The Benthic Ecogeochemistry Laboratory (LECOB) is a pluri-disciplinary group who aims at increasing our understanding of benthic environment dynamics to contribute to a scientifically sound background for future Marine Spatial Planning.
The LECOB project concerns nearshore to deep sea areas, focusing on benthic environments which are frequently disturbed, such as sedimentary and rocky grounds in the Mediterranean coastal zone, submarine canyons or hydrothermal vents.
All these systems meet the EBSA (Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas) criteria defined from the Aichi Target 11 and our research is intimately linked with the need to anticipate their driver of changes within global change context (climate stressors and ocean acidification, physical disturbances and pollutant accumulation) in a conservation perspective. Such a variety of marine environments enables the LECOB to continue to test various classical or more recent ecological concepts.
More informations: lecob.obs-banyuls.fr
The LECOB organize this activities along 3 transverse axes.