Millennium Nucleus Center for the Study of Multiple Drivers Over Socio-Ecological Marine Systems – MUSELS

The Center for the Study of Multiple Drivers Over Socio-Ecological Marine Systems (MUSELS) corresponds to a Millennium Nucleus of interdisciplinary research focused on understanding the impact various agents of environmental, ecological, economic and social stress have on bivalve aquaculture in Chile. The integration of different disciplines, which derive from both natural and social sciences, allows aquaculture of these species to be analyzed as a complex socio-ecological system subject to the influence of agents of environmental change that characterize the Anthropocene and the different socio-economic contingencies operating at global, regional and local levels. MUSELS involves the active interaction of a multidisciplinary team of Chilean and foreign researchers with extensive experience in Oceanography, Biogeochemistry, Ecology, Experimental Biology, Genomics, Socio-ecology, Environmental Economics and support in decision-making processes.

Thus, the overall objective of MUSELS is to assess the resilience of the Socio-Ecological Systems of Aquaculture of Molluscs in Chile, strengthening the interdisciplinary motivations of research. These results will provide the scientific basis to issue projections on the magnitude of these changes for ecosystem services and food securement associated with bivalve aquaculture in Chile.