Future research needs for DSM governance challenges

HA Ruhl with DOB Jones, AJ Gooday, and A Goineau &

ROGERS, A.D., BRIERLEY, A., CROOT, P., CUNHA, M.R., DANOVARO, R., DEVEY, C., HOEL, A.H., SARRADIN, P-M., TREVISANUT, S., VAN DEN HOVE,

S., VIEIRA, H., VISBECK, M.

DELVING DEEPER: CRITICAL CHALLENGES FOR 21ST CENTURY DEEP-SEA RESEARCH. LARKIN, K.E., DONALDSON, K. AND MCDONOUGH, N. (EDS.)

POSITION PAPER 22 OF THE EUROPEAN MARINE BOARD, OSTEND, BELGIUM. 224 PP. ISBN 978-94-920431-1-5

Levin & Le Bris 2015

Resources Habitats • Seafloor massive sulphides

• Polymetallic nodules

• Metal rich muds

• Cobalt rich crusts

• Phosphate deposits

• Hydrothermal vents systems

• Polymetallic nodule habitat

• Metal rich muds and adjacent muds

• Seamount crusts habitats

http://moocs.southampton.ac.uk/oceans/2015/09/02/abbie-chapman-my-research/

Seafloor Massive Suphides •Background vs. vent fauna

•Inactive sites are relatively poorly studied

•Other evidence suggests that ridge habitats are like slopes (see Priede et al.

•Some work illustrates levels of connectivity for various fauna

•Larval transport important

•Re-colonisation/re-growth possible...little data though

•Additional spatially-explicit analysis is needed

•Boschen et al. 2013 Oc. & Co. Manag.

title

Challenges to Address Seafloor Mining

http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/funded/news/ao-understandingeco/

Scientific challenge themes include: • Population and life-history biology • Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning • Ecological resilience and response A fully multi-disciplinary approach combining: • Deep-ocean ecology and taxonomy • Physical oceanography • Geological and habitat mapping • Developing technologies

Key Science Themes for Seafloor mining

http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/funded/news/ao-understandingeco/

Population and life-history biology: How large and cosmopolitan are deep-ocean species populations when defined as genetic units rather than morphospecies? How does dispersal and recruitment (and therefore connectivity) vary among species with contrasting life-history features and in contrasting deep-sea environments?

Key Science Themes for Seafloor mining

http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/funded/news/ao-understandingeco/

Biodiversity: • How diverse are fauna in relevant deep-ocean

environments?

• What controls the species diversity of individual habitat patches (e.g. substrata, water depth)?

• What are the relevant scales and units of biodiversity for the effective management of seafloor resources?

Key Science Themes for Seafloor mining

http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/funded/news/ao-understandingeco/

Ecological resilience and response: How do ecosystem function and associated services respond to changes in environment and assemblage composition? What are the physiological and behavioural responses of taxa to relevant environmental disturbances such as sediment smothering?

Managing Impacts of Deep-seA reSource exploitation (MIDAS)

Taxonomy – Which organisms are which? • Ocean biogeochemistry and ecology research relies

heavily on a robust taxonomy.

• Marine frontier industries rely on : • World leading taxanomic expertise • Re-wroting guidance documents for industry

• Facilities like Discovery Collections - Collaboration

between NOC and NHM est. 1924

• World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS is the standard taxonomic reference

pitch

height

heading

roll

ah

seafloor perspective grid

aw

image

camera inclination

vertical camera

oblique camera

Autosub6000

image

camera inclination

Autonomous Ecological Surveying of the Abyss: AUV Camera System

Morris et al. 2014

Morris et al. 2014 Morris et al. submitted

Nature Scientific Reports

European Multidisciplinary Seafloor & water column Observatory - ERIC

Variable Geosciences Physical Oceanography

Biogeochemistry Marine Ecology

Temperature X X X X Conductivity X X X X Pressure X X X X Dissolved O2 X X X X Turbidity X X X X Ocean currents X X X X Passive acoustics X X

• Coordination among the observatory operators and users is being strengthened.

• 11 deep sea and 4 shallow nodes span from Arctic through the Atlantic and Mediterranean, to the Black Sea.

• Feeds into ICOS, EPOS, GOOS et al.

• Italy, Greece, UK, France, Ireland and Portugal Founding with Spain and Rominia joining soon.

• EMSOdev project (H2020) which will produce the EMSO Generic Instrument Module (EGIM).

ABYSSLINE – Abyssal baseline study in the UK1 claim area

• Collaboration between deep-sea biologists from global academic (non-profit) research institutes and a CCZ contractor, UK Seabed Resources Ltd.

• Scientists designed the benthic baseline program. • Scientists have scientific freedom to interpret and publish their data.

ABYSSLINE Sampling strategies

ROV/AUV megafauna

Megacorer foraminifera, meiofauna, sediment microbes

Boxcorer macrofauna, nodule fauna, environmental parameters

Plankton pumps and moored sediment traps benthic larvae

Epibenthic sledge meiofauna and macrofauna genetics

Baited camera and trap ichthyofauna and invertebrate scavengers

Benthic lander system and pulse chase experiments sediment-community carbon cycling

CTD water column microbes

Three key locations with broad ecological sampling

OMS Stratum A UK1 Stratum B UK1 Stratum A

© C. Smith & D. Amon

© A. Gooday & A. Goineau

© A. Gooday & A. Goineau © J. Drazen & A. Leitner

© E. Vetter & O. Kirsten © A. Glover, T. Dahlgren & H. Wiklund

Any Questions?