Archambault, P.

Chavanich, S.

Costello, M.J.

Miloslavich, P.

Molodtsova, T.N.

Paterson, D.M.

Phang, S.-M.

Pierrot-Bults, A.

Song, S.

Soto, E.H.

Sousa Pinto, I.

Stenseth, N.C.

Thorndyke, M.

Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

University of St. Andrews - Pure

Organizing, supporting and linking the world marine biodiversity research community

Costello, M. J.

Paterson, D. M.

Phang, S. M.

Soto, E. H.

Stenseth, N. C.

Molodtsova, T. N.

Thorndyke, Michael C.,

Swepub

University of St Andrews Research Portal

St Andrews Research Repository

EDITORIALOrganizing, supporting and linking theworld marine biodiversity researchcommunitySubmitted 16 November 2014; accepted 20 November 2014How well-organized and informed is the marine biologyand biodiversity research community internationally?Understanding marine biodiversity and the functional attri-butes of diverse marine systems demands integration and col-laboration across disciplines. The recent 10-year Census ofMarine Life was a signiﬁcant advance, bringing together thou-sands of researchers to collaborate at unprecedented regionalto global scales (Costello et al., 2010). The Global OceanBiodiversity Initiative began in 2008 and focuses on theopen ocean and the deep sea. At the same time Europefunded the Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function(MarBEF) network of excellence, another large and inﬂuentialgrouping of marine scientists. Both organizations took part inthe ﬁrst World Conference of Marine Biodiversity, organizedby MarBEF, that established the WCMB series in 2008 andprovided marine researchers with a regular forum forexchange. A recurring theme in many of the keynote presen-tations at the 3rd WCMB held last October in Qingdao(Figure 1) was the value and insights from collaborative inter-national research. For example: Angelika Brandt describedexciting discoveries of deep-sea diversity and productivity inthe Kurile Kamchatka Trench by joint German and Russiancruises; Suchana Apple Chavanich reviewed the state ofmarine biodiversity in the Western Paciﬁc (SE Asia) followingdisturbances ranging from over-ﬁshing to tsunami events, andhow new international scientiﬁc programmes are leadingresearch in the region; Sun Song described the climatechange factors inﬂuencing the structure and function ofmarine ecosystems, using examples of jellyﬁsh blooms nearQingdao which may provide a template for how suchblooms occur elsewhere in the world; Graham Edgar summar-ized some of the analyses from a replicated global survey ofover 2400 sites through collaboration with citizen scientistsin the Reef Life Survey programme; Emmett Duffy introducedapproaches to develop methods for monitoring ecologicalinteractions that can be replicated globally; Mark Costello illu-strated insights from using global species databases to seetrends in taxonomic discovery and biogeographic patternsin species richness, including latitudinal gradients, involvingover 65 000 species; and John Gunn presented recent effortsto deﬁne ‘essential ocean variables’ that could be a basis formonitoring trends in the oceans at global scales, and theneed for a top-down approach to their deﬁnition. Evidentlythere is increasing research happening at global as well aslocal scales in marine biology.Following on from the Life in a Changing Ocean theme ofthe 3rd WCMB, the theme selected for the 4th WCMB isConnecting with the Living Ocean, underlining the need toreplace our current exploitation relationship with theocean’s living resources, with a sustainable connection basedon scientiﬁc knowledge. This theme will be particularlytopical as the 4th WCMB will be held 2 years before the endof the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity 2011–2020(Resolution 65/161), providing an opportunity to discuss the2020 Aichi Biodiversity Targets. With the unprecedentedchange in polar regions and locations near the CanadianArctic, polar biodiversity will be one of the theme sessions.A second major theme will be an innovative virtual laboratorysession in collaboration with Ocean Network Canada (ocean-networks.ca). We will connect participants attending the 4thWCMB with live imagery and data feeds from a network ofcabled seaﬂoor observatories located more than 3800 kmfrom Montreal and up to 300 km off the west coast ofCanada, at depths down to 2700 m. During the openingvirtual laboratory session, all conference participants will beinvited, along with media and the general public to showcasehow new technology is making