Transcript FPL201b - Fisheries Conservation Foundation

CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE
Biodiversity in a rapidly changing World
www.coml.org
Patricia Miloslavich
CoML Senior Scientist
Universidad Simón Bolívar, Venezuela
Census of Marine Life: mission
To describe and synthesize global
patterns of biodiversity, distribution,
and abundance across ocean
realms and across all taxa of
marine species, from microbes to
mammals.
To understand and predict the
effects of human impact on some
of those patterns.
Understanding past changes,
present status, and predicting
future scenarios.
Census of Marine Life: questions
Oceans Past
What did live
in the oceans?
History of
Marine Animal
Populations
(HMAP)
Oceans
Present
What does live
in the oceans?
Ocean Realm
Field Projects
Oceans Future
What will live
in the oceans?
Future of
Marine Animal
Populations
(FMAP)
Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS)
Web-based provider of global geo-referenced information on
marine species
Census of Marine Life: projects
*History
History of Marine Animal Populations
*Exploration
14 Field projects focused on the:
-Coastal Zone: rocky shores, seagrass beds, coral reefs, Gulf of Maine,
tracking of Pacific salmon
-Open Ocean: tracking of ocean pelagics, zooplancton, Mid Atlantic Ridge
-Deep Sea and geologically active ecosystems: continental margins,
seamounts, vents / chemosynthetic ecosystems, abyssal plains
-Ice oceans: the Arctic and the Antarctic
-Microscopic oceans
*Future
Future of Marine Animal Populations
*Integration
Database: Ocean Biogeographic Information System
Census of Marine Life: discoveries
What have we discovered? About 1500 publications since 2000
Project
# publications
Project
# publications
History
161
Exploration
98
182
Ice Oceans
Exploration
60
Exploration
Coastal Zone
Microbes
Exploration
382
Future
81
Open Ocean
Exploration
343
Integration
92
Deep Sea
OBIS
Census of Marine Life: discoveries
By 2010, CoML will relate:
Diversity as the total number of
species in the ocean (known and
unknown)
Distribution of animals in the ocean
and their changing ranges
Abundance of major species groups
and how they have changed over
time
Blind lobster Thaumastochelposis
COMARGE
Vestimentiferan tubeworms COMARGE
Census of Marine Life: discoveries
Diversity:
A complete list of named marine
species, likely to range between
230,000-250,000, as well as
fresh estimates of species yet to
be discovered
Web pages for the great majority
of the named species, compiled
in cooperation with the
Encyclopedia of Life
DNA identifiers (“barcodes”) for
many species (e.g. Zooplancton
from CMarZ ~n=7000 barcodes)
Examples of discovery: 5300 likely new species
New species from CoML (110 described)
Ceratoserolis – an isopod
from the Weddell Sea
Athorybia rosacea – a
siphonophore from the
Sargasso Sea
Promachoteuthis sloani – a squid
from the mid-Atlantic Ridge
Kiwa hirsuta – a crab
from around Easter
Island (nicknamed
the Yeti crab)
Palinurus barbarae –
a lobster from around
Madagascar
Census of Marine Life: discoveries
Distribution:
< 100 m
Range maps for known
marine species
Major global traffic patterns
of top marine species
100-1000 m
Global maps of species
richness, showing hotspots
and the extent of biodiversity
in the oceans
> 1000 m
FMAP: how water temperature might affect distribution patterns of tuna and
billfish species?
Temperature tolerances / species
Evaluate how global climate change could affect diversity and distribution of
these species
Census of Marine Life: discoveries
Abundance:
New estimates of biomass at
various levels in the food
chain and for selected
species
Estimates of changes in the
relative frequency of small
versus large animals
Estimates of abundance that
has been or might be lost
soon
“White Shark Café”:
Satellite tagging
Winter season
Numerous white sharks
travel long distances to
concentrate in the Pacific:
remain ~ 6 months
Males and females make frequent, repetitive dives to depths of 300 m.
Purpose of this behavior? area may have significance in either feeding or
reproduction.
Future research
Habitat utilization by 19 species
Census of Marine Life: highlights
Auction of bluefin tuna, Skagen, Denmark, 1946
Fishery collapsed in the mid-1960s due to increasing fishing and development
of more powerful fishing techniques.
Documentation of the historical abundance of this species, and its subsequent
collapse, will be used to inform future decisions.
Why:
Worries
Tuna abundance 1952-1976: Japanese fleet data
analyzed by CoML History & Futures teams
Myers & Worm, Nature 2003
Societal benefits:
Nomination of two Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems in the Southern Ocean
(Australia). Accepted by CCAMLR based on CAML research.
(Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources)
Why biodiversity? Ecosystem services
Palumbi et al. (2008): Diversity enhances
ecological processes, and these accelerate
ecosystem benefits
Biodiversity: How to increase knowledge?
Continuation of the CoML initiative with a new Program beyond 2010:
Discovery and exploration: overarching research should be predictive,
model-based, process-oriented and interdisciplinary.
Science plan elements:
•Technologies developed and utilized to their full capacity (observing and
monitoring, visualization and simulation)
•Go beyond observation and patterns – dynamic study (e.g., time-series),
test theories, understand processes maintaining and changing diversity,
distribution and abundance and connectivity between habitats and
hotspots
•Species-based models linked to environmental data to better understand
key and commercial species in ecosystems
Biodiversity: Increase knowledge
Science plan elements (cont.):
•Contribute to solving environmental and societal problems (e.g., global
change, marine ecosystem function, human impacts)
•Limited geographical focus areas for quantitative “censuses” – where
all/most of Census technologies and approaches can be employed in one
place or where a quantitative Census is urgent (e.g., areas facing the
greatest impacts from global change)
•Coordinated education, outreach & communications – public interest,
awareness and education
Census of Marine Life: organization
Projects: Past (historic) / Present (exploration) / Future
(modeling) / Integration (database)
International
Scientific
Steering
Committee
NRICs: 7 national (Australia, Canada, China, Korea, Indonesia,
Japan, United States) and 5 regional (Caribbean, Europe, Indian
Ocean, South America, Sub-Saharan Africa)
Synthesis Group: Provides guidelines for synthesis products
2008-2010
Education and Outreach: Liaison for education and outreach
activities at different levels
Mapping and Visualization: Facilitate the development of
mapping and visualization capabilities to the projects and NRICs
Science Council: To provide the scientific vision and outline a
research plan in marine biodiversity for beyond 2010
Census of Marine Life: questions
What are the global patterns of biodiversity across different taxa and
ocean realms?
Which are the major drivers explaining diversity patterns and
changes?
What is the total number of species in the ocean (known and an
estimate of the unknown)?
How has the abundance and distribution of major species groups
changed over time?
How is the movement of animals determined by behavior and the
environment?
What are in the long term, the range of ecosystem consequences of
fishing and other human impacts?