Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning EU Network of Excellence Sustainable development, global change and ecosystems Contract no. 505446 MarBEF

Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning EU Network of ExcellenceSustainable development, global change and ecosystems

Contract no. 505446

MarBEF NETWORKMarine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning

"Biological diversity" means the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.

Convention on Biological Diversity

Genes Species Ecosystems

Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem FunctioningEU Network of Excellence


Contract no. 505446

”A challenge and a huge opportunity”

• Initiated February 2004 as new instrument of FP6

• First EU NoE (test case)

• Intellectual and organisational challenge

• New way of thinking

• over 400 scientists

• 56 European institutes

• 17 countries

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Contract no. 505446

Objectives of MarBEF Network

• Create virtual European institute with long-term research marine biodiversity programme

• Integrate and co-ordinate research from wide variety of disciplines in marine science

• Provide training, exchange, outreach, links to industry and the public at large

• Support international legal obligations of the EU and member states


Contract no. 505446

• Marine ecosystems of huge economic, ecological and aesthetic importance to Europe

• Biodiversity threatened and changing by overexploitation, habitat destruction, pollution, introduction of species and global climate change. The consequences of biodiversity loss are unknown

• In order to protect, restore and use living marine resources in a sustainable manner we require interdisciplinary scientific understanding and to gain support from society we need to spread this knowledge.

The need for MarBEF

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Contract no. 505446

• To stimulate exploration and new discoveries

• To increase awareness of life in the seas, and its aesthetic, ecological and economic importance among the general public

• To create a forum for industry and stakeholders and invite SMEs to join

• To spread excellence by training young people and involving new countries

• To initiate and participate in public debate on sustainable use of marine ecosystems

Relevance of MarBEF to society

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Contract no. 505446

• To unite eminent marine scientists in Europe, thereby providing expertise and resources to effectively address the biggest and most topical science questions in-marine ecology-biogeochemistry-fisheries biology-taxonomy -socio-economics

Relevance of MarBEF to science

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Contract no. 505446

MarBEF research programmes

Responsive mode programme

Smaller scale projects that are relevant to MarBEF’s objectives and fill any emerging gapsFunding decided on a case by case basis; first round decided Sept 2004

Strategic core programme

Major joint activities, engaging a large proportion of MarBEF members (tasks are listed in the description of work)

MarBEF research


Contract no. 505446

• Theme 1: Global Patterns of Marine Biodiversity Across Ecosystems

• Theme 2: Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning

• Theme 3: The socio-economic importance of marine biodiversity

MarBEF Strategic Core Research Themes


Contract no. 505446

• To understand how marine biodiversity varies across spatial and temporal scales, and between levels of biological organisation, in order to develop methods to detect significant change in ecosystems

• To integrate research and data from network members on large-scale, long-term patterns in marine biodiversity

• To improve our understanding of the nature and relative importance of the processes (both natural and anthropogenic) that determine variation in marine biodiversity

Theme 1: Global Patterns of Marine Biodiversity Across Ecosystems: Objectives


Contract no. 505446

• To generate, compare and integrate theory, models and tests of the relationship between marine biodiversity (assessed at different levels of organization: genetic, traditional species, and functional groups) and ecosystem function

• To determine the rates of selected processes for a variety of ecosystems and across seasons to provide comparative assessments of the variability of functional measures across Europe

• To compare the activities of marine systems with terrestrial systems and examine the validity of transposing terrestrial paradigms in ecological theory to marine ecology

Theme 2: Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning:Objectives


Contract no. 505446

• To understand the economic, social and cultural value of marine biodiversity and hence develop the research base required to support the sustainable management of marine biodiversity

• To enable collaboration between natural scientists, economists, and sociologists and socio-anthropologists to investigate the total economic and social value of European marine biodiversity, including use and non-use values

• To provide a framework and context to integrate natural science with the needs of society and development of management policies

Theme 3: The socio-economic importance of marine biodiversity: Objectives


Contract no. 505446

• Training

• Outreach

• Resource accessibility

• Data management

• Quality assurance

• Taxonomic clearing system

• Management

Integrating and spreading of excellence activities


Contract no. 505446

Training

• 5 postdoctoral fellowships• Doctoral students

-international supervision panel-research in minimum of two MARBEF partner countries-access to expertise and resources of the network

• Training of technicians-cross training in novel methods, sampling procedures and experimental

protocols -standardisation workshops as part of Strategic Research Programmes

• Courses -Specialist training courses to meet existing demands of network e.g.

taxonomy, systematics, cytometry -Pilot schemes to set example to network members for future

topics/formats• Long-term strategy

-Match demand for future training topics and formats with proposals from MARBEF


Contract no. 505446

• Strengthen Communication – Within the network, to the general scientific community and the

public at large– Web-based fora, mailing lists, bulletin boards, and e-conferences – Develop high-profile image of network and co-ordinate all

publication activities

• Disseminate information – 6-monthly newsletters – Full-colour brochures and exhibition stands

• Educate– Review school curricula in Europe to integrate marine biodiversity – Review and build on existing outreach material In Europe – Produce full-colur posters, fact and study sheets for schools,

aquaria, museums – Roadshows

Outreach


Contract no. 505446

• Short-term sabbatical scheme – Senior scientists funded on 2 week to 3 month exchanges to

European institutes for training, research and proposal writing

• Virtual Centre of Excellence – Novel Approach to strengthen existing and forge new links – Research vessels, field stations, databases, specialist libraries

and reference collections made available to members of the network at reasonable cost

– Initially used mainly for training & workshops, eventually extended to publications & journal

Resource accessibility


Contract no. 505446

• Visibility -web site, www.marbef.org, detailing activities, partners and results

• Integration -liaison with OBIS, ENBI, GBIF and Species2000 for alignments of

philosophy and IT approaches

• Exchange -easy and free exchange of data between partners to enhance

the integration of information

• Utilisation -data use encouraged by development of appropriate tools,

standards, and protocols and by providing added value to existing data

• Management -integrated European approach to future data management and

storage by developing common tools

Data management


Contract no. 505446

Construct QA Framework -to construct and apply a QA framework to ensure that all

activities (e.g. fieldwork, laboratory analyses) conform with the highest standards for the conduct of marine research in European waters

Provide Advice -to produce guidelines for the conduct of new sampling &

analytical approaches accompanied by guidance on quality assurance of the end-products

Build links -to liase with national and international recognised QA

organisations with a common interest e.g. EU, ICES, OSPAR, HELCOM, ISO and CEN

Quality assurance


Contract no. 505446

• Fast-track clearing system-system to address taxonomic bottleneck and to quicken

processes of identification of specimens and description of new species

• Feedback service -to provide specialist feedback service required for updating

species inventory lists at sites selected for ecological analysis of spatial and temporal biodiversity under MarBEF research theme 1

• Middle agent

-to match requests for taxonomic work to available expertise across the MarBEF community

• Focal point -to provide an important focal point between taxonomic and ecological researchers within MarBEF

Taxonomic clearing house


Contract no. 505446

• Management office– daily management– financial affairs – reporting within the Network

• Board of governance– represents section of the societal organisations,– advises General Co-ordinator and Steering Committee on major

developments and key issues in politics and society – meet once per year

• Scientific Steering committee– steers NoE and advises General Co-ordinator and the Executive

Committee in their tasks– approves all major plans– two meetings annually

• Executive committee– manages and guides the NoE on integration, spreading excellence and

research

Management


Contract no. 505446

MarBEF Network


Contract no. 505446

In its most simple form, biodiversity is 'Life on Earth'. Marine biodiversity is therefore all ‘life in the seas and oceans’. It refers to a variety of life forms including plants, animals and micro organisms, the genes that they contain, the ecosystems they form and habitats they occur in

Convention on Biological Diversity: ‘Biodiversity is the fruit of billions of years of evolution, shaped by natural processes and, increasingly, by the influence of humans. It forms the web of life of which we are an integral part and upon which we so fully depend’

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Contract no. 505446

• Genetic diversity

• Species diversity

• Ecosystem diversity

What is biodiversity?


Contract no. 505446

• Genetic diversity is the variation in the genetic composition of individuals in a population, community or species

• Evolves as a result of many different processes: e.g. chromosomal/sequence mutation, and physical or behavioural isolation of populations

• Allows individuals to adapt to different conditions. Thus, high genetic diversity increases ability of populations and species to survive major changes in their environment (e.g. climate change)

Genetic diversity


Contract no. 505446

• Species diversity is the variety of species (group of interbreeding organisms) in a particular habitat or ecosystem

• About 1.75 million species described. Total number estimated at approx 12.5 million, but could be anything from 5-100 million. There may be 10 million undescribed species in the deep sea alone!

