Pre-Application Deadline:

1 December 2026

Navigating Novel Ecosystem Trajectories: Source-to-Sea Socio-Ecological Dynamics and Biodiversity Resilience across the Baltic Sea, Black Sea and Atlantic Catchments

Three marine receiving environments. Four complementary research territories. One comparative framework for understanding ecological novelty and biodiversity resilience. 3BASINshifts investigates how human-driven ecological change generates, sustains and transforms novel ecosystems across contrasting European source-to-sea systems. Combining biodiversity field evidence, hydrological and ecological modeling, social-science research and participatory governance, the project will distinguish altered ecosystems from genuinely novel, self-organizing ecological states; identify the mechanisms shaping their functioning and future trajectories; and assess when Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) can contribute to resilient and equitable management. The comparison spans the Baltic Sea (Estonia), Black Sea (Bulgaria), and Atlantic-influenced coastal waters (United Kingdom), with Slovenia supplying a complementary forested upstream freshwater system within the Danube–Black Sea drainage network. The four sites are not treated as equivalent whole-basin experiments, but rather: a harmonized nested design compares defined river, wetland, estuarine and coastal units at feasible spatial scales.

Pre-application consortium management coordinator: Sandra Lund, email: info@livinglabsnetwork.com

2026-2027 Joint Call

Novel ecosystems:

biodiversity, socio-ecological consequences

and future trajectories