We are pleased to announce a new MAF World Training Workshop - “Changes in the Marine Biota (MAF) of the Black Sea,” which will be held in person from 18th to 21st, 2023 at the Institute of Marine Science and Technology, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Türkiye.

This 4-day workshop will include lectures, field sampling, and laboratory sessions covering the following topics:

Lectures:
1. The ecological and economic importance of MAF organisms.
2. The Mnemiopsis story and other foreign plankton in the Black Sea.
3. Geometric morphometric approach to determine phenotypic differences of MAF organisms (e.g., gastropods) in response to environmental deterioration.
4. Methods for estimating MAF organism age and growth: Gastropoda.
5. Geometric analysis of mollusk shells (e.g., gastropods) to determine phenotypic differentiation using MorphoJ software.
6. Analysis of Black Sea plankton: taxa identification, ecological diversity indexes, and dominance.

Field work:
Fieldwork on a vessel to sample MAF organisms from the Black Sea.

Laboratory work:
1. Statolith extraction: aging of mollusks (e.g., gastropods) using statolith (Lab work).
2. Quantifying Shape Variations: Digitizing Landmarks on Gastropod Shell Images using ImageJ and R software.

For additional information about the application procedure, please click on this link