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

Ocean Planet: An ANZIC workshop report focused on future research challenges and opportunities for collaborative international scientific ocean drilling.

Executive summary: The ANZIC Ocean Planet Workshop (14-16 April 2019) and focused Working Group sessions represent a multidisciplinary community effort that defines scientific themes and challenges for the next phase of marine research using the capabilities of current and anticipated platforms of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP). Attended by 75 mostly early- and mid-career participants from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and the United States, the workshop featured nine keynote presentations. Working groups identified important themes and challenges that are fundamental to understanding the Earth system. This research relies upon ocean-going research platforms to recover geological, geobiological, and microbiological information preserved in sediment and rock beneath the seafloor and to monitor subseafloor environments through the global ocean. The workshop program was built around five scientific themes: Biosphere Frontiers, Earth Dynamics, Core to Crust, Global Climate, Natural Hazards, and Ocean Health through Time. Workshop sessions focused on these themes and developed 19 associated scientific challenges. Underpinning these are legacy samples and data, technology, engineering, education, public outreach, big data, and societal impact. Although all challenges are important, the asterisks that follow denote those of particular relevance and interest to ANZIC. Ocean Health through Time comprises the ocean’s response to natural perturbations in biogeochemical cycles*; the lateral and vertical influence of human disturbance on the ocean floor; and the drivers and proxies of evolution, extinction, and recovery of life*. Global Climate entails coupling between the climate system and the carbon cycle; the drivers, rates, and magnitudes of sea level change in a dynamic world*; the extremes, variations, drivers, and impacts of Earth’s hydrologic cycle*; and cryosphere dynamics*. Biosphere Frontiers addresses the habitable limits for life*; the composition, complexity, diversity, and mobility of subseafloor communities*; the sensitivity of ecosystems to environmental changes; and how the signatures of life are preserved through time and space*. Earth Dynamics: Core to Crust encompasses the controls on the lifecycle of ocean basins and continents*; how the core and mantle interact with Earth’s surface*; the rates, magnitudes, and pathways of physico-chemical transfer among the geosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere*; and the composition, structure, and dynamics of Earth’s upper mantle. Natural Hazards involves the mechanisms and periodicities of destructive earthquakes*; the impacts of submarine and coastal volcanism; the consequences of submarine slope failures on coastal communities and critical infrastructure*; and the magnitudes, frequencies, and impacts of natural disasters*. The ANZIC Ocean Planet Workshop will contribute to formulating the next science framework for scientific ocean drilling which in turn will guide the focused planning of specific drilling, logging, and monitoring projects.(1) Funded through ANZIC and the Australian Research Council Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF)scheme (LE160100067). The grant title is “Australian Membership of the International Ocean Discovery Program.” and the PI’s are: R. Arculus, D. Cohen, S. Gallagher, P. Vasconcelos, C. Elders, J. Foden, M. Coffin, O. Nebel, H. McGregor, C. Sloss, J. Webster, A. Kemp, S. George, M. Clennell, and A. Heap. (2) ANZIC is a consortium of 16 Australian and New Zealand universities and four national research institutions (CSIRO, Geoscience Australia, GNS Science and NIWA)