Research areas
Marine Ecosystems
About this area
We monitor ecosystem health in the Marmara and Black Sea through long-running measurement series. Three questions sit at the centre of the work: where the pollution load comes from, how oxygen in the water column is changing, and how that change registers in living communities.
Microplastic pollution is the group's most active subject. We collect surface water, bottom sediment and fish gut samples under a single protocol, and identify polymer type by FTIR. That lets us answer not only how much plastic is present but where it came from — separating urban discharge from riverine transport is what matters on the policy side.
Oxygen depletion is the second main line. Our post-2021 measurements in the Marmara show the seasonal cycle of dissolved oxygen in deep water has broken down. We release that data in raw form under open access: the number a decision rests on has to be auditable.
Fieldwork runs from the research vessel POYRAZ, and sample analysis in the Marine Measurement Laboratory. The group organises joint cruises with the fisheries and climate lines; putting several disciplines on the same cruise lowers cost and ties the datasets to each other.
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