Common use of Gaps Clause in Contracts

Gaps. Microbial communities are known to play a crucial role in biogeochemical cycles, food webs and in functioning of marine ecosystems in general. Microbes are numerically dominant in marine environments and are characterized by pronounced diversity of metabolic potential. Nevertheless, this ecosystem component has been ignored by the MSFD so fa.r To date prokaryotes are ogical perturbations Introduction of microbial pathogens). Such understanding represents a small tip of the large thus prokaryotes' significant role in GES indiactors is not taken into account. – Taking into account microbial taxonomic and functional diversity and rapid response to environmental perturbations, the data on prokaryotic communities can potentially be incorporated into MFSD Descriptors D1. biodiversity, D4. food webs, D5. eutrophication, D8. contaminants. Such an approach would result in more comprehensive GES analysis. – Being involved in key biochemical processes running in marine ecosystems as a sensitive and fast responding to environmental perturbations, microbial communities can be considered as potential sentinels of environmental changes. – Microbial communities are the essential component of MFSD Descriptor 1. Biodiversity. As the majority of marine prokaryotes are challenging or even impossible to grow in culture, 16S rRNA metagenomic assessment is the preferential method to uncover microbial communities taxonomic diversity. Yet, in order to make the results of such analyses more interpretable in terms of monitoring, indices relevant for the status of the Black Seaenvironment should be developed. Thus, it was proposes to test the ratio of specificfunctional prokaryotic groups relative abundance in future monitoring of the Black Sea. The suggested ratios were: (1) oxygenic photosynthesizers/oxygenic photosynthesizers and (2) sulphur reducing/sulphur oxidizing bacteria. The proposed indicators can be used for specific monitoring of Black Sea euxinic zone position, as a part of multimetric assessment. – Taking into account microbial biodegradation potential, the data on prokaryotic communities can be used in monitoring of MFSD Descriptor 4. Food webs and8. Contaminants. It has been shown that both microbial taxonomic and metabolic patterns become reorganized when exposed to pollution with hydrocarbon-containing contaminants. Therefore, the ecosystem response towards environmental pollution can potentially be monitored with integrative indicator incorporating (1) the data on microbial community taxonomic shift towards the dominance of taxa previously shown to increase in the case of pollution, and (2) the data on the expression of genes coding specific enzymes (alkane monooxygenases, polyaromatic hydrocarbon-ring-hydro- xylating dioxygenases and dehydrochlorinase). – As the Black Sea can be considered a hot-spot for plastic pollution it is highly important to conduct follow-up studies for microbial plastic degradation both in its seawater and esdiments. Such studies can be based on both culture-dependent and molecular techniques. It is important to contribute to our understanding of various plastic degradation steps starting from bio-degradation and ending in mineralization in order to have a clear picture of the fate of plastics in the marine environment. However, it is widely known that a small fraction of the microbial community can be grown in vitro, which makes it difficult to extrapolate the results from lab experiments. One possible way to overcome these limitations is to set up substrate recruitment experiments directly in the Black Sea environment using floating PET object.sThis can potentially allow to follow up all processes of microbial plastic degradation. Another way is to utilize the power of metagenomics (metatranscriptomics and metabolomics studies) of Black Sea microbial communities with the purpose to discover novel pathways for plastic degradatio.nBased on such data, more detailed surveys can be developed to target a range of enzymes active in microbial plastic degradation. – To date, the distribution of ARGs can be considered the easiest to interpret and most straightforward indicator of the state of Black Sea environment, based on the data on microbial communities. The protocol used for detecting ARGs in the Black Sea was specific enough to reveal the current state of ARGs abundance and distribution. The results indicate that ARGs canreveal an alarming ecological problem (e.g., in Ukrainian coastal area), therefore the used protocol could be included in the national Black Sea monitoring programme. The Data Collection Templates developed in the course of the EU ANSWER project can be used as a template for harmonised ARG data collection and storage in the follow-up monitoring in the Black Sea region. This would also ensure inter- comparability of data obtained in different European sea regions. Taking into account current low culture of prescription (empiric treatment, ungrounded treatment) and consumption (self-prescription, over-usage in human care and veterinary) of antibiotics in Ukraine, it is important to collect data on antibiotic resistance on a regular basis. As the Black Sea is influenced by Dnieper and Danube river run-off to a large extent, it could also be recommended to monitor ARGs abundance in these water bodies.

