Status of Biodiversity in the Baltic Sea

The brackish Baltic Sea hosts species of various origins and environmental tolerances. These immigrated to the sea 10,000 to 15,000 years ago or have been introduced to the area over the relatively recent history of the system. The Baltic Sea has only one known endemic species. While information on some abiotic parameters extends back as long as five centuries and first quantitative snapshot data on biota (on exploited fish populations) originate generally from the same time, international coordination of research began in the early twentieth century. Continuous, annual Baltic Sea-wide long-term datasets on several organism groups (plankton, benthos, fish) are generally available since the mid-1950s. Based on a variety of available data sources (published papers, reports, grey literature, unpublished data), the Baltic Sea, incl. Kattegat, hosts altogether at least 6,065 species, including at least 1,700 phytoplankton, 442 phytobenthos, at least 1,199 zooplankton, at least 569 meiozoobenthos, 1,476 macrozoobenthos, at least 380 vertebrate parasites, about 200 fish, 3 seal, and 83 bird species. In general, but not in all organism groups, high sub-regional total species richness is associated with elevated salinity. Although in comparison with fully marine areas the Baltic Sea supports fewer species, several facets of the system's diversity remain underexplored to this day, such as micro-organisms, foraminiferans, meiobenthos and parasites. In the future, climate change and its interactions with multiple anthropogenic forcings are likely to have major impacts on the Baltic biodiversity

Four Regional Marine Biodiversity Studies: Approaches and Contributions to Ecosystem-Based Management

We compare objectives and approaches of four regional studies of marine biodiversity: Gulf of Maine Area Census of Marine Life, Baltic Sea History of Marine Animal Populations, Great Barrier Reef Seabed Biodiversity Project, and Gulf of Mexico Biodiversity Project. Each program was designed as an "ecosystem" scale but was created independently and executed differently. Each lasted 8 to 10 years, including several years to refine program objectives, raise funding, and develop research networks. All resulted in improved baseline data and in new, or revised, data systems. Each contributed to the creation or evolution of interdisciplinary teams, and to regional, national, or international science-management linkages. To date, there have been differing extents of delivery and use of scientific information to and by management, with greatest integration by the program designed around specific management questions. We evaluate each research program's relative emphasis on three principal elements of biodiversity organization: composition, structure, and function. This approach is used to analyze existing ecosystem-wide biodiversity knowledge and to assess what is known and where gaps exist. In all four of these systems and studies, there is a relative paucity of investigation on functional elements of biodiversity, when compared with compositional and structural elements. This is symptomatic of the current state of the science. Substantial investment in understanding one or more biodiversity element(s) will allow issues to be addressed in a timely and more integrative fashion. Evaluating research needs and possible approaches across specific elements of biodiversity organization can facilitate planning of future studies and lead to more effective communication between scientists, managers, and stakeholders. Building a general approach that captures how various studies have focused on different biodiversity elements can also contribute to meta-analyses of worldwide experience in scientific research to support ecosystem-based management

The Census of Marine Life: Understanding Marine Biodiversity Past, Present and Future El Censo de la Vida Marina: Comprendiendo la Biodiversidad Marina - Pasada, Presente Y Futura

As an overview provided to the South American Workshop on Marine Biodiversity, this article presents the unique collaborative approach of the Census of Marine Life (CoML) to increasing our knowledge of the abundance, distribution and diversity of marine life throughout the world's oceans. Five elements comprise the foundation of the research program, providing information and methods useful for enhancing our understanding of marine biodiversity, both historically and today, and making sound predictions of biological diversity in the future. (1) A series of initial field projects will demonstrate techniques or technologies to be applied to future studies. Some of these will test new technologies in well-known areas of the ocean, but most will take place in poorly known regions where both new and existing methods of surveying marine life will yield new information. (2) The Ocean Biogeographic Information System will make CoML and independent biological data accessible by serving as a single entry point to a distributed federation of databases. It will also provide tools for all users to create visualizations of the distribution and abundance of organisms together with environmental parameters in three dimensions. (3) Through the History of Marine Animal Populations, the historical component of the CoML, biologists and marine historians will mine and analyze historical records dating before human impact on the ocean became significant. (4) Exploring and documenting the multitude of ocean life accessible today requires advanced technology, and the CoML is working with the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research Working Group on New Technologies for Observing Marine Life to move recent technological advances for observing marine life into the field. (5) The Future of Marine Animal Populations program will demonstrate and develop modeling approaches to hindcasting and forecasting changes in global biodiversity in response to fishing, pollution, and climate change.<br>Este artículo presenta el enfoque cooperativo único del Censo de la Vida Marina (CoML) para aumentar nuestros conocimientos de la abundancia, distribución y diversidad de la vida marina en los océanos del mundo como una vista general que fue presentado al Taller Sudamericano de Biodiversidad Marina. La base del programa de investigación está basada en cinco elementos, los cuales proveen información y metodologías que son útiles para mejorar nuestro entendimiento, histórico y actual, de la biodiversidad marina y predicen la biodiversidad a futuro de forma confiable. (1) Una serie de proyectos iniciales en terreno demostrarán las técnicas o tecnologías a aplicar en estudios futuros. Algunos de estos proyectos comprobarán nuevas tecnologías en áreas del océano que son bien conocidas, pero la mayoría de los proyectos serán realizados en regiones poco conocidas, donde la aplicación de metodologías para el estudio de la vida marina, tanto nuevas como existentes, rendirán nueva información. (2) El Sistema de Información Biogeográfico del Océano hará que los datos de CoML y otros datos independientes estén disponibles al funcionar como un punto de entrada único para una federación distribuida de bases de datos. Además, proveerá herramientas para que todo usuario pueda crear visualizaciones de la distribución y abundancia de los organismos en conjunto con los parámetros ambientales en tres dimensiones. (3) A través de la Historia de Poblaciones de Animales Marinos, el componente histórico del CoML, los biólogos e historiadores marinos extraerán y analizarán los registros históricos desde antes que el impacto humano en el océano fuera significante. (4) Hoy en día, la exploración y documentación de la multitud de vida oceánica accesible requiere tecnología avanzada. A tales fines, el CoML trabaja en conjunto con el Comité Científico del Grupo de Trabajo de la Investigación Oceánica en Tecnologías Nuevas para la Observación de la Vida Marina con el fin de colocar en terreno los avances tecnológicos en la observación de la vida marina. (5) El programa Poblaciones de Animales Marinos a futuro demostrará y desarrollará los enfoques de modelaje para revelar, hacia el pasado y el futuro, los cambios en la biodiversidad global como respuesta a la pesca, la contaminación y el cambio climático

