🇯🇵 🇫🇷 🇮🇹 ICONA-JSPS Kick-Off Symposium

• July 8, 2021

The kick-off symposium for the ICONA network held yesterday was a great success - Many thanks to both our speakers and the participants!

The title slides of the talks are shown in the image below, and the talks are being uploaded to our ICONA Network Channel on Youtube.

🇯🇵 🇫🇷 🇮🇹 ICONA-JSPS Kick-Off Symposium

• July 7, 2021

During the Tsukuba Global Science Week (TGSW), the ICONA network will be having a kick-off symposium. Presenters from the ICONA Network, as well as representatives from the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network (GOA-ON) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO will be giving presentations. See the poster below for more details, or visit the TGSW website here.

🇯🇵 Research Trip in Shikine Island CO₂ Seep for the Japanese Core

• July 3, 2021

Associate Professor Dr James Reimer and Master's Student Emmeline Jamodiong from the University of the Ryukyus have been collecting soft corals and zoanthids from the reference and elevated pCO₂ sites of Shikine Island to investigate their systematics and ecology, and to assess how they respond to ocean acidification.

Post-Doctoral Researcher Dr Manon Mercader from the Marine Eco-Evo-Devo Unit of the Okinawa Institute for Science and Technology (OIST), supervised by Professor Vincent Laudet, has been collecting fishes from around Shikine Island to investigate the role of hormones in the evolution of life history characteristics in fish.

PhD Student Michael Izumiyama, Research Unit Scientific Diver, Erina Kawai, and Research Unit Technician, Jeff Jolly, from the Marine Climate Change Unit of the Okinawa Institute for Science and Technology (OIST), supervised by Professor Tim Ravasi, have been collecting fishes from the reference and elevated pCO₂ sites to investigate how marine fishes respond to ocean acidification.

🇯🇵 Research Trip to Shikine Island CO₂ Seep for the Japanese Core

• June 29, 2021

Researchers and students from the the Okinawa Institute for Science and Technology (OIST) and the University of the Ryukyus joined researchers from the Shimoda Marine Research Center, University of Tsukuba for a research trip to Shikine Island CO₂ seep.

🇯🇵 Research Seminar at the Shimoda Marine Research Center, University of Tsukuba

• June 28, 2021

Professor Vincent Laudet from the Okinawa Institute for Science and Technology (OIST) gave a research seminar on 'Coral reef fishes: great models for Eco-Evo-Devo'. The talk described the research of the group which uses the extraordinary diversity of coral reef fish to better understand the role of hormones in the evolution of life history strategies, in a perspective integrating ecological, evolutionary and developmental components.

Project Officially Starts!

• April 1, 2021

The ICONA project has now officially started and will be running from 2021 until 2026. The project aims at facilitating innovative research on the ecosystem-level effects of ocean acidification using natural analogues.

Initial Meeting of the Japanese Core

• March 22, 2021

The Japanese Core Members had a meeting to discuss the start of the project, including the planning of future research activities.

The three core aims of the network were discussed:

1. Facilitate research using natural analogues for ocean acidification through capacity building
2. Assess the impact of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems using multiple natural analogues and possible adaptation strategies
3. Promote data exchange and the dissemination of findings

Among other activities, the ICONA network will also facilitate the exchange of researchers and students.