• The diversity of the smaller organisms (e.g. phytoplankton, the plants of sea) is less well known than the larger organisms (e.g. mammals such as dolphins and whales)

Species diversity


Contract no. 505446

• Ecosystem diversity describes the variation in all living and non-living things in a particular geographic or ecological region. Ecosystems comprise unique combinations of animals, plants, micro-organisms and physical characteristics that define a location.

• Novel marine ecosystems continue to be discovered. In the ocean, hydrothermal vents, extremely distinct habitats with many endemic species, were discovered less than 25 years ago!

Ecosystem diversity


Contract no. 505446

• Ecosystem functioning is a term that comprises both the ecological and evolutionary processes (e.g. ) and the individual components (e.g. herbivores, predators) within a system

• Many scientists believe that ecosystems with a high variety in processes and components are more resilient to change than ecosystems with fewer functional roles

Ecosystem Functioning


Contract no. 505446

• Oceans occupy 70% of earth• Over 50% of humans live in the coastal zone and draw 90%

of our marine-living resources from this region The marine environment provides us with• Natural beauty (used for recreation)• Goods (food, medicine, drugs, energy)• Services (e.g. moderation of climate and weather

extremes; processing of waste)• Employment (e.g. fisheries, tourism)• Sense of Stewardship/Cultural identity • Education on evolution, ecology

Why is marine biodiversity so important ?


Contract no. 505446

Geographic• Atlantic Ocean• Arctic Ocean • Baltic Sea • Mediterranean Sea• North Sea• Black Sea

Marine Biodiversity in Europe


Contract no. 505446

• Second largest of earth's oceans extending from the Arctic to sub tropical latitudes

• Productivity high on continental shelves and marine ridges and biodiversity high, but several highly exploited commercial species seriously threatened

• Main threats to biodiversity are• overexploitation of fisheries• pollution• lack of information & monitoring in

open waters

Atlantic OceanP

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Contract no. 505446

• Almost a closed basin; connected with Atlantic through Strait of Gibraltar

• High biodiversity, low productivity• 67% of species specific to the region

and holds 6% of the world's fauna in less than 1% of the total ocean areas

• Main threats to biodiversity are• introduction of alien species• eutrophication• pollution• overexploitation of fisheries

Mediterranean Sea

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Contract no. 505446

• Almost completely enclosed with harsh climate

• Relatively low productivity with most fauna of Atlantic origin

• Norwegian and Barents Seas unique with wide diversity of pelagic and benthic organisms

• Primary threats to biodiversity are • extensive fishing• potential effects of global warming• accumulation of pollution by atmospheric

and oceanic circulation • exploration for and development of oil

and gas reserves

Arctic OceanP

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Contract no. 505446

• Relatively shallow, young ecosystem formed some 20,000 years ago

• Highly productive with vast array of plankton, fish, seabirds and benthic communities.

• Higher biodiversity in deeper northern regions than shallow southern regions

• Main threats to biodiversity are:• overexploitation of fisheries • resource exploitation (oil, gas and

aggregate extraction)• nutrient input from coastal regions• recreational use

• habitat loss.

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Contract no. 505446

• Largest brackish sea in the world with limited exchange to more open seas

• Unusual flora and fauna with co-existing freshwater, brackish and and saltwater species e.g. freshwater Phragmites spp. and marine Fucus spp.

• Few species, but many individuals of each species

• Major threats to biodiversity are:• introduction of alien species• overexploitation of fisheries• eutrophication• pollution from contaminants and oil

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Contract no. 505446

• Enclosed coastal basin with low oxygen levels and relatively low salinity

• Relatively low species diversity• Historically, one of most productive

regions in the world, but environmental degradation severe

• Major threats to biodiversity are:• introduction of invasive species• overexploitation of resources• chemical contamination, especially

from oil products• eutrophication• pollution from industrial, agricultural

and domestic sources

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Contract no. 505446

Ecosystems • Deep sea • Cold coral reefs • Seamounts • Pelagic ecosystems • Coastal waters • Intertidal ecosystems • Estuaries

