New project funded, “Deflam”: From the forest to the sea
Release date: 7 Mar 2016
Another of our new projects, “Transfer and recycling of dead wood along the Mediterranean continental margin”, is an unusual multi-disciplinary study about shipworms and other organisms that live on drift wood in the sea. Shipworms are not worms at all, but bivalves that use their shells to tunnel into wood, much like a drill. These bivalves are known from every coast of the world and until the mid-20th century were a serious threat to maritime infrastructure.
But today there is less and less wood found in the marine environment. The amount of wood reaching the oceans has decreased dramatically through deforestation, waterway and beach clearing programs over the past 60 years. And wood-hull boats have become the exception, not the rule.
How do organisms - that depend exclusively on wood reaching the oceans - survive when their habitat is by definition fragmented, ephemeral and becoming rarer year by year? This project aims is to pierce the mystery of the factors controlling the persistence and distribution of shipworms and to understand their success. To achieve this, a combination of field and laboratory experiments as well as several different models will be used to study the dynamic properties of these unusual communities in relation to environmental and socio-economic conditions.
EBLab members are contributing to the development of a historical and epistemological analysis of the distribution of xylophage bivalve species and models of colonization, growth and population dynamics for these fascinating, overlooked marine communities.
The project is led by François Charles (CNRS, UMR 8222) and is funded by a 2 year grant by the EC2CO (Écosphère Continentale et Côtière) program of the CNRS-INSU, as part of the DRIL (Dynamique et Réactivité des Interfaces Littorales) topics, under the title: “De la forêt à la Mer : Transfert et recyclage du bois mort sur la marge continentale méditerranéenne.”
IMAGE: This cross-section of a ship cross timber from the 19th century, shows the damage caused by an infestation of shipworms on wood-hull boats. Shipworms only leave a tiny entrance hole at the surface and grow entirely within the wood. To know how many there are living in a piece of wood, traditionally it is necessary to cut the wood in pieces to see inside. Image courtesy of J Coston-Guarini (UBO, UMR 6539-LEMAR & EBLab).
To learn more about our progress on DEFLAM, see:
