CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE Biodiversity in a rapidly changing World

Patricia MiloslavichCoML Senior Scientist

Universidad Simón Bolívar, Venezuela

www.coml.org

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: mission

Census of Marine Life: questions

Oceans PastWhat did live in

the oceans?

History of Marine Animal

Populations (HMAP)

Oceans Present

What does live in the oceans?

Ocean Realm Field Projects

Oceans FutureWhat 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

*IntegrationDatabase: Ocean Biogeographic Information System

What have we discovered? About 1500 publications since 2000

Census of Marine Life: discoveries

Project # publications Project # publications

History 161 Exploration

Ice Oceans

98

Exploration

Coastal Zone

182 Exploration

Microbes

60

Exploration

Open Ocean

382 Future 81

Exploration

Deep Sea

343 Integration

OBIS

92

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

Census of Marine Life: discoveries

Vestimentiferan tubeworms COMARGE

Blind lobster Thaumastochelposis COMARGE

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)

Census of Marine Life: discoveries

Examples of discovery: 5300 likely new speciesNew species from CoML (110 described)

Athorybia rosacea – a siphonophore from the Sargasso Sea

Palinurus barbarae – a lobster from around Madagascar

Promachoteuthis sloani – a squid from the mid-Atlantic Ridge

Ceratoserolis – an isopod from the Weddell Sea

Kiwa hirsuta – a crab from around Easter Island (nicknamed the Yeti crab)

Distribution:

Range maps for known marine species

Major global traffic patterns of top marine species

Global maps of species richness, showing hotspots and the extent of biodiversity in the oceans

Census of Marine Life: discoveries

< 100 m

100-1000 m

> 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

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

Census of Marine Life: discoveries

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

“White Shark Café”:

Satellite taggingWinter seasonNumerous white sharks travel long distances to concentrate in the Pacific: remain ~ 6 months

Habitat utilization by 19 species

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.

Census of Marine Life: highlights

Myers & Worm, Nature 2003

Tuna abundance 1952-1976: Japanese fleet dataanalyzed by CoML History & Futures teams

Why:Worries

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

International Scientific Steering Committee

Census of Marine Life: organization

Projects: Past (historic) / Present (exploration) / Future (modeling) / Integration (database)

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

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?

Census of Marine Life: questions