RESEARCH CENTER

Laka Zeza is a real open air laboratory, in which we are installing a research center, to monitor the cetacean in the Corinth Canal, study marine biology and carry out ethological research on invertebrates. The research activities are performed in collaboration with naturalists and biologists of Turin University and with the Gaia Research Institute (www.gaiaresearch.org).  (www.gaiaresearch.org).

MONITORING OF CETACEAN IN THE CORINTH CANAL

Under the name “Korinthos Canal” we include the waters between the northern part of Greece and the Peloponnesus. It is a long sea arm extending from the Ionic Greece till the Korinthos Isthmus.
4 species of cetaceans populate the Korinthos Canal: the common dolphin (Delphinus delphis), the stenella (Stenella coeruleoalba),the tursiope (Tursiops truncatus) e the grampo (Grampus griseus). The common dolphin is classified as “Endangered” by the IUCN experts (www.iucn.org), stenella and tursiope are classified as “Vulnerable” and grampo as “Data Deficient”.

Monitoring activities conducted in recent years have revealed the particular interest of this still scarcely populated area, in particular in its northern part.
The project of monitoring and research that was initiated in 2009 allows collecting data on the species living in the area, contributing to their conservation, through the study of population , distribution, ecology and behaviour.
 

MARINE BIOLOGY

Greece is renowned for its scarcity of fish resources, in analogy with the rest of the Oriental Mediterranean. Nevertheless Ionic Greece and the Corinth Canal constitute an exception, thanks to the intake of nutrients transported by many small rivers.
In the bay in front of Laka Zeza there are several “spots” of Posidonia oceanica and interesting marine organisms are often visible. In the nearby bays, in one of the last snorkelling explorations of 2008, even an adult sea horse was observed. The research activity that we intend to conduct will initially concentrate on the classification of the benthonic e nektonic fauna in the different parts of the bay, both in the natural substratum and in wrecks positioned at various depth, through the “visual census” technique.

ETHOLOGY OF INVERTEBRATES

Within the Laka Zeza plain and in the neighbouring woods many nests of different species of ants can be found. Initially the research activity will insist on the identification of every different species; successively a detailed study of every species will be conducted, as well as the behaviour and the relations between species sharing the same territory.