MARS: Biological indicators of natural and man-made changes in marine and coastal waters: Scientific coordinators' introduction

The present issue presents the outcome of the German-Israeli cooperative project in Marine Sciences (MARS) 'Biological Effects Monitoring' as an integral part of the agreement on scientific research and technological development between the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Israel Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport (MOS). Both phases, MARS 1 (1995-1998) and MARS 2 (1998-2001) were sponsored and coordinated by the BMBF through its project management group (Projektträger BEO) and the GKSS Research Center, Geesthacht GmbH. MARS dealt with the application of potential biological effects monitoring methods (MARS 1/1-3 and MARS 2/1-2 and MARS Statistical Data Analysis). Overall, it included the following subprojects: MARS 1/1-the use of marine fish and bivalves for biomarker based pollution monitoring in coastal areas; MARS 1/2-the use of fish metabolic, pathological and parasitological indices in pollution monitoring; MARS 1/3-hydrogen peroxide in coastal waters: an early tracer of pollution and its biological impact; MARS 2/1-the use of marine fish and bivalves for biomonitoring of natural and man-made pollution in coastal areas; MARS 2/2-the use of fish parasitological, metabolic and immunological indices in pollution monitoring; MARS 2/3-biological cycling of inorganic carbon: its ecophysiological significance and its implications or geochemical and biological probes of CO₂ concentration in the marine environment; MARS 2 Statistical Data Analysis-assimilation, statistical analysis and synthesis. The close collaboration between German and Israeli scientists is reflected by the many reciprocal work visits carried out during the 6-year-long project, summarized in Table 1. These cooperative activities also yielded 6 M.Sc. and 4 Ph.D. theses, as well as numerous scientific papers.