Background

After the mussels of the Belgian coast and the stress caused by their contamination by heavy metals, the subject of her zoological sciences’ thesis (ULg, 1991), Sylvie Gobert has radically changed the area of her research: for the past fifteen years now, she has been focusing on the state of posidonia meadows in the Mediterranean, particularly in the bay of Calvi in Upper Corsica, where ULg has an underwater and oceanographic research station (STARESO). She has dedicated her master’s thesis in oceanography (ULg, 1993) to these fragile coastal ecosystems, as well as her PhD in 2002 (Variations spatiales et temporelles de l’herbier à Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile, Baie de la Revellata-Calvi-Corse).

Sylvie Gobert is currently Assistant Lecturer in the University of Liège’s Oceanology department. She continues to carefully observe the evolution of the meadows because they are threatened in numerous places in the Mediterranean by human activities; they are also particularly sensitive to environmental variations and are consequently potential evidence of the effects of climate change.

Since 2004, she has been an expert “benthologist” (benthos is the collection of organisms that live on the seabed) for the application of the European Union’s Water Framework Directive for the coastal waters of the French Mediterranean Coast. She is namely in charge of validating a new index known as PREI (Posidonia oceanica Rapid Easy Index), that will allow managers of coastal waters to rapidly detect precursory signs of damage to the posidonia meadows.

Sylvie Gobert has made 51 field trips, i.e. more than 15 months work on board oceanographic boats, such as the Belgica, or based at STARESO. She manages the STARESO placement for students in the first year of their master’s degree in oceanography.