Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (SZN) was founded in 1872 as a privately-owned and operated marine biological research station, where scientists and students from all over the world could perform their research on fresh material and living marine organisms. The SZN provided the facilities and its staff took care of logistics and assistance. These days, SZN is a publicly-owned research institute operated by the Ministry of Research and Higher Education (MIUR). SZN provides TA services for ASSEMBLE Plus, and is also the Italian partner.Â
The mission of SZN is research on the biology and ecology of marine organisms, the study of their biodiversity, the analysis of fundamental biological processes and their potential bio-technological applications. SZN undertakes research in the field of marine bioresources, with an emphasis on the biotechnologies addressing the exploitation of molecules of marine origin for industrial processes, for the pharmaceutics, nutraceutics and other fields of interest.
SZN includes the main facilities at the HQ in Naples, a benthic ecology lab at Ischia Porto, and a marine turtle recuperation and research centre at Portici.
Ecosystems
- A variety of Mediterranean subtidal benthic and pelagic ecosystems, including seagrass and Maerl beds
- A natural high-CO2, low-pH cold seep (as model for future community structure)
- Heavy metals-impacted sites near highly comparable pristine ones
- Near-shore deep, steep canyons dropping off into the abyssal
- Semi-enclosed shallow lagoons
LTER sites between oligotrophic blue water and mesotrophic coastal water where plankton is sampled and enumerated weekly, and metadata in real-time