Download Life in a Changing Ocean - Census of Marine Life Secretariat

Discussion Draft for Aberdeen meeting, September 2011
Life in a Changing Ocean
Providing tools for sustainable ocean use, from baselines to prediction
Life in a Changing Ocean is an international scientific program to advance and expand marine
biodiversity discovery and knowledge to support healthy and sustainable ocean ecosystems. Its research is
designed to establish global baselines, define the role of biodiversity in ecosystem functions, and
understand the impact of environmental and human-derived changes on biodiversity and ocean
ecosystems.
Critical scientific data are lacking for decisions about how, when, and where to regulate ocean use. This
data gap comes at a time when the ocean, and Earth’s ecosystems as a whole, faces unprecedented
pressure from competing human uses and exploitation and changing environmental conditions. Similarly,
the need to monitor the status of marine ecosystems and predict and mitigate change has never been
greater. Human activities now affect even the deepest and most remote parts of the world’s oceans, where
we have the least information about the organisms that live there and their role.
After a decade of research and discovery, the Census of Marine Life released in 2010 the first global
baseline of knowledge of life in the oceans. This program aggregated new and existing biodiversity data,
demonstrated technologies and approaches to surveying and monitoring marine life, and built an
international community of researchers eager to take steps to address scientific needs for sustainable
oceans.
Life in a Changing Ocean will improve understanding of marine biodiversity, its importance to ocean
ecosystems, and the impacts of natural and human pressures on ocean life. Each of the following
initiatives will address basic scientific research questions and use the results to provide policy makers and
other ocean stakeholders with needed data, insights, tools, and indicators that can be used to better
regulate and manage ocean resources.
Establishing Current Baselines
To effectively manage ocean use, managers require information on marine species diversity, distribution,
and abundance, and how species interact with each other and their environments. Life in a Changing
Ocean will enhance our global baseline of information on marine populations by filling spatial and
temporal gaps through exploration and systematic observation of biodiversity. Baselines will provide us
with needed information on the status of biodiversity, as well as a basis for measuring future change.
Through novel analysis and visualization, this scientific data will support a broad range of user needs,
spanning ocean spatial planning through sustainable ocean use.
Defining Ecosystem Functions and Services
Marine organisms sustain ocean and human health through decomposition of organic material, nutrient
regeneration, and filtering of contaminants, roles collectively known as ecosystem functions. These
functions also directly and indirectly support human needs, such as the provision of food, production of
oil and gas and mineral resources, climate regulation, disease prevention, and an array of recreational and
cultural support, collectively known as ecosystem services, and which play an important role in the global
economy. While we know that marine organisms are responsible for these ecosystem services, the exact
roles of individual species and biodiversity are not understood. Life in a Changing Ocean will help define
how species support ocean health and the many critical services the ocean provides, while considering the
economics of ecosystem services. The goal of this new research is to predict “which,” “when,” and
“where” biodiversity loss, from genes to species to ecosystems, compromises ocean functions and
services and ultimately the planet as a whole.
Discussion Draft for Aberdeen meeting, September 2011
Understanding and Predicting Change
The collective impacts of diverse human activities simultaneously threaten many ocean regions. Recent
research suggests that human pressures have a greater impact when they act in concert, rather than
individually. Predicting when and where change might occur and which changes will cause the most
profound impacts requires greater understanding of the interplay between dynamic ocean conditions and
species composition. This new capacity depends on research from biodiversity observations and efforts
to enhance our global baseline, as well as significant clarification of ecosystem function and biodiversity
relationships.
Theme leadership
Establishing Current Baselines
George Shillinger, Center for Ocean Solutions, USA
Philippe Archambault, Université du Québec-Rimouski, Canada
Defining Ecosystem Functions and Services
Functions: Roberto Danovaro, Polytechnic University of Marche, Italy
Services: Masahiro Nakaoka, Hokkaido University, Japan
Understanding and Predicting Change
Understanding: Henn Ojaveer, University of Tartu, Estonia
Understanding: Lynne Shannon, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Predicting: Linda Amaral-Zettler, Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, United States
Predicting: Richard Brinkman, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Australia
Candidate questions from the Prospectus (June 2011 version) themes mapped to
new overarching components:
Establishing Current Baselines
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How do species diversity, distribution and abundance vary spatially, from local to regional to
global scales?
Can we use knowledge from well-known regions to predict species distributions, abundances,
biodiversity patterns and hotspots in less known areas?
How do dispersal and movements of species, individuals, or genes connect populations and ocean
locations?
How do species small and large (viruses to whales) interact, within and across ecosystems from
the shallow ocean to the deep?
Defining Ecosystem Functions and Services
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How is biodiversity linked to ecosystem services?
What is the functional role of rare (less abundant) species, as opposed to dominant species?
How do species small and large interact within and across ecosystems from the shallow ocean to
the deep in delivery of ecosystem functioning?
How does the function of a species change across its life cycle and, likewise, how does this
influence the production of goods and services?
Are hotspots of biodiversity also hotspots of ecosystem services?
Discussion Draft for Aberdeen meeting, September 2011
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At what point do changes in biodiversity create tipping points in ecosystem functioning in marine
ecosystems?
What is the global (economic and intangible) value of various habitat types, including deep-sea
ecosystems, and to what extent does the value depend on biodiversity?
Which aspects of ecosystems functions and services are most vulnerable, and which can be
restored (and how) when lost?
Understanding and Predicting Change
Understanding Change
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How do species diversity, distribution and abundance vary temporally?
Where, when, and how do human activities affect marine life? How have marine ecosystems
changed since first human impacts? How do the effects of anthropogenic impact vary among
different populations, species, assemblages, and ecosystems?
What are the nature and scale of processes/mechanisms behind the reorganization of marine foodwebs caused by, and causing, biodiversity changes and driven by human pressures on marine
ecosystems?
Can we utilize data from the Census of Marine Life and Life in a Changing Ocean to evaluate
individual and cumulative anthropogenic impacts on marine ecosystems and their services?
How do the number and identity of species in an environment influence its capacity to resist or
recover from natural and human disturbances, from tsunamis to pollution?
Why do some management strategies succeed, but others fail to recover depleted populations and
modified ecosystems? How do recovery strategies vary for different species and ecosystems, and
are there any generalities?
Predicting Change
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What level of monitoring is needed to provide sufficient information on the status (functions and
services) of marine biodiversity and ecosystems and what new tools are needed?
To what extent can we erode the standing stocks of a species before collapsing the functions they
provide?
Can we test and apply innovative predictive models and decision support tools used to reconcile
demands for development with ecological principles?
How does biodiversity respond to global changes such as climate warming, altered ocean
chemistry, and a wide range of other human influences, and how do these affect the ecosystem
services it provides?
Can we identify organisms that can serve as early warning systems of change (“canaries”) in an
ecosystem that, if accurately identified, might allow time for mitigating actions to be taken?