Marine Biodiversity in Europe


Contract no. 505446

• Largely undiscovered ecosystem covering 62% of the globe

• May contain up to 10 million unknown species

• Home to many specialised communities with unique species

• Main threats to biodiversity are: • unsustainable fisheries • habitat destruction by trawling and

resource exploration • lack of knowledge on ecosystems

Deep Sea Ecosystems

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Contract no. 505446

• Seamounts

• Cold coral reefs

• Whale carcasses

• Hydrothermal vents

• Cold seep communities

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Contract no. 505446

• Shallow open seas including entire depth of water column

• Environment patchy in resources with upwellings, fronts, and gyres providing sufficient nutrients for high biological production

• Wide diversity of plankton supports fish and invertebrate species, which feed large predatory fish and mammals

• Main threats to biodiversity are: • commercial fishing • disease• eutrophication• chemical contamination• habitat invasion and damage

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Contract no. 505446

• Harsh environments subject to large influxes of freshwater at low tide and more saline conditions at high tide

• Comprise many unique ecosystems such as salt marshes, seagrass beds and mudflats

• Important nursery grounds for larval and juvenile stages, and have important recreational and aesthetic value

• Main threats to biodiversity are:• commerical fisheries• pollution • introduction of alien species• construction (harbours, marinas)• land claim

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Contract no. 505446

• Area of the shore that is alternately exposed during low tides and submerged during high tides

• Characterised by rocky shores, sandy beaches and muddy shores, depending on the amount and strength of wave action

• Provides important habitat for diversity of bird species, both residential and migratory

• Main threats to biodiversity are:• human developments• recreational use • pollution from nearby high population

densities

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Contract no. 505446

• Marine benthic and pelagic ecosystems that have substantial influence from the land

• Europe coastline long (89 000 km) with at least 200 million Europeans living nearby

• High productivity, being home to major fisheries, but generally low species diversity.

• Major threats to biodiversity are: • commerical fisheries• coastal development• poor water quality resulting from

pollution

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Contract no. 505446

One of the greatest environmental concerns of the last century!

•Human population explosion

•Realisation of value of biodiversity and consequences of biodiversity loss

•Extinction is irreversible

Biodiversity loss


Contract no. 505446

• Habitat destruction and fragmentation

• Overexploitation of resources

• Pollution

• Introduced species

• Climate change

Threats to marine biodiversity


Contract no. 505446

•Reduced capacity of ecosystems to respond to disaster

•Accelerated global climate change

•Economic loss

•Social/political instability

•Very real threat to our own existence!

Consequences of biodiversityloss


Contract no. 505446

•A Mass Extinction is an event in which very large numbers of species die out in a relatively short period of time

•An estimated 34,000 plant and 5,200 animal species - including one in eight of the world's bird species – currently face extinction

•Five geologic mass extinctions have occurred in the Earth’s history. These were driven by geological and astronomical processes and took millions of years to take their toll on biodiversity

•Current extinction rates are 50-100 times the natural rate, the effects are measurable over mere decades and the causes are attributable to a single species – humans

A mass extinction?


Contract no. 505446

How can we preventbiodiversity loss?

•Research

•Legislation

•Education/Awareness

•Sustainable use of biodiversity

•Integration/Co-ordination


Contract no. 505446

•1972 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Regional & international agreements to tackle biodiversity issues (e.g. protecting wetlands and regulating trade in endangered species); helped to slow the destruction but have not reversed it

•1987 World Commission on Environment & Development

"Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable-to ensure that it meets needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs"

•1992 Rio Earth Summit-Convention on Biological Diversity

Agreement to conserve biological diversity, to use its components in a sustainable way, and to ensure fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the use of genetic resources. Ratified by over 175 countries

International biodiversitylegislation


Contract no. 505446

•A network of 56 excellent marine biodiversity research and educational institutes in Europe

•A novel approach to integrating marine biodiversity and ecosystem research from a wide variety of disciplines

•Provides training, exchange, outreach, and links to industry and the public at large

•Supports international legal obligations of the EU and member states

MarBEF-a novel integratedapproach

Documents

Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning EU Network of Excellence Sustainable development, global change and ecosystems Contract no. 505446 MarBEF