University of Dar es Salaam

University of Dar es Salaam Institute of Marine Sciences

The Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS) is located in Zanzibar and is among the academic units of the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM). It is mandated to undertake research in all aspects of marine sciences, provide postgraduate and undergraduate studies in marine affairs, provide advisory and consultancy service (public service) in coastal and marine affairs and engage in exploitation of marine resources, as part of merging theory and practice.

Ongoing research activities at the Institute include: Fisheries (biology, aquaculture, gear technology); Marine botany (seaweeds, mangroves, seagrass); Benthic ecology (meio-benthos, invertebrates); Coral reef ecology; Biological productivity (primary production, planktology). Others are: Nutrient’s dynamics; natural product chemistry; marine pollution; physical oceanography; marine geology (sediment dynamics, coastal erosion, geological history, geophysics, climate change, paleo-productivity, isotope geochemistry); Marine technology; and Socioeconomics.

Role in DiverSea

The focus of IMS in DiverSea is on coastal and marine biodiversity, drivers/stressors causing biodiversity decline in the coastal water of Tanzania to generate information to support decision making. Also, the Institute will engage in collecting and analyzing samples for detecting eDNA in organisms include zooplankton and phytoplankton (plankton) to guide in decision making. Studies on plankton diversity will be carried out to create database that can support in monitoring and conservation of marine resources.

Contact

Rukia Kitula, Lecturer | rukia.kitula@udsm.ac.tz

University of Dar es Salaam - DiverSea Partners