Visits

The British Museum (Natural History) has a strong interest in expanding its expert identification systems. Its exceptional teams of experts, working on nematode systematics, together with its vast and unique taxonomic collections, which include material from all over the world, offer a unique opportunity for comparisons of type-material with specimens from other regions and make the BM(NH) one of the most important centres concerning nematode research in Europe. These type-material collections, held at the BM(NH), are complemented by a comprehensive library. Access to these two resources can significantly speed up the taxonomic analysis of the nematode fauna of the Aegean Sea. On the other hand, although marine nematodes are one of those hyper-diverse groups, which are of great importance for ecology and environmental monitoring, 95% of all marine nematode species remain undescribed. This is particularly true for the Aegean Sea, which is one of the most interesting areas of the Mediterranean.

As an output of the visit, nematodes from the Aegean Sea were investigated taxonomically by light microscopy. A species checklist was prepared containing over 250 different species. Many new species were discovered, and detailed descriptions were produced ready for publication. Future collaboration plans were established concerning various topics such as the large and small-scale distributional patterns of marine nematodes in the Mediterranean Sea, or the estimate of their diversity, which will provide us with a better understanding of the role of biodiversity in the functioning of ecosystems.

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