Citizen scientist
The world of a scientist is governed by limited project financing, careful planning, curiousity, active engagement, team work, enthusiasm but also things out of our control. Especially the latter is important in scientific fields such as marine biology. Weather conditions can rapidly change, microclimate conditions can offer us interesting marine behaviour that is unfortunately often overlooked. We are therefore inviting you, our potential citizen scientist to actively contribute to the knowledge of our marine ecosystem.
We all take long walks along the waterfront, sometimes go on boat trips, go swimming in our little but precious patch of the Adriatic sea. Should you notice any interesting species or activity, you are welcome to contribute to our knowledge by posting questions, photographs and videos to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We will appreciate any contribution and will reply to you in the shortest period of time. Every piece of information will help improve our knowledge on the biodiversity of the species (jellyfish, fish, smaller organisms) of northern Adriatic, seasonal presence, physical specificities and even litter abundance will valuably complement the scientific activities of the staff of Marine Biology Station. The most interesting questions, videos and photographs will be published on our website.
We need you to help our knowledge bloom!
In Marine Biology Station we combine scientific work and aplicative solution in order to better understand the marine ecosystems.
By clicking on the link below you will get a better overview of our working areas and conducted research. You are warmly invited to look at the list of our most important ongoing projects in the current year. Check the list of our personnel and our professional working fields of research. Last but by no means least you are invited to see the list of services and products we offer (contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
Storitve in Produkti
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Vizija in poslanstvo
V okviru NIB deluje Morska biološka postaja. Je edina slovenska ustanova, ki proučuje morje in spremlja njegovo kvaliteto. Raziskovalci MBP so osredotočeni na raziskave s področij fizikalne, kemijske in biološke oceanografije.
Poslanstvo
Enota MBP povezuje svetovno znanost o morjih in oceanih z ekološkimi in oceanografskimi problemi v našem okolju. Hkrati posreduje spoznanja o razmerah v morju tako širši javnosti, kot uporabnikom morskega prostora in vgrajuje znanje v pedagoške procese, ki segajo od poljudnih predšolskih predstavitev do poglobljenih študij za doktorske disertacije.
Vizija
Enota MBP bo v Evropskem in svetovnem prostoru znana kot ena redkih morskih raziskovalnih institucij, ki tvori nova raziskovalna spoznanja s področja morskih ved z multidisciplinarnim timskim delom specializiranih strokovnjakov.
Cilj: Postati močan dejavnik (v Mediteranu in širše) na področju raziskav in spremljanja stanja v obalnem delu morskega ekosistema ter izobraževanja s področij ekologije obalnega morja.
Prednosti: multidisciplinarnost ekipe, dobri odnosi znotraj kolektiva, velik pretok tujih študentov, lokacija MBP, prostorske razmere, plitvost obalnega morja omogoča in situ delo, pretekla in trenutna vpetost v mednarodni prostor, relativno mlada ekipa, povezanost z izobraževalnimi procesi drugih institucij
Slabosti: Okolje za raziskovalno dejavnost je v Sloveniji je zavirajoče (pomanjkanje finančnih sredstev, birokratske ovire …), dislociranost od centrov odločanja, kadrovska podhranjenost; ni tehnikov za terensko delo, v laboratorijih bi na merilnih instrumentih morali delati tehniki (plača raziskovalcev je previsoka za rutinsko delo z instrumenti) …. plovilo je staro
Strategija: poleg aplikativnih projektov ohranjati tudi bazične raziskave. Z ustrezno srednje in dolgoročno kadrovsko politiko zapolniti praznino na nivoju tehničnega kadra, tako za terensko delo kot v laboratorijih. Blaga diferenciacija na tiste, ki lažje in boljše pišejo in tiste, ki »piscem« zagotavljajo podatke. Enakomerno razvijati vsa področja od fizikalne oceanografije do mikrobiologije in genetike: s tem je poudarjen ekosistemski pristop.
About the oceanographic buoy measurements
What does the oceonographic buoy measure?
The oceanographic buoy is fitted with measurement instrumentation for the Marine Biology Station Piran of the National Institute of Biology . An acoustic current gauge is situated on the sea bed beneath the buoy to monitor currents.device (manufactured by Nortek , Norway) takes a current profile (at one meter depth intervals) and monitors sea floor temperature and relative changes in sea level (mainly due to tidal variation). An acoustic wind gauge (Gill instrument ), installed on the oceanographic buoy at approximately five meters above sea level, is used to measure winds. An electronic compass has been added to measure the minor position shifts of the buoy which is otherwise triply anchored. We have a web site which currently allows the wider public access to wind speed data. Other measurements will also beadded to this site in the near future. The oceanographic buoy will ensure an improved overview of sea conditions (principly currents and winds). It will contribute to improved safety for sea farers, to more efficient accident intervention and to more accurate assessment of the ecological impact of pollutants (for example in the spread of fuel slicks). Stainless-steel buoy Vida was manufactured and deployed in operation in 2008 by the company Manta d.o.o.
Oceanographic buoy is supported also by the Slovenian Environment Agency.
