TREC - presentation of the expedition

Europe’s coastlines are environments rich in biodiversity that also represent important sites
of industry, culture, and heritage. Forty per cent of Europe’s population live within a coastal
region, and many European societies have been, and still are, defined by their relationships
with the sea.

Our seas and coasts represent key ecosystems that host an extremely rich diversity of life
and play critical roles in the stability and sustainability of wider ecosystems. However,
anthropogenic interferences such as pollution, farming, and building construction, as well as the
impact of climate change, are leading to accelerated loss of species’ genetic diversity and
destruction of functional ecosystems.

To minimise the future impact of such external factors on coastal biodiversity, we must
understand the molecular and cellular basis of how organisms interact in ecosystems and
react to external pressures in the context of their natural habitats.

TREC – Traversing European Coastlines – is a pan-European expedition to study coastal
ecosystems and their response to the environment, on scales from molecules to
communities. It is the first continent-wide project of its type and combines the rich expertise
and infrastructure of Europe’s life sciences laboratory EMBL, the Tara Ocean Foundation,
the Tara OceanS Consortium, the European Marine Biology Resource Centre, and
numerous European partners.