Sustained observations of marine biodiversity and ecosystems focused on specific conservation and management problems are needed around the world to effectively mitigate or manage changes resulting ...from anthropogenic pressures. These observations, while complex and expensive, are required by the international scientific, governance and policy communities to provide baselines against which the effects of human pressures and climate change may be measured and reported, and resources allocated to implement solutions. To identify biological and ecological essential ocean variables (EOVs) for implementation within a global ocean observing system that is relevant for science, informs society, and technologically feasible, we used a driver‐pressure‐state‐impact‐response (DPSIR) model. We (1) examined relevant international agreements to identify societal drivers and pressures on marine resources and ecosystems, (2) evaluated the temporal and spatial scales of variables measured by 100+ observing programs, and (3) analysed the impact and scalability of these variables and how they contribute to address societal and scientific issues. EOVs were related to the status of ecosystem components (phytoplankton and zooplankton biomass and diversity, and abundance and distribution of fish, marine turtles, birds and mammals), and to the extent and health of ecosystems (cover and composition of hard coral, seagrass, mangrove and macroalgal canopy). Benthic invertebrate abundance and distribution and microbe diversity and biomass were identified as emerging EOVs to be developed based on emerging requirements and new technologies. The temporal scale at which any shifts in biological systems will be detected will vary across the EOVs, the properties being monitored and the length of the existing time‐series. Global implementation to deliver useful products will require collaboration of the scientific and policy sectors and a significant commitment to improve human and infrastructure capacity across the globe, including the development of new, more automated observing technologies, and encouraging the application of international standards and best practices.
Biological essential ocean variables (EOVs) were identified based on their scientific and societal relevance and their feasibility for implementation in a global observing system. The process was based in a DPSIR model (drivers‐pressures‐state‐impact‐response): Drivers and pressures were identified from international conventions; the state of ocean observations was assessed from the variables measured by 100+ observing programs; the impact was determined by how often these variables address the identified societal drivers and pressures in a literature search. The response is a set of EOVs to guide the community to achieve a global ocean observing system to inform science and society (www.goosocean.org/eov).
Zooplankton are major consumers of phytoplankton primary production in marine ecosystems. As such, they represent a critical link for energy and matter transfer between phytoplankton and ...bacterioplankton to higher trophic levels and play an important role in global biogeochemical cycles. In this Review, we discuss key responses of zooplankton to ocean warming, including shifts in phenology, range, and body size, and assess the implications to the biological carbon pump and interactions with higher trophic levels. Our synthesis highlights key knowledge gaps and geographic gaps in monitoring coverage that need to be urgently addressed. We also discuss an integrated sampling approach that combines traditional and novel techniques to improve zooplankton observation for the benefit of monitoring zooplankton populations and modelling future scenarios under global changes.
Measurements of the status and trends of key indicators for the ocean and marine life are required to inform policy and management in the context of growing human uses of marine resources, coastal ...development, and climate change. Two synergistic efforts identify specific priority variables for monitoring: Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) through the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), and Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) from the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON). Both systems support reporting against internationally agreed conventions and treaties. GOOS, established under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), plays a leading role in coordinating global monitoring of the ocean and in the definition of EOVs. GEO BON is a global biodiversity observation network that coordinates observations to enhance management of the world’s biodiversity and promote both the awareness and accounting of ecosystem services. Convergence and agreement between these two efforts are required to streamline existing and new marine observation programs to advance scientific knowledge effectively and to support the sustainable use and management of ocean spaces and resources. In this context, the Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON), a thematic component of GEO BON, is collaborating with GOOS, the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), and the Integrated Marine Biosphere Research (IMBeR) project to ensure that EBVs and EOVs are complementary, representing alternative uses of a common set of scientific measurements. This work is informed by the Joint Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM), an intergovernmental body of technical experts that helps international coordination on best practices for observing, data management and services, combined with capacity development expertise. Characterizing biodiversity and understanding its drivers will require incorporation of observations from traditional and molecular taxonomy, animal tagging and tracking efforts, ocean biogeochemistry, and ocean observatory initiatives including the deep ocean and seafloor. The partnership between large-scale ocean observing and product distribution initiatives (MBON, OBIS, JCOMM, and GOOS) is an expedited, effective way to support international policy-level assessments (e.g., the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services or IPBES), along with the implementation of international development goals (e.g., the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals).