Gaps. Microbial communities are known to play a crucial role in biogeochemical cycles, food webs and in functioning of marine ecosystems in general. Microbes are numerically dominant in marine environments and are characterized by pronounced diversity of metabolic potential. Nevertheless, this ecosystem component has been ignored by the MSFD so fa.r To date prokaryotes are ogical perturbations Introduction of microbial pathogens). Such understanding represents a small tip of the large thus prokaryotes' significant role in GES indiactors indicators is not taken into account. – Taking into account microbial taxonomic and functional diversity and rapid response to environmental perturbations, the data on prokaryotic communities can potentially be incorporated into MFSD Descriptors D1. biodiversity, D4. food webs, D5. eutrophication, D8. contaminants. Such an approach would result in more comprehensive GES analysis. – Being involved in key biochemical processes running in marine ecosystems as a sensitive and fast responding to environmental perturbations, microbial communities can be considered as potential sentinels of environmental changes. – Microbial communities are the essential component of MFSD Descriptor 1. Biodiversity. As the majority of marine prokaryotes are challenging or even impossible to grow in culture, 16S rRNA metagenomic assessment is the preferential method to uncover microbial communities taxonomic communitiestaxonomic diversity. Yet, in order to make the results of such analyses more interpretable in terms of monitoring, indices relevant for the status of the Black Seaenvironment should be developed. Thus, it was proposes to test the ratio of specificfunctional prokaryotic groups relative abundance in future monitoring of the Black Sea. The suggested ratios were: (1) oxygenic photosynthesizers/oxygenic photosynthesizers and (2) sulphur reducing/sulphur oxidizing bacteria. The proposed indicators can be used for specific monitoring of Black Sea euxinic zone position, as a part of multimetric assessment. – Taking into account microbial biodegradation potential, the data on prokaryotic communities can be used in monitoring of MFSD Descriptor 4. Food webs and8. Contaminants. It has been shown that both microbial taxonomic and metabolic patterns become reorganized when exposed to pollution with hydrocarbon-containing contaminants. Therefore, the ecosystem response towards environmental pollution can potentially be monitored with integrative indicator incorporating (1) the data on microbial community taxonomic shift towards the dominance of taxa previously shown to increase in the case of pollution, and (2) the data on the expression of genes coding specific enzymes (alkane monooxygenases, polyaromatic hydrocarbon-ring-hydro- xylating dioxygenases and dehydrochlorinase). – As the Black Sea can be considered a hot-spot for plastic pollution it is highly important to conduct follow-up studies for microbial plastic degradation both in its seawater and esdiments. Such studies can be based on both culture-dependent and molecular techniques. It is important to contribute to our understanding of various plastic degradation steps starting from bio-degradation and ending in mineralization in order to have a clear picture of the fate of plastics in the marine environment. However, it is widely known that a small fraction of the microbial community can be grown in vitro, which makes it difficult to extrapolate the results from lab experiments. One possible way to overcome these limitations is to set up substrate recruitment experiments directly in the Black Sea environment using floating PET object.sThis can potentially allow to follow up all processes of microbial plastic degradation. Another way is to utilize the power of metagenomics (metatranscriptomics and metabolomics studies) of Black Sea microbial communities with the purpose to discover novel pathways for plastic degradatio.nBased on such data, more detailed surveys can be developed to target a range of enzymes active in microbial plastic degradation. – To date, the distribution of ARGs can be considered the easiest to interpret and most straightforward indicator of the state of Black Sea environment, based on the data on microbial communities. The protocol used for detecting ARGs in the Black Sea was specific enough to reveal the current state of ARGs abundance and distribution. The results indicate that ARGs canreveal an alarming ecological problem (e.g., in Ukrainian coastal area), therefore the used protocol could be included in the national Black Sea monitoring programme. The Data Collection Templates developed in the course of the EU ANSWER project can be used as a template for harmonised ARG data collection and storage in the follow-up monitoring in the Black Sea region. This would also ensure inter- comparability of data obtained in different European sea regions. Taking into account current low culture of prescription (empiric treatment, ungrounded treatment) and consumption (self-prescription, over-usage in human care and veterinary) of antibiotics in Ukraine, it is important to collect data on antibiotic resistance on a regular basis. As the Black Sea is influenced by Dnieper and Danube river run-off to a large extent, it could also be recommended to monitor ARGs abundance in these water bodies.