Marine “BON” and Ecological Forecasting: Activities to Inform Ecosystem-Based

Management and Science

Gabrielle Canonico, U.S. IOOS Program

Co-Chair, IWG-OP Biodiversity Working Group

March 7, 2013

What is biodiversity?

• Biological diversity, or biodiversity, is defined as the variety of life, encompassing variation at levels of complexity from within species to across ecosystems.

• Literature supports the hypothesis that biodiversity is the foundation for production of many ecosystem services.

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The lower level includes habitat types within a region; the middle level includes species diversity; and the upper level includes genetic diversity within species (from Palumbi et al.).

Importance to NOAA and the Nation

• U.S. National Ocean Policy:– “It is the Policy of the United States to: Protect, maintain, and restore the health

and biological diversity of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems and resources; …”

• April 2010 Workshop on Strengthening NOAA Science grand challenge: – “Assess and understand the roles of ecosystem processes and biodiversity in

sustaining ecosystem services.”

• NOAA’s long-term Healthy Oceans goal: – “Marine fisheries, habitats, and biodiversity are sustained within healthy and

productive ecosystems.”

• NOAA’s Next Generation Strategic Plan:– “NOAA will continue to work with partners to acquire, protect, and restore

habitat, biodiversity, and ecosystem services to support the resilience of both ecosystems and the built environment.”

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Global Relevance

• Valencia Declaration (2008 World Conference on Marine Biodiversity): “Marine biodiversity underpins the functioning of marine ecosystems and their provision of services – without biodiversity there would be no ecosystem services.”

• GEO 2015 deliverable: “Establish, in conjunction with a comprehensive ecosystem monitoring capability, a worldwide biodiversity observation network to collect, manage, share and analyze observations of the status and trends of the world's biodiversity, and enable decision-making in support of the conservation and improved management of natural resources.”

• World Ocean Assessment: Will include an assessment of marine biological diversity and habitats

• Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES): Mechanism proposed to further strengthen the science-policy interface on biodiversity and ecosystem services; first session in Bonn, Germany, January 2013

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Active Biodiversity Teams• NOAA Biodiversity Team

– ~130 NOAA list serve members from all line offices and leadership

• Interagency Biodiversity ‘Ad Hoc’ Working Group – Reports to Interagency Working Group on Ocean Partnerships/IWG-OP – Co-chairs (NOAA, NASA, BOEM)

– 66 members, 33 ‘active’ from: NOAA, BOEM, Marine Mammal Commission, Navy and ONR, NSF, Smithsonian, USFWS, USGS

• Meetings provide fora to:– Exchange information about biodiversity efforts,

– Establish biodiversity-related partnerships,

– Advance biodiversity science to inform decisions, and

– Discover opportunities for collaborative research and leveraged funding.

• Interagency team has additional interest in:– Improving biological data management and accessibility,

– Coordinating on deep-sea ecosystem issues, and

– Integrating satellite data products with in situ observations.

Interagency Workshop: Biodiversity Observing

“Attaining an Operational Marine Biodiversity Observation Network”•2010 workshop coordinated by the Interagency Biodiversity working group•Sponsors: NOAA (OAR, NMFS, NOS, U.S. IOOS), BOEM, MMC, NASA, NSF, ONR, Smithsonian•Workshop report:

http://www.nopp.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/BON_SynthesisReport.pdf•Publication: Duffy, J.E., L.A. Amaral-Zettler, D.G. Fautin, G. Paulay, T.A. Rynearson, H.M. Sosik, and J.J. Stachowicz. In press. Envisioning a marine biodiversity observation network. BioScience.

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Workshop Conclusions

• An operational BON would fill knowledge gaps and provide a sound basis for informing scientific, government, industry and public decisions.

• The formation of a national Marine BON is possible with existing technology.

• The BON must integrate observations across levels of biodiversity, from intraspecific genetic variation through species and functional groups to remotely sensed habitat-level diversity.

• Sampling approaches must be linked across scales of space and time.

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Workshop Recommendations

1. Coordinate biodiversity sampling across taxa, habitats, hierarchical levels, and methods from microbes to mammals.

2. Maximize compatibility of BON with legacy data.

3. Establish one or more Biodiversity Observation Center(s) to coordinate sample processing, including taxonomic identifications, data management, and training and invest in the computational expertise to handle large datasets in an open access environment.

4. Synthesize and make accessible marine taxonomic resources.

5. Invest in developing new approaches for automated sample processing.

6. Modernize and enhance the nation’s physical infrastructure for marine exploration.

7. Initiate an integrated marine BON demonstration project soon.

Issues and recommendations are ‘cross-walked’ to National Ocean Policy objectives in the final workshop report.

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Demo Projects: Goal

To prove the concept of an ‘end-to-end’ biodiversity observation program at one or more sites – linking biodiversity surveys and methodologies at all scales from microbes to whales, instants to centuries, in situ to satellite.

