Both climate change and global trade are important drivers of changes in the abundance and distribution of insect pests. Whiteflies (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) are important plant pests and virus vectors in many agricultural systems worldwide. Among them, the sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) is considered the most devastating pest of vegetables, ornamentals, and agronomic crops throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world, because it can transmit over 200 species of plant viruses. Previous distributions of the species were limited to regions between the 30th latitudes but in the past two decades, it has invaded every continent in the world except Antarctica. Based on climate models, B. tabaci populations are expected to expand to regions where increasing temperatures will eliminate frosts, allowing year round breeding. Due to the extreme polyphagy of the species, the effects of such changes will probably be profound and may lead to substantial ecosystem-wide changes. Many arthropods host one or more inherited bacterial symbionts, the phenotypes of which have important implications for ecologically based pest management strategies. The overall goal of this proposal is to develop novel strategies for reducing the direct and indirect damage inflicted by B. tabaci. It aims to predict the evolution of B. tabaci populations around the Mediterranean, from which diagnostic and preventive measures can be derived. To achieve these goals the following objectives have been set: 1) Determine the geographic distribution of B. tabaci biotypes, their population genetic structure and symbiotic complement around the Mediterranean basin in light of climatic changes; 2) Determine B. tabaci invasion routes within the Mediterranean basin; 3) Determine the respective influence of nuclear and symbiotic variations on stress resistance in B. tabaci; 4) Model the influence of climate change on B. tabaci biotype/population outbreaks; 5) Establish a network of researchers. The research conducted will involve the use of diverse methods including field studies, molecular biology, bioinformatics, analyses of international data bases and advanced computer programs. In order to begin preparing now for the upcoming challenges of our changing environment, we will combine established research expertise in climate change assessment and environmental system modelling with insects and symbionts ecology, behaviour and population genetics for allowing the necessary incorporation of pest risk assessment and simulation models into comprehensive management planning systems of both natural and agricultural ecosystems.

The simultaneous increase of population and living standards will create a high demand for fish-derived protein in the future. However, resource scarcity (feed, water and energy), environmental impacts, and changes in climate and growing conditions have to be seriously considered in aquaculture. New sustainable protein and lipid sources and improved technologies to increase bio-availability of existing sources will be needed to ensure adequate supply of aquafeeds. Although aquaculture effluents can be an excellent medium for algal growth, they are usually not reused since they contain residual organic compounds, minerals and other micro-pollutants. MARINALGAE4aqua is an innovative research project that targets to develop strategies for increasing efficiency of important European farmed fish and reducing their environmental impact using micro- & macro-algal biomass as feed ingredients by: I. Culturing marine algae under optimized technological processes to remove organic compounds and minerals from fish farm effluents so as to produce high value products for aquafeeds while recycling nutrients; thus improving the water body quality and reducing the environmental impact. II. Identifying novel feed additives to improve fish digestive capacity and nutrient metabolism upon using the selected algae. III. Improving fish growth and end product quality, reducing time to slaughter and providing consumers with a safe and healthy food item that has wider acceptance. MARINALGAE4aqua aims to tackle the sustainability challenges of the aquafeed industry by developing cost-effective and resource-efficient alternatives to fishmeal by providing: a) efficient new processes to valorize selected marine algae that could reduce EU imports of protein and lipid sources and minimize over-exploitation of wild fish stocks, loss of biodiversity and environmental burden and b) high sensory quality and consumer acceptance of fish products to meet food security and dietary needs for a healthy life.

Strawberry is fundamental crop for Mediterranean countries, the fruits have unique flavour and precious nutritional properties and their economic value is extremely high. Growing healthy strawberry using sustainable protection solutions that preserve the fruits quality and yield, and respect human health and environment is a challenging task. In this project complementary expertise of researchers from public and private institutions from Italy, Spain, France, Morocco and Turkey are joined in the effort to develop innovative tools, protocols and strategies suited to revise the pathogen control strategies in view of innovative concepts of protection management. Here, conventional instruments (e.g. traditional breeding programs made with local germplasm) are integrated with New Breeding Techniques (NBT) able to develop new plants and products that counteract the most aggressive pathogens and the new phytosanitary emergences. The Med-Berry project aims are 4: 1: Resistant genes identification and exploitation. Local resistant germplasm will be used to develop resistant varieties against fungal diseases 2: Development of NBT protocols, and RNA interference molecules. Intragenesis protocols will be applied to study the role of key strawberry defense genes to increase fruit resistance. Specific dsRNA molecules will be designed to target pathogen key genes by topical application on plants (SIGS). 3. Socio-economic impact analysis. The economic sustainability of the developed solutions and their social acceptability across the Mediterranean countries will be evaluated to obtain realistic measure of the potential application of the new strategies. 4. Dissemination. Large effort will be put to disseminate results in different farming and industrial contexts and to share the newly achieved knowledge through the strawberry research network and the organization of training activities.