In 2004, Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) addressed a United Nations (UN) call for area-based planning, including for marine-protected areas that resulted in a global effort to ...describe ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs). We summarized the results, assessed their consistency, and evaluated the process developed by the Secretariat of the CBD to engage countries and experts in 9 regional workshops held from 2011 to 2014. Experts from 92 countries and 79 regional or international bodies participated. They considered 250 million km² of the world's ocean area (two-thirds of the total). The 204 areas they examined in detail differed widely in area (from 5.5 km² to 11.1 million km²). Despite the initial focus of the CBD process on areas outside national jurisdiction, only 31 of the areas examined were solely outside national jurisdiction. Thirty-five extended into national jurisdictions, 137 were solely within national jurisdictions, and 28 included the jurisdictions of more than 1 country (1 area lacked precise boundaries). Data were sufficient to rank 88-99% of the areas relative to each of the 7 criteria for EBSAs agreed to previously by Parties to the CBD. The naturalness criterion ranked high for a smaller percentage of the EBSAs (31%) than other criteria (51-70%), indicating the difficulty in finding relatively undisturbed areas in the ocean. The highly participatory nature of the workshops, including easy and consistent access to the relevant information facilitated by 2 technical teams, contributed to the workshop participants success in identifying areas that could be ranked relative to most criteria and areas that extend across jurisdictional boundaries. The formal recognition of workshop results by the Conference of Parties to the CBD resulted in these 204 areas being identified as EBSAs by the 196 Parties. They represent the only suite of marine areas recognized by the international community for their greater importance for biodiversity it is their importance for biodiversity itself not conservation as process explicitly excluded management issues than their surroundings. This comes at a critical juncture in negotiations at the UN that will consider developing a new implementation agreement under UN Convention of the Law of the Sea to support the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction. The EBSA description process is a good example of how to bring the international community together to build a shared understanding of which ocean areas are particularly valuable to biodiversity. En 2004, las Partes para la Convención sobre la Diversidad Biológica (CDB) señalaron un llamado de las Naciones Unidas (ONU) para la planeación con base en áreas, el cual incluía la descripción de áreas marinas ecológica y biológicamente significativas (EBSAs, en inglés) como resultado de un esfuerzo global. Resumimos los resultados, valoramos su consistencia y evaluamos el proceso desarrollado por el Secretariado de la CDB para involucrar a los países y a los expertos en el tema en nueve talleres regionales, los cuales se llevaron a cabo de 2011 a 2014. En ellos participaron los expertos de 92 países y 79 cuerpos regionales o internacionales. Los expertos consideraron 250 millones de km² del área oceánica global (dos tercios del total). Las 204 áreas que examinaron a detalle difirieron ampliamente en el área (desde 5.5 km² a 11.1 millones de km²). A pesar del enfoque inicial del proceso de la CDB sobre las áreas fuera de la jurisdicción nacional, sólo 31 de las áreas examinadas estuvieron completamente fuera de alguna jurisdicción nacional. Del total de áreas examinadas, 35 áreas se extendían dentro de una jurisdicción nacional, 137 estaban únicamente dentro de alguna jurisdicción nacional y 28 incluían las jurisdicción de más de un país (un área carecía de fronteras específicas). Los datos fueron suficientes para clasificar 88-99% de las áreas en relación a cada uno de los siete criterios para establecer EBSAs, los cuales ya habían sido acordados previamente por las Partes de la CDB. El criterio de naturalidad fue más alto para un porcentaje más pequeño de EBSAs (31%) que otros criterios (51-70%), lo que indica la dificultad de encontrar áreas relativamente poco perturbadas en el océano. La naturaleza altamente participativa de los talleres, incluyendo el acceso fácil y continuo a la información proporcionada por los dos equipos técnicos, contribuyó al éxito de los participantes en la identificación de áreas que podrían estar clasificadas en relación al mayor número de criterios y de áreas que se extienden a lo largo de fronteras jurídicas. El reconocimiento formal de los resultados de los talleres por parte de la Conferencia de Partes de la CDB derivó en que se identificara a estas 204 áreas como EBSAs por parte de las 196 Partes. Estas representan el único conjunto de áreas marinas reconocido por la comunidad internacional por su gran importancia para la conservación de la biodiversidad y su entorno. Esto llega en un momento crítico en las negociaciones de la ONU para considerar el desarrollo de un nuevo acuerdo de implementación bajo la Convención de la ONU para la Ley del Mar, el cual apoyará la conservación y el uso sustentable de la diversidad biológica marina más allá de las áreas de jurisdicción nacional. El proceso de descripción de EBSAs es un buen ejemplo de cómo unir a la comunidad internacional para la construcción de un entendimiento compartido de cuáles áreas oceánicas son particularmente valiosas para la biodiversidad.
