Managing Deep Sea And Open Ocean Ecosystems At Ocean Basin Scale Volume 2

Managing Deep-sea and Open Ocean Ecosystems at Ocean Basin Scale - Volume 2

This is the second issue of the Research Topic: Managing Deep-sea and Open Ocean Ecosystems at Ocean Basin Scale The original article collection can be found here: Managing Deep-sea Ecosystems at Ocean Basin Scale - Volume 1 Drawing upon work by the ATLAS (2016-20) and iAtlantic (2019-23) projects this second volume Research Topic explores recent findings and themes emerging as the marine research and management communities embrace assessments of ecosystem time series, connectivity, biogeography and function at ocean basin scale. Research and policy development at this scale has been driven by the realization that multiple interacting stressors created by climate change and anthropogenic impacts are rapidly altering marine ecosystems at the same time as governments seek to promote increased economic output from the marine environment. This broad context sets the considerable challenge and opportunity for marine science, industry, management and policy to shape the frameworks through which this sustainable economic ‘Blue Growth’ can be achieved. Studies built upon new discoveries from poorly-understood deep ocean ecosystems (e.g. coral, sponge, vent & chemosynthetic fauna) are highlighting the opportunities for the scientific community to create a new evidence base for long-term management. For example, advances in deep-sea exploration technology, oceanographic data availability, modeling resolution and a better understanding of larval biology and dispersal are fostering more interdisciplinary partnerships between physicists and biologists to model ecosystem connectivity. These connectivity analyses can now be ground-truthed by population genetic approaches built on datasets developed from next-generation sequencing technologies (e.g. RADseq, RADTag, 2bRAD) fostering new understanding of marine ecosystem connectivity.

Managing Deep-sea Ecosystems at Ocean Basin Scale, Volume 1

An ecosystem approach to management of seamounts in the Southern Indian Ocean: volume 2: anthropogenic threats to seamount ecosystems and biodiversity