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Aquatic biodiversity can be assessed over spatial scales from millimeters to thousands of kilometers using a combination of detection methods (top panel) and observing infrastructures (bottom panel). Some observing infrastructures can accommodate multiple detection methods, indicated here by different colors: e.g. ships can accommodate all four detection methods whereas satellites use only imaging methods.

Areas of Interest to Funding Partners

• Interagency discussions for FY14 RFP are ongoing• Areas of interest (“biomes”) identified in the workshop:

– Deep sea

– Continental shelves

– Near-shore regions, estuaries, Great Lakes

– Coral reefs

• Geographic areas of interest to funding agencies: – Arctic

– Gulf of Mexico

• Methods are also important to funding partners:– Remote sensing – new techniques and ground-truthing

– Building on existing long-term monitoring

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Value to NOAA and the Nation• Marine BON is a natural follow on to the Census of Marine Live. • It will advance our understanding of the relationships between

biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. • It directly supports the specific policies and recommendations of the

National Ocean Policy. • It will provide biodiversity data and related products needed for:

– Restoration Efforts (such as in the Gulf of Mexico after Deepwater Horizon)

– Sentinel Sites

– Habitat Blueprint

– Ecological Forecasting

– Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management

– Integrated Ecosystem Assessments

– Other mandated monitoring and regulatory activities

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NOAA’s Ecological Forecasting Roadmap

NOAA’s new Ecological Forecasting Roadmap will:• Leverage NOAA-wide capability

• Establish priorities and collaborations

• Build-on existing infrastructure and partnerships

• Improve quality and delivery of products and services

Working across Line Offices to achieve:• Operational forecasts based on strong science

• Delivery of more consistent, efficient, reliable, and national forecasts (tailored to region-specific needs)

NOAA initial focus areas: Harmful Algal Blooms, Hypoxia, Pathogens

Future planned focus area: Biodiversity

Ecological Forecasting Task Teams

• Four technical teams (HAB, Hypoxia, Pathogens, and Infrastructure) were established as part of the Roadmap governance structure.

• IOOS representatives:– Hypoxia – Becky Baltes– Infrastructure – Becky Baltes– HABs – Gabrielle Canonico– Pathogens (task team not yet active) – Gabrielle Canonico

• Initial action plans have been developed for each technical team, and inputs incorporated into a Roadmap action plan – currently in draft and internal.

• .

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A new approach for NOAA

We’ve tried this in the past – what’s new?•Prioritizing activities and needs across all of NOAA•Embracing the concept of “build once, use many times,” by developing a comprehensive national forecast capacity with a regional focus on delivery•Requirements for the Roadmap will be user-driven. •Recognized need for broader approaches to user engagement

Next steps with U.S. IOOS•Program office representatives are encouraging outreach to the RAs to assist understanding of stakeholder needs•Next step: a webinar for the RAs and the EF project lead

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For questions, feedback, and further discussion:

Gabrielle.Canonico@noaa.gov

301.427.2428

BACK-UP SLIDES

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Demo Project: Key Criteria

Demo projects should: •Integrate existing monitoring and data collection programs and methodologies with new approaches, •Include multiple resolutions, •Address sampling needs (automated processing, species identification, informatics), and •Meet data management requirements for metadata (FGDC), data standards (Darwin Core), and make data widely accessible.

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GEO BON Marine Deliverables

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Product Lead or contact person Scope

By end 2012

1. Global (CPR plankton) ocean Ecological Status Report Peter Burkill Open ocean, pelagic, Plankton

By October 2013

2. Assessment of population time-series datasets and monitoring stations

Anthony Richardson, Carlos Duarte

All

3. Gaps maps: where there is and is not ground-truth data for marine biodiversity over time; by country and/or sea or region; by ecology

Ward Appeltans (OBIS) All

4. Global bacterial richness assessment map and link to ecosystem function and services

Linda Amaral-Zettler Bacteria, Pelagic to 200m

5. Compendium of global environmental data layers (models) including future scenarios on a website

Henry Ruhl, Mark Costello, Pat Halpin, VLIZ, IODE, i-Marine

All, chlorophyll

6. Permanent ocean pelagic habitat features map Patricio Bernal, Peter Miller Pelagic, chlorophyll

7. Descriptions of ocean environmental and species data (and hotspots) that inform EBSA

Pat Halpin All

By October 2014

1. Plan for how to monitor ocean biodiversity Francisco Chavez, Ian Poiner, Henry Ruhl & WG

All

2. Future marine benthic biodiversity (spatial extent, biomass) Henry Ruhl Benthic fauna

3. Global map of marine ecosystems underpinned by environmental data using GEO Ecosystems approach, overlaid by MPA & biogeography

Mark Costello, Zeenatul Basher, VLIZ

All

4. World map of marine IAS occurrences and potential ranges Sergej Olenin Coastal IAS

5. Deep sea and open ocean biogeography Pedro Martinez Benthic fauna