the ocean accessible fromeverywhere, and to visually reinforce the connection ofmarine biodiversity and related ecosystem services to humansociety. The 4thWCMB (http://wcmb2018.org/) will highlightthe global importance of the ocean and its many forms of life.Together, they are an integral part of the support system thatsustains our planet. During the conference in Montreal, homeof the CBD Secretariat (co-chair of the organizing committee),it will explicitly encourage inter-disciplinary discussions andthe use of novel technologies and social media to involveresearchers, policy makers, NGOs, industry and students in‘Connecting with the Living Ocean’.From its beginning in 2008, the WCMB has provided aforum for scientists to meet and has demonstrated the solidfoundation of international collaboration and research net-works in marine biodiversity (Miloslavich & Klein, 2009).1Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, page 1 of 3. # Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 2015doi:10.1017/S0025315414001969This community has strengthened since then and may wish tomaintain better mechanisms of communication between meet-ings. The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission pro-vides a global forum for government marine science agencies,and the World Association of Marine Stations aims to do sofor institutes, but there is currently no active global forum formarine biodiversity scientists.The International Association for Biological Oceanography(IABO, http://www.iabo.org) provides a forum for individualmarine biologists as members. It was established in 1964under the aegis of the International Union of BiologicalSciences (IUBS) to promote the advancement of a uniﬁed bio-logical knowledge platform by providing opportunities forcommunication between marine biologists and other sciences.IABO is formally represented on the SCOR ExecutiveCommittee, and a member of IUBS and thus theInternational Council of Scientiﬁc Unions (ICSU). Its sisterorganization is the International Association of PhysicalOcean Sciences (IAPSO). IABO has an email list of over 800subscribers from over 40 countries called ‘MARINE-B’(MArine Research Information NEtwork on Biodiversity,https://listserv.heanet.ie/marine-b.html). However, untilnow, IABO’s membership constituted representatives nomi-nated by national academies. For some years this has provedunsatisfactory and IABO has had a low proﬁle amongst itscommunity.A variety of international initiatives need involvement ofmarine biodiversity scientists, including the InternationalPanel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), UNWorld Ocean Assessment, Group on Earth ObservationsBiodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON), FutureEarth (of the International Council of Scientiﬁc Unions), theCircumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program’s MarineConservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna Working Group,and Convention on Biological Diversity. IABO may be ableto assist such initiatives in ﬁnding suitable marine biodiversityexpertise, and aid its members in becoming involved in suchhigh-proﬁle activities. This action is especially important ininitiatives that are not speciﬁcally marine, as for exampleIPBES, where there is a severe shortage of participationfrom marine biodiversity scientists in the structure and inthe working groups. The pro-active identiﬁcation and contact-ing of the relevant experts can be an important contributionfrom an international organization such as IABO. The estab-lishment of the World Association of Marine Stations in 2010(WAMS; http://www.marsnetwork.org/world-association-marine-stations-wams) will also provide a focal point formarine biodiversity scientists since among its planned activ-ities is to coordinate training and education in biodiversitycourses located at marine stations around the world. Inaddition it plans to ‘host’ a data portal for data on marineecosystem biodiversity indicators, time series and monitoringdata.At the recent World Conference on Marine BiodiversityIABO proposed to become a more inclusive network byexpanding its Executive Committee and contacting delegatesto engage them in further communication and activities.These activities would include developing an email list ofinterested scientists, working to support the next WCMB,endorsing scientiﬁc meetings and training workshops,aiding international initiatives in ﬁnding suitable representa-tives from the marine biodiversity community, ensuringclose