Category

Biodiversity Loss

Science group

Biodiversity

Our vision is for the restoration of diverse and productive ecosystems that are maintained and managed sustainably.

Read more

Science group

eDNA

Investigating community dynamics and ecosystem function in unprecedented detail and exploring to what extent environmental DNA (eDNA) approaches can be used as a measure of biodiversity. Our eDNA research and data contributes towards improved environmental and risk management, such as in relation to...

Read more

Science group

Plankton

Plankton support the majority of marine ecosystems and the human communities that depend on these ecosystems. Through primary production, phytoplankton fix carbon to provide food, and generate oxygen, for higher trophic levels. Plankton both affect our climate and are affected by it. Understanding t...

Read more

• 
  SUPaCOOL – Sentinel User Preparation and organic Carbon from earth Observation between Ocean and Land

  Preparing users for next-generation CHIME and LSTM satellite missions to monitor organic carbon flux in coastal waters and river plumes-closing critical gaps in global carbon cycle understanding.
• 
  Valmas: Valuing Marine Artificial Structures

  VALMAS is a £5.6 million UK research programme that examines how marine artificial structures, such as offshore wind turbines and oil and gas platforms, interact with marine ecosystems and society. Plymouth Marine Laboratory is a key project partner, with Dr Steve Watson as Deputy Project Lead, con...
• 
  Coral Cartography: Mapping Atlantic Cold-Water Corals to support Area Based Management

  Coral Cartography uses deep-sea imagery to map the distribution and density of cold-water corals across the Atlantic Ocean. By combining marine ecology, environmental data and AI-enabled analysis, the project delivers new evidence to support the protection and sustainable management of vulnerable de...
• 
  DEAL: DEcentrAlised Learning for automated image analysis and biodiversity monitoring

  DEAL will create an application that allows owners of biological image data to participate in decentralised, collaborative networks, where they can leverage the data and expertise of all participants to obtain better, higher efficacy classification results for their data.
• 
  CHALKY: Coccolithophore controls on ocean alkalinity

  The CHALKY project aims to determine how coccolithophore calcium carbonate production, recycling and export from the surface ocean affects air-sea CO2 fluxes and the ocean’s carbon sink, and how this may change in a warming ocean.
• 
  HyperBOOST – Hyperspectral Bio-Optical Observations Sailing on Tara

  Marine ecosystem health in coastal areas can be challenging to monitor using Earth Observation due to their optical complexity. HyperBOOST will address this by using in-situ hyperspectral bio-optical measurements for the validation of satellite data, useful to develop marine coastal biodiversity pro...

22 May 2026

Food and drink litter dominates global plastic pollution

A new study reveals the most common types of marine litter worldwide.

• 
  Mapping toxin-producing phytoplankton; the scourge of shellfisheries

  Researchers in the UK, including phytoplankton experts from Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), have shown how the distributions of two phytoplankton groups, known to produce natural toxins that can halt shellfish harvesting, have changed in the North East Atlantic over the last six decades.

• 
  PML’s Professor Shubha Sathyendranath MBE awarded prestigious Nansen Polar Bear Award

  A legacy of marine science: PML’s 

• 
  International team of scientists launch Atlantic-wide coral mapping project

  Coral Cartography is being formally launched at the All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance in Brazil.

• 
  £50 million investment to boost marine innovation and defence capability in Plymouth

  PML welcomes the UK Government’s announcement of a £50 million investment to accele...