Seas and oceans are being affected by the proliferation of gelatinous macroplankton covering jellyfish, siphonophores, ctenophores and salps, causing a veritable jellying of the oceans.
As part of the recent launch of its Medusarium, the Paris Aquarium is offering a series of 3 lectures by scientists specialising in the marine world.
The aim of this cycle is to provide a better understanding of the marine environment, taking into account changes in our ecosystems.
Indeed, the rise in water temperature and the variation in its salinity as a function of climatic events are conducive to the reproduction of massive species such as jellyfish and other invasive gelatinous organisms, which will be presented to us over the next three conferences.
Through these three public conferences, visitors will gain a better understanding of the plankton family, their different levels in the food chain and their impact on our planet's many ecosystems.
Saturday 27 April at 3.30pm
Guillaume Marchessaux
Mnemiopsis leidyi, an invasive sea squirt on the coasts of southern France: ecological and societal issues
Mnemiopsis leidyi is an invasive jellyfish native to the American Atlantic coast. This organism was first observed in the Etang de Berre in 2005. Because of its physiological characteristics, Mnemiopsis leidyi (or sea nut) has everything it takes to be an invasive species: high egg-laying rate, voracious carnivorous predator, high growth rate, high abundance. The interdisciplinary study being carried out by the Institut Méditerranéen d'Océanologie (MIO) and the Laboratoire Population Environnement Développement (LPED) aims to understand the impact of Mnemiopsis leidyi on the functioning of the lagoon ecosystem and on human activities. Through this study, we are attempting to implement management measures to control this species.
Guillaume Marchessaux is a temporary teaching and research associate (ATER) in the Marine Ecology and Biodiversity team at the Institut Méditerranéen d'Océanologie in Marseille and a specialist in gelatinous zooplankton.
Sunday 28 April at 3.30pm
Ms Delphine Thibault
The positive role of jellyfish
The lecture is followed by a "med tasting".
Dr Delphine Thibault is a senior lecturer at Aix-Marseille University and is attached to the OSU Institut Pytheas and the Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography laboratory. A specialist in the study of plankton, its diversity, community structure and the functioning of pelagic ecosystems, she will be showing you the many and varied advantages of gelatinous organisms, which are often perceived as nothing more than a nuisance.
Saturday 4 May at 3.30pm
Christian Sardet
The beauty and diversity of plankton
Plankton chronicles
Plankton includes all the organisms that drift with the currents, from tiny viruses and bacteria to giant jellyfish. Plankton is the most diverse ecosystem on the planet. We will be sharing the beauty and diversity of plankton, and its importance for the planet and mankind, through photos, films and accounts of expeditions.
Dr Christian Sardet, born in 1946, obtained his doctorate in biology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1972, before setting up and running a CNRS / P&M Curie University Research Unit in Cell Biology at the Observatoire Océanologique de Villefranche-sur-Mer (OOV) in the 1980s. Since 2012, he has been Emeritus Research Director at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the Université P&M Curie (Paris).
Christian Sardet is the author of over a hundred scientific publications and has designed and/or produced documentaries and animated films, exhibitions and websites devoted to cells, embryos and plankton for students and the general public. His work has earned him the European Prize for Communication in Life Sciences, awarded by the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO), and the Grand Prix des Sciences de la Mer (Académie des Sciences).
As one of the co-founders and coordinators of the Tara Oceans expedition, Christian Sardet sailed all the oceans between 2009 and 2014 and created the Chroniques du Plancton project (www.planktonchronicles.org) designed to share the beauty and diversity of plankton with a wide audience. Conducted in collaboration with the CNRS and Les Macronautes (Noé Sardet & Sharif Mirshak / Parafilms, Montreal), this project combines the arts and sciences through films, photos and texts.
Christian Sardet's photographs of plankton are published in his book: Plankton - at the origins of life (Ulmer, Paris, 2013), translated into English; Plankton - Wonders of the Drifting World (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2015) into Japanese (Kawade Shobo, Tokyo, 2014), German (2017) and Chinese (2019). Christian Sardet has exhibited his work through films, photographs and installations in Paris, Montreal, Tokyo, Kyoto, Toba, Swansea and St Austell.
Practical information
Admission to the lectures is included in the price of admission to the Paris Aquarium.
The Paris Aquarium is open every day from 10am to 7pm.
Cash desks close at 6pm.
Address: 5, avenue Albert de Mun - 75016 Paris
Metro: Iéna or Trocadéro
Tel : 01 40 69 23 23
Press contact:
Tel : 01 40 69 23 32
Mail : communication@cineaqua.com