Manufacturer, instrument | Quantity | Height above/below the sea-surface (m) | Sampling period (s) | Number of measurements / time unit | Quality control |
VAISALA, HMP 45A | Air temperature and humidity | 5,0 | 10 | 6 / minute | YES |
Gill Instruments, WindMaster Pro Ultrasonic Anemometer | Wind speed and direction | 5,0 | 0,1 | 10 / s | YES |
Xsens Technologies, MTI XSENS KOMPAS | 3D compass | 5,0 | 10 | 10 / s | NO |
VAISALA, GMP343 | CO2 in the air | 4,0 | 120 | 1 / 2 minutes | NO |
LICOR, LI-190SL-50 | PAR | 4,4 | 0,23 | 4,26 / s | NO |
SeaBird , SeaBird 16plus SEACAT | Salinity and temperature | -2,5 ± 0.2 | 300 | 1 / 5 minutes | NO |
Wet labs, ECO Chlorophyll Fluorometer Chlorophyll-a (FL-CHL) | Chlorophyll concentration | -2,0 ± 0.2 | 300 | 1 / 5 minutes | NO |
AANDERAA DATA INSTRUMENTS, Oxygen optode 3835 | Oxygen | -2,2 ± 0.2 | 60 | 1 / minuto | Control |
AANDERAA DATA INSTRUMENTS, Oxygen optode 4835 | Oxygen | -22,5 ± 0,5 | 60 | 1 / minute | NO |
Nortek, Acoustic currentmeter AWAC 600kHz z NIP | Currents | -2,5 ± 0,5 | 1 | 600 in the first 10 minutes in half-hour interval | NO |
Nortek, Acoustic currentmeter AWAC 600kHz z NIP | Waves | -22,5 ± 0,5 | 1 | 1024 in next 1024 seconds in half-hour interval | NO |
Nortek, Acoustic currentmeter AWAC 600kHz z NIP | Temperature | -22,5 ± 0,5 | 1 | 600 in the first 10 minutes in half-hour interval | NO |
A short description of data processing from the oceanographic buoy
- Wind, current and battery voltage data is received every half hour.
- Wind measurements are conducted continuously with a sampling period of 0,25 s.
Computed quantities from the received measurements :
- Average wind vector: the magnitude and direction of the vectorial average of instantaneous wind data
- Average wind speed: the arithmetic mean of instantaneous wind speeds
- Prevailing wind direction: the median value of instantaneous wind directions
- Minimal wind speed and direction
- Maximal wind speed and direction
- Wind stability: the ratio between the magnitude of the average wind vector and the average wind speed
- After all wind data has been received, the buoy also supplies particulars about battery voltage and a cluster of data from the sensors installed on the current-meter (temperature and pressure at the bottom plus speed and direction of currents at 2 m depth intervals.
The applied Beaufort scale has been taken from the web page at : http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/scales/beaufort.html
Products and services
1. UNDERWATER RESEARCH FILMING AND PHOTOGRAPHY
2. Physical Oceanography
a. Numerical modeling
i. Model set-up for a particular domain
ii. Performing simulations
iii. Visualization of the results
3. Working with oceanographic data
b. Data acquisition
c. Basic data analysis (quality control, basic statistics, visualization using graphs)
d. Advanced analysis (spatial-temporal data mining)
4. Statistical consulting on experimental design, analysis and data intepretation, statistical data analysis
5. Determination of chlorophyll a in seawater and sediment samples using fluorometric method
6. Identification and counting of toxic phytoplankton species: Certificate of Proficiency in Identification of Harmful Marine Microalgae (issued by IOC, University of Copenhagen)
7. Determination of taxonomic composition and abundance of natural phytoplankton by means of inverted microscope (Utermöhl (1958) method)
8. Measurements of phytoplankton primary production using radioactive isotope 14C (Steeman Nielsen (1952) method); estimation of annual primary production
9. Assessment of the ecological status of the sea using phytoplankton
10. Setting up monitoring programmes for phytoplankton following WFD 2000/60/EC, MSFD 2008/56/EC and UNEP/MAP Barcelona Convention
11. Mussels (enzymatic tests in Mytilus galloprovincialis GST, AcHE, CAT, SOD, TBARS, micronuclei test, Comet assay, those tests are applicable in routine monitoring programs and in research studies)
14. Fish enzymatic test EROD to detect the effect of PAH and PCB in fish liver- established biomarker, also used under ICES biomonitoring programm, applicable in ecotoxicological studies and routine monitoring programms
19. TOC and TN analysis: Measuring total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) in marine samples.
20. Elementar CHNS analysis: Measuring the content of C, H, N and S in various samples:
21. 21. Determination of microbial abundances using flowcytometer (BD Accuri C6)
22. Measurment of radioactive compounds using liquid scintillation counter
23. Microscopy (epifluorescent microscope Olympus BX51)
24. Isolation of prokaroytic DNA from complex natural samples
25. Determination of microbial community composition using molecular bioloyg techniquessediments, zooplankton, jellyfish, filters (particulate organic matter – POM)…