Olive oil is one of the oldest vegetable oils, and is the major constituent of the Mediterranean diet. Its consumption has also spread remarkably outside the Mediterranean Basin. It is considered as a commodity and nutraceutical product that has a huge economic impact in the Mediterranean countries. Nowadays, consumers awareness concerning quality, safety and traceability of food products, in general, and olive oil in particular, is increasing. More information is required in terms of labeling, and also legislation frameworks are in constant updating, aiming to maintain and improve the overall quality of this product. In this regard issues related to olive oil authenticity and traceability are considering crucial. MedOOmics (Mediterranean Extra Virgin Olive Oil Omics: profiling and fingerprinting) aims to profile and fingerprint monovarietal extra virgin olive oils made of the most typical varieties from different regions of four countries, addressing issues related to varietal and geographical traceability and authentication. The objectives can be summarized as 1) the establishment of chemical markers of geographical and varietal traceability and 2) establish a pattern comprising the “markers of authenticity” to be used in the identification of olive oil adulterations. The novelty of MedOOmics is based on an integrated approach, comprising a deep knowledge of some of the least studied olive oil varieties in the Mediterranean Basin. Olive oils profiling will be achieved by the determination of several class of compounds in a multicomponent analysis: trace elements by ICP-MS; stable isotope ratio analysis by EA-IRMS and/or GC/C-IRMS; volatile and phenolic compounds, tocopherols, pigments, sterols, fatty acids and triacylglicerols by chromatographic techniques- GC-FID, GC/MS or HPLC-DAD, LC/MS. Olive oils fingerprinting, focus on recognition of patterns, will comprise NMR techniques, including multidimensional NMR, Infrared Spectroscopy (mean infrared (MIR) and near infrared (NIR)) and Raman Spectroscopy. Appropriated statistical analysis will be performed, namely chemometric tools using multivariate descriptive and predictive methods. MedOOmics activities will span 8 working packages, gathering four countries, Portugal as coordinator, France, Turkey and Tunisie. Seven research teams will be involved with different skills and complementary competences enabling to establish an international network related with Olive Oil Omics thematic. Altogether, this proposal will contribute to the implementation of a “MedOOmics database” comprising the chemical markers of varietal and geographical origin for the most relevant EVOOs from the Mediterranean countries encompassed in this work, which constitute a valuable tool in the field of “Food Authentication”.

The FREECLIMB project is build to match objective 1 of the PRIMA framework in developing smart and sustainable farming systems to maintain natural resources and to increase production efficiency. The project targets major fruit tree species with the aim of improving the availability of breeding and germplasm material adapted to limited external resources (input) and future climatic scenarios in the Mediterranean area, through the characterization and exploitation of local biodiversity. This target will be particularly relevant for Mediterranean agriculture where cropping systems have to cope with preservation (or restoration) of the natural resources in a very constrained environmental context (climate change, water scarcity). The project will focus on key ideotypes elaborated in collaboration with Fruit Farming Actors (FFAs, breeders, nurseries, growers) with the core objective of providing diverse germplasm, tools and methods to accelerate exploitation, breeding and selection of resilient varieties in key traditional fruit crops of Mediterranean agriculture (stone fruits such as peach, apricot and almond; Citrus spp.; grape; olive). To these ends, the project will pursue the following specific objectives: i) developing and applying protocols (e.g. phenotyping methods) and integrated tools (e.g. genotyping methods, data analysis) to support the characterization, exploitation and selection of varieties adapted to a range of agro-ecological and management conditions; ii) dissecting the genetic bases of traits/processes linked to sustainability and plant resilience to biotic and abiotic stress, with particular focus on disentangling genotype x environment x management interaction (GxExM); iii) unravelling the molecular, biochemical and physiological basis of plant adaptation to different environmental (soil and climate) and agronomic conditions (water and fertilizer management) and to biotic/abiotic (single or multiple) stresses; iv) developing and applying genomics-based breeding tools to improve introgression and selection efficiency; v) devising adaptation strategies to cope with the combined effects of multiple stresses occurring under field conditions (e.g heat and drought, pests and diseases); vi) exploiting germplasm resources, by identifying and characterizing spontaneous and domesticated sources of biodiversity; vii) transferring project results through training and dissemination activities dedicated especially to breeders, nurseries and growers, particularly in those countries where fruit production is less developed. Considering southern countries prefigure climate change scenarios predicted for northern ones, FREECLIMB will strongly benefit from collaboration between the south and north Mediterranean shores: for each species targeted by the project at least two countries are involved one from the north and one from the south. The balanced composition of the consortium ensures an equal footing approach with particular attention to co-ownership of results, mutual interest, and shared benefits.