The entire Australian marine jurisdictional area, including offshore and sub-Antarctic islands, is considered in this paper. Most records, however, come from the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) around ...the continent of Australia itself. The counts of species have been obtained from four primary databases (the Australian Faunal Directory, Codes for Australian Aquatic Biota, Online Zoological Collections of Australian Museums, and the Australian node of the Ocean Biogeographic Information System), but even these are an underestimate of described species. In addition, some partially completed databases for particular taxonomic groups, and specialized databases (for introduced and threatened species) have been used. Experts also provided estimates of the number of known species not yet in the major databases. For only some groups could we obtain an (expert opinion) estimate of undiscovered species. The databases provide patchy information about endemism, levels of threat, and introductions. We conclude that there are about 33,000 marine species (mainly animals) in the major databases, of which 130 are introduced, 58 listed as threatened and an unknown percentage endemic. An estimated 17,000 more named species are either known from the Australian EEZ but not in the present databases, or potentially occur there. It is crudely estimated that there may be as many as 250,000 species (known and yet to be discovered) in the Australian EEZ. For 17 higher taxa, there is sufficient detail for subdivision by Large Marine Domains, for comparison with other National and Regional Implementation Committees of the Census of Marine Life. Taxonomic expertise in Australia is unevenly distributed across taxa, and declining. Comments are given briefly on biodiversity management measures in Australia, including but not limited to marine protected areas.
Our knowledge of the distribution and evolution of deep-sea life is limited, impeding our ability to identify priority areas for conservation
. Here we analyse large integrated phylogenomic and ...distributional datasets of seafloor fauna from the sea surface to the abyss and from equator to pole of the Southern Hemisphere for an entire class of invertebrates (Ophiuroidea). We find that latitudinal diversity gradients are assembled through contrasting evolutionary processes for shallow (0-200 m) and deep (>200 m) seas. The shallow-water tropical-temperate realm broadly reflects a tropical diversification-driven process that shows exchange of lineages in both directions. Diversification rates are reversed for the realm that contains the deep sea and Antarctica; the diversification rates are highest at polar and lowest at tropical latitudes, and net exchange occurs from high to low latitudes. The tropical upper bathyal (200-700 m deep), with its rich ancient phylodiversity, is characterized by relatively low diversification and moderate immigration rates. Conversely, the young, specialized Antarctic fauna is inferred to be rebounding from regional extinctions that are associated with the rapid cooling of polar waters during the mid-Cenozoic era.
The large-scale spatial distribution of seafloor fauna is still poorly understood. In particular, the bathyal zone has been identified as the key depth stratum requiring further macroecological ...research 1, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere 2. Here we analyze a large biological data set derived from 295 research expeditions, across an equator-to-pole sector of the Indian, Pacific, and Southern oceans, to show that the bathyal ophiuroid fauna is distributed in three broad latitudinal bands and not primarily differentiated by oceanic basins as previously assumed. Adjacent faunas form transitional ecoclines rather than biogeographical breaks. This pattern is similar to that in shallow water despite the order-of-magnitude reduction in the variability of environmental parameters at bathyal depths. A reliable biogeography is fundamental to establishing a representative network of marine reserves across the world's oceans 1, 3.
