By the end of the course, students will be familar to the benthic biodiversity, some basic properties of the different marine benthic ecosystems, benthic habitats, classification of benthic marine habitat types for the Mediterranean Region, Methods of sampling different marine benthic habitats - Soft/Hard Bottom Macrozoobenthos, Sampling Strategy - Sampling design – different habitats of soft and hard bottom (Posidonia meadow, facies with Mytilus galloprovincialis, association with Cystoseira sp.,), the use of benthic indicators in Europe: from the Water Framework Directive to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and new monitoring methods.