engagement with SCOR (including review of SCORWorking Group proposals) and IUBS, creating a list ofrelated national and regional organizations, exploring waysto raise support for coordination, and reviewing the govern-ance and statutes of IABO. For example, through IABO,SCOR provided travel grants to 10 delegates from develop-ing countries to attend the conference. With committedmembers, IABO may be able to facilitate more support formarine biologists from developing countries to participatein international meetings and programmes. A particularfocus of IUBS at present is to counteract the fragmentationof biology into specializations that are unaware of what theyhave in common. IABO could promote closer communica-tion between sub-disciplines. Suggestions from individualsand projects that would be able to contribute to IABO activ-ities are invited.The WCMB series was ﬁrst established by the late CarloHeip as part of the MarBEF project (Herman, 2013). Carlowas an inspiring leader for marine biodiversity science andwas responsible for very important initiatives, includingMarBEF, that brought together the European scientists inthis ﬁeld. He also had a key role in initiatives at the globallevel as the Census of Marine Life, GEO BON andDiversitas. In his memory, IABO will establish a Carlo HeipMemorial Medal. The recipient will be a keynote speaker atthe next WCMB. A call for nominations will be issued in2015, and the ﬁrst medal will be delivered at the nextWCMB 2018 in Montreal in Canada.Fig. 1. Delegates at the 3rd World conference on Marine Biodiversity in Qingdao, China, 14 October 2014.2 editorialREFERENCESCostelloM.J.,CollM.,DanovaroR.,HalpinP.,OjaveerH. andMiloslavichP. (2010) A census of marine biodiversity knowledge, resources andfuture challenges. PLoS ONE 5(8), e12110. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0012110.Herman P. (2013) Obituary: Carlo Heip (1945–2013). Scientia Marina(Barc.) 77, 201–202. hdl.handle.net/10.3989/scimar.03840.05A.andMiloslavich P. and Klein E. (2009) The World Conference on MarineBiodiversity: current global trends in marine biodiversity research.Marine Biodiversity 39, 147–152. doi: 10.1007/s12526-009-0011-x.Correspondence should be addressed to:M. ThorndykeRoyal Swedish Academy of Sciences & Go¨teborg University,Go¨teborg, Swedenemail: Mike.Thorndyke@bioenv.gu.seMark J. Costello1Philippe Archambault2Suchana Chavanich3Patricia Miloslavich4DavidM. Paterson5Siew-Moi Phang6Isabel Sousa Pinto7Annelies Pierrot-Bults8Sun Song9Eulogio H. Soto10Nils Chr. Stenseth11Tina N. Molodtsova12Michael Thorndyke131Institute of Marine Science, University of Auckland,Auckland 1142, New Zealand, 2Institut des sciences de la mer(ISMER), Universite´ du Que´bec a` Rimouski, Rimouski,Que´bec, Canada, 3Department of Marine Science, Faculty ofScience, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand,4Departamento de Estudios Ambientales, Universidad Simo´nBolı´var, Caracas 1080, Venezuela, 5School of Biology, ScottishOceans Institute, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY168LB, UK, 6Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences (IOES),University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 7Centrefor Marine and Environmental Research, University of Porto,R. dos Bragas 289, Porto, Portugal, 8Institute for Biodiversityand Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED) University of Amsterdam,P.O. Box 94248, 1090 GE Amsterdam, the Netherlands,9Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7Nanhai Road, Qingdao 266071, China, 10Facultad de Cienciasdel Mar y de Recursos Naturales, Universidad de Valparaiso,Av. Borgon˜o 16344 Ren˜aca, Vin˜a del Mar, Chile,11Department of Biosciences, Centre for Ecological andEvolutionary Synthesis (CEES), University of Oslo, PO Box1066, Blindern, 0316 Oslo, Norway, 12P.P. Shirshov Instituteof Oceanology RAS, 36 Nakhimovsky prt, 117977 Moscow,Russia, 13Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences & Go¨teborgUniversity, Go¨teborg, Swedeneditorial 3

Mark J. Costello

Philippe Archambault

Suchana Chavanich

Patricia Miloslavich

David M. Paterson

Siew-Moi Phang

Isabel Sousa Pinto

Annelies Pierrot-Bults

Sun Song

Eulogio H. Soto

Nils Chr. Stenseth

Tina N. Molodtsova

Michael Thorndyke

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https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315414001969

Organizing, supporting and linking the world marine biodiversity research community

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