► Seafloor fauna was mapped from the equator to Antarctica ► Shallow-water and bathyal assemblages were structured into latitudinal faunas ► Adjacent faunas formed transitional ecoclines rather than biogeographical breaks ► Differentiation of bathyal fauna was not confluent with available oceanographic data
Aim
Mining and petroleum industries are exploring for resources in deep seafloor environments. Lease areas are often spatially aggregated and continuous over hundreds to thousands of kilometres. ...Sustainable development of these resources requires an understanding of the patterns of biodiversity at similar scales, yet these data are rarely available for the deep sea. Here, we compare biodiversity metrics and assemblage composition of epibenthic megafaunal samples from deep‐sea benthic habitats from the Great Australian Bight (GAB), a petroleum exploration zone off southern Australia, to similar environments off eastern Australia.
Location
The Great Australian Bight (34–36°S, 129–134°E) and south‐eastern (SE) and north‐eastern (NE) Australian continental margins (23–42°S, 149–155°E) in depths of 1,900–5,000 m.
Methods
A species–sample matrix was constructed from invertebrate and fish megafauna collected from beam trawl samples across regions at lower bathyal (1,900–3,200 m) and abyssal (>3,200 m) depths, and analysed using multivariate, rarefaction and model‐based statistics. We modelled rank abundance distributions (RAD) against environmental factors to identify drivers of abundance, richness and evenness.
Results
Multivariate analyses showed regional and bathymetric assemblage structure across the region. There was an almost complete turnover of sponge fauna between the GAB and SE. SE samples had the highest total faunal abundance and species richness. RAD models linked total abundance and species richness to levels of carbon flux. Evenness was associated with seasonality of net primary production.
Conclusions
Significant assemblage structure at regional scales is reported for the first time at lower bathyal and abyssal depths in the southern Indo‐Pacific region along latitudinal and longitudinal gradients. The GAB fauna was distinct from other studied areas. Relatively high species richness, previously reported from the GAB continental shelf, did not occur at lower bathyal or abyssal depths. Instead, the abundance, richness and evenness of the benthic fauna are linked to surface primary production, which is elevated off SE Australia.
Measuring population connectivity is a critical task in conservation biology. While genetic markers can provide reliable long‐term historical estimates of population connectivity, scientists are ...still limited in their ability to determine contemporary patterns of gene flow, the most practical time frame for management. Here, we tackled this issue by developing a new approach that only requires juvenile sampling at a single time period. To demonstrate the usefulness of our method, we used the Speartooth shark (Glyphis glyphis), a critically endangered species of river shark found only in tropical northern Australia and southern Papua New Guinea. Contemporary adult and juvenile shark movements, estimated with the spatial distribution of kin pairs across and within three river systems, was contrasted with historical long‐term connectivity patterns, estimated from mitogenomes and genome‐wide SNP data. We found strong support for river fidelity in juveniles with the within‐cohort relationship analysis. Male breeding movements were highlighted with the cross‐cohort relationship analysis, and female reproductive philopatry to the river systems was revealed by the mitogenomic analysis. We show that accounting for juvenile river fidelity and female philopatry is important in population structure analysis and that targeted sampling in nurseries and juvenile aggregations should be included in the genomic toolbox of threatened species management.
Genetic options for the control of invasive fishes were recently reviewed and synthesized at a 2010 international symposium, held in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN, USA. The only option currently available ...“off-the-shelf” is triploidy, which can be used to produce sterile males for a release program analogous to those widely and successfully used for biological control of insect pests. However, the Trojan Y and several recombinant options that heritably distort pest population sex ratios are technologically feasible, are at or are close to proof-of-concept stage and are potentially much more effective than sterile male release programs. All genetic options at this stage require prolonged stocking programs to be effective, though gene drive systems are a potential for recombinant approaches. They are also likely to differ in their current degree of social acceptability, with chromosomal approaches (triploidy and Trojan Y) likely to be the most readily acceptable to the public and least likely to require changes in legislative or policy settings to be implemented. Modelling also suggests that the efficacy of any of these genetic techniques is enhanced by, and in turn non-additively enhance, conventional methods of pest fish control.
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