Marine Science Programme

The Bertarelli Foundation established its Indian Ocean focussed marine science programme in 2017 to advance the understanding of how large marine protected areas function and they can be better managed.

This programme is an endorsed action of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030 and addresses the protection of marine biodiversity and securing ocean health, and uses science to inform management and conservation. Whilst the programme focuses on the Indian Ocean, the research and other outcomes are applicable to scientists and conservationists around the globe.

The programme currently involves 96 researchers from 24 institutions and nine countries. Projects are, by design, collaborative and interdisciplinary and each of them includes partners from the Indian Ocean, with a total involvement of 35 regional institutions.

Island Reef Connections

Sea Turtle Conservation

Coral Reef Resilience and Recovery in the Chagos Archipelago

Physical Oceanography

Manta Ray Conservation

Seabird Connectivity

Pelagic Predators

Plastic pollution

Coral Reef Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function

Baited Remote Underwater Video Systems – BRUVS

Cetacean Refuges

Chagos Brain Coral

Coral Reef Imaging

Human Dimensions of Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported Fishing

Shark Genomics Seascapes

Fisheries Acoustics

Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems

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31 to 40 of 65 Results

Reef30_New_Caledonia_eDNA Dec 5, 2024 Vigliola, Laurent; Baletaud, Florian; Mathon, Laetitia, 2025, "Reef30_New_Caledonia_eDNA", https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.6381130 This dataset contains eDNA MOTUs for 72 water samples collected in the lagoon and reefs of New-Caledonia in 2019 and 2020. The data were collected under permits to Laurent Vigliola by the Southern Province of New Caledonia (permit N° 3066-2019/ARR/DENV ) and the Northern Province of New Caledonia (permit N° 609011/2019/DEPART/JJC). It was used and... The metadata for the Dataset was harvested from DataCite. Clicking the dataset link will take you directly to the original archival location, as registered with DataCite.
MEGAFAUNA_Pole2Pole_eDNA_data Dec 5, 2024 Mathon, Laetitia, 2025, "MEGAFAUNA_Pole2Pole_eDNA_data", https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.7805935 This dataset contains fish eDNA sequences from the 12S mitochondrial gene. eDNA has been collected in 263 stations, 68 sites, in 11 marine regions. Data collection was performed between 2017 and 2020. Raw sequences have been processed through a bioinformatic pipeline, merged, demultiplexed, dereplicated, clustered as OTUs (operational taxonomic uni... The metadata for the Dataset was harvested from DataCite. Clicking the dataset link will take you directly to the original archival location, as registered with DataCite.
Manta Ray Conservation(University of Plymouth/Manta Trust) Dec 3, 2024 The Chagos Archipelago Manta Project will be tracking reef manta rays in the Chagos Archipelago using photo-ID techniques and a suite of electronic and acoustic tags which will be integrated with long-term, in situ oceanographic monitoring with a focus on the manta aggregation site at Egmont Atoll. This integration of bio-logging data, stable isoto...
Human Dimensions of Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported Fishing(Nova University/Oceanswell) Dec 3, 2024 Working with communities in Sri Lanka and India that fish across the north and central parts of the Indian Ocean, the project is investigating what motivates people to fish illegally. With a research team that includes social scientists and management and policy experts, the findings of the project will be used to understand what determines whether...
Coral Reef Imaging(University College London / Tritonia Scientific / ZSL) Dec 3, 2024 This collection hosts the coral reef imaging data generated in the Project: Coral Reef Resilience and Recovery in the Chagos Archipelago, led by Prof. John Turner at Bangor University and subsequent photogrammetry projects.
Physical Oceanography(University of Plymouth) Dec 3, 2024 This complex project combines oceanographers, physicists, and biologists to better understand how ocean currents influence the distribution and behaviour of threatened species such as manta rays in the Indian Ocean. The development of oceanographic numerical models that simulate conditions throughout the Western Indian Ocean helps understand which...
Seabird Connectivity(Zoological Society of London / Herriot Watt University) Dec 3, 2024 Multi-team project working to understand connectivity among seabird communities at the scale of the Western Indian Ocean, and also more locally within the Chagos Archipelago: The Seabird Connectivity in the Western Indian Ocean project assesses how breeding colonies of six ecologically contrasting seabird species are connected within the Western In...
Island Reef Connections(Lancaster University) Dec 3, 2024 Research by this team has shown how seabird guano can enhance coral reef productivity, biodiversity, and how they work. The team are conducting this research in the Chagos Archipelago, Seychelles, and French Polynesia, incorporating into their study sites, islands with and without rats, and those with ongoing rat eradication programmes. The researc...
Sea Turtle Conservation(Deakin University/Swansea University) Dec 3, 2024 This long-term research programme investigates sea turtle biology and behaviour, and how they can be used as indicators of where their habitats, such as seagrass meadows, might be located. The search also looks at how sea turtles navigate during ocean migrations and how the size and location of their foraging sites shape their fine-scale movements....
Cetacean Refuges(University of Plymouth) Dec 3, 2024 We know very little of cetacean diversity, distribution, and abundance in the Central Indian Ocean. With a focus on the Chagos Archipelago, this project surveys cetaceans in this poorly-studied region by carrying out sightings and acoustic surveys and is closely linked with regional capacity building. Lead investigator: Dr. Clare Embling (Universit...