(Table 3) Chemical analyses on bulk sediment of ODP Site 165-1002

Al/Ti and K/Al ratios in bulk sediment are used to interpret wind-blown and hemipelagic sources of deposition to a 578 kyr record in the Cariaco Basin, Venezuela (Ocean Drilling Program site 1002). Graphical and cross-spectral analyses indicate that these ratios vary extremely closely with planktonic foraminiferal d18O, with both ratios being significantly higher during interglacials and lower during glacials. K/Al indicates that during glacials the lower sea level that results in relative basin isolation increases the relative proportion of kaolinite derived from local rivers draining the relatively humid Venezuelan margin. Al/Ti decreases during glacials, suggesting greater proportions of eolian rutile sourced from the northern Sahara (due to increased wind strength and/or aridity). This interpretation is consistent with previous studies of the chemistry and mineralogy of Saharan-derived eolian matter in the Caribbean and with a mass balance determining the effect of changes in eolian rutile accumulation on the bulk sedimentary Al/Ti ratio

Climatically sensitive eolian and hemipelagic deposition in the Cariaco Basin, Venezuela, over the past 578,000 years: Results from Al/Ti and K/Al

Al/Ti and K/Al ratios in bulk sediment are used to interpret wind‐blown and hemipelagic sources of deposition to a 578 kyr record in the Cariaco Basin, Venezuela (Ocean Drilling Program site 1002). Graphical and cross‐spectral analyses indicate that these ratios vary extremely closely with planktonic foraminiferal δ18O, with both ratios being significantly higher during interglacials and lower during glacials. K/Al indicates that during glacials the lower sea level that results in relative basin isolation increases the relative proportion of kaolinite derived from local rivers draining the relatively humid Venezuelan margin. Al/Ti decreases during glacials, suggesting greater proportions of eolian rutile sourced from the northern Sahara (due to increased wind strength and/or aridity). This interpretation is consistent with previous studies of the chemistry and mineralogy of Saharan‐derived eolian matter in the Caribbean and with a mass balance determining the effect of changes in eolian rutile accumulation on the bulk sedimentary Al/Ti ratio

Oxygenation history of bottom waters in the Cariaco Basin, Venezuela, over the past 578,000 years: Results from redox‐sensitive metals (Mo, V, Mn, and Fe)

We present results from analyses of the redox‐sensitive metals Mo, V, Mn, and Fe in sediment recovered from the Cariaco Basin (Ocean Drilling Program Leg 165, site 1002). Results are interpreted in the context of previous studies of δ15N, export production (percent total organic carbon), eolian input, and hemipelagic deposition in the basin. Variations in redox metal ratios over the past ∼578,000 years were compared to variations in δ18O at Milankovitch frequencies and show a strong relationship between glacial‐interglacial cycles in sea level, governed by the shallow sills encircling Cariaco Basin, and bottom water oxygen content. During 100 kyr and 41 kyr cyclicity, enrichments of Mo and V occur during highly productive interglacials, indicating bottom water anoxia. During glacials, sediments are less depleted or enriched in Mn and Fe relative to the interglacials, reflecting oxic conditions. During 23 kyr and 19 kyr cyclicity, however, these redox metal patterns are not observed, indicating that the Cariaco Basin responds differently to the higher‐frequency climate changes