UM in Antarctica

  • Category:
  • Dates : October 1 to 30, 2020
  • Opening hours: 08h00 - 19h00
  • Location:

BU Sciences Campus Triolet - Place Eugène Bataillon, bât 8, Montpellier.
Until 10:30pm and Sundays from 10am to 7pm from October 19, 2020.
Free admission.

This photographic report was created by Nacim Guellati, a Bachelor's student at the University of Montpellier, who took part in a scientific expedition to Antarctica aboard the Arctic Sunrise, a vessel belonging to the environmental organization Greenpeace.

Under the scientific direction of Professor David Mouillot, the project involved the University of Montpellier's MARBEC laboratory and SpyGen, a company specialized in the study of environmental DNA and awarded the Companies on Campus label by the MUSE iSite. It is part of a major research program to collect DNA samples from organisms in all the world's seas, in order to analyze the effects of global warming and industrial fishing on the behavior of marine species.

This unprecedented undertaking to observe and record Antarctic biodiversity is coupled with the political ambition to take action to preserve the poles and create marine reserves to protect this natural heritage.