Reef30_New_Caledonia_eDNA

Dec 5, 2024

Vigliola, Laurent; Baletaud, Florian; Mathon, Laetitia, 2025, "Reef30_New_Caledonia_eDNA", https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.6381130

This dataset contains eDNA MOTUs for 72 water samples collected in the lagoon and reefs of New-Caledonia in 2019 and 2020. The data were collected under permits to Laurent Vigliola by the Southern Province of New Caledonia (permit N° 3066-2019/ARR/DENV ) and the Northern Province of New Caledonia (permit N° 609011/2019/DEPART/JJC). It was used and...

The metadata for the Dataset was harvested from DataCite. Clicking the dataset link will take you directly to the original archival location, as registered with DataCite.

MEGAFAUNA_Pole2Pole_eDNA_data

Dec 5, 2024

Mathon, Laetitia, 2025, "MEGAFAUNA_Pole2Pole_eDNA_data", https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.7805935

This dataset contains fish eDNA sequences from the 12S mitochondrial gene. eDNA has been collected in 263 stations, 68 sites, in 11 marine regions. Data collection was performed between 2017 and 2020. Raw sequences have been processed through a bioinformatic pipeline, merged, demultiplexed, dereplicated, clustered as OTUs (operational taxonomic uni...

The metadata for the Dataset was harvested from DataCite. Clicking the dataset link will take you directly to the original archival location, as registered with DataCite.

Manta Ray Conservation(University of Plymouth/Manta Trust)

Dec 3, 2024

The Chagos Archipelago Manta Project will be tracking reef manta rays in the Chagos Archipelago using photo-ID techniques and a suite of electronic and acoustic tags which will be integrated with long-term, in situ oceanographic monitoring with a focus on the manta aggregation site at Egmont Atoll. This integration of bio-logging data, stable isoto...

Human Dimensions of Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported Fishing(Nova University/Oceanswell)

Dec 3, 2024

Working with communities in Sri Lanka and India that fish across the north and central parts of the Indian Ocean, the project is investigating what motivates people to fish illegally. With a research team that includes social scientists and management and policy experts, the findings of the project will be used to understand what determines whether...

Coral Reef Imaging(University College London / Tritonia Scientific / ZSL)

Dec 3, 2024

This collection hosts the coral reef imaging data generated in the Project: Coral Reef Resilience and Recovery in the Chagos Archipelago, led by Prof. John Turner at Bangor University and subsequent photogrammetry projects.

Physical Oceanography(University of Plymouth)

Dec 3, 2024

This complex project combines oceanographers, physicists, and biologists to better understand how ocean currents influence the distribution and behaviour of threatened species such as manta rays in the Indian Ocean. The development of oceanographic numerical models that simulate conditions throughout the Western Indian Ocean helps understand which...

Seabird Connectivity(Zoological Society of London / Herriot Watt University)

Dec 3, 2024

Multi-team project working to understand connectivity among seabird communities at the scale of the Western Indian Ocean, and also more locally within the Chagos Archipelago: The Seabird Connectivity in the Western Indian Ocean project assesses how breeding colonies of six ecologically contrasting seabird species are connected within the Western In...

Island Reef Connections(Lancaster University)

Dec 3, 2024

Research by this team has shown how seabird guano can enhance coral reef productivity, biodiversity, and how they work. The team are conducting this research in the Chagos Archipelago, Seychelles, and French Polynesia, incorporating into their study sites, islands with and without rats, and those with ongoing rat eradication programmes. The researc...

Sea Turtle Conservation(Deakin University/Swansea University)

Dec 3, 2024

This long-term research programme investigates sea turtle biology and behaviour, and how they can be used as indicators of where their habitats, such as seagrass meadows, might be located. The search also looks at how sea turtles navigate during ocean migrations and how the size and location of their foraging sites shape their fine-scale movements....

Cetacean Refuges(University of Plymouth)

Dec 3, 2024

We know very little of cetacean diversity, distribution, and abundance in the Central Indian Ocean. With a focus on the Chagos Archipelago, this project surveys cetaceans in this poorly-studied region by carrying out sightings and acoustic surveys and is closely linked with regional capacity building. Lead investigator: Dr. Clare Embling (Universit...

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