the intensity of the regression is related to the artificiality of the beaches, their morphology, the waves and the structures of protection.