The research and innovation project AtlantECO, funded by the European Union, is in its final year. It brought together experts from Europe, South America and Africa, conducting research on the Atlantic Ocean Microbiomes, Microplastics and Seascape connectivity.

The objective of the project is to provide knowledge-based resources for a better understanding and management of the Atlantic Ocean and its ecosystem services. AtlantECO also engaged with citizens and actors from the industry and policy sectors in order to stimulate responsible behaviour and Blue Growth.

The project was an opportunity for synergies with European and international research projects such as Mission Atlantic, iAtlantic, TRIATLAS, SUMMER, NECCTON, BlueRemediomics, BlueTools, eDNAbyss, BioGeoScapes, EXPORTS, APERO, ACE, GO-SHIP.

The scientific community is increasingly asked to integrate fundamental research and socio-economic evaluations in order to address societal needs, inform policy makers, support the economy, and advance international cooperation.

Under the UN Decade of Ocean Science, this endeavour is embodied in the concept of One Ocean, One Health. While the focus of the AtlantECO Final Scientific Conference is to present & discuss scientific results, participants are asked to highlight how their science is relevant to that concept.

To that end, the AtlantECO project was organised around a handful of ecosystem services provided by Microbiomes of the Atlantic Seascape, i.e. climate regulation, food provision, health provision and regulation, deep sea ecosystems support, and biodiversity.

The Atlantic seascape is made of 3D physical processes such as large river plumes, upwelling and downwelling associated with coastal winds and mesoscale eddies, boundary currents and gyres.

This highly dynamic system shapes the diversity of marine microbiomes and the ecosystem services that they provide. While the human microbiome is composed principally of bacteria, marine microbiomes consist of a much broader ensemble of microscopic organisms that inhabit river plumes, coastal waters, the open ocean, the atmosphere and plastic particles, i.e. the plastisphere. Microbiomes of the Atlantic Seascape can be used to develop diagnostic tools and metrics that assess the health status of the Atlantic Ocean.

The AtlantECO was an opportunity to develop innovative methods, new digital knowledge, multi-omics approaches, data analysis & modelling, and assessments & forecasts that help us better understand Microbiomes of the Atlantic Seascape.