Lead institution:
Sorbonne University, France
The Bougainville Project (2022-2025) is the first step towards a global network of “seatizens” monitoring the ocean microbiome. To achieve this objective, 10 students embarked on three non-scientific ships for two years in the Indian and Pacific Oceans and will test new frugal sensors designed to monitor the ocean microbiome. Once tested and approved these sensors will become tools of choice available to “seatizens” all over the world. This project will unite academics, the general public, governments and economic actors on a participative project providing crucial data.
There are between 10 and 100 billion invisible organisms in every litre of seawater. This life makes up the ‘ocean microbiome’, which helps to regulate the climate and the physiology of the Earth system. Knowing and understanding its biodiversity and evolutionary mechanisms are urgently needed to understand the resilience and adaptation of living organisms in the face of the sudden changes we are experiencing
Start Date: 01/10/2023
End Date: 30/09/2025
Lead Contact: Christophe Prazuck (christophe.prazuck@sorbonne-universite.fr)