Conservation Of The Deep Sea

Conservation of the Deep Sea By Chris Tucker

The Largest Ecosystem on the Earth • Average depth of the ocean 4,267

meters • Deepest section 11,030 meters (Marianas Trench) • Oceans cover 71% of the Earth • Over 90% of this habitat is deep ocean (below the photic zone >1000 meters)

Amazing Biodiversity of Life

Biodiversity of Life • As many as 10 million species may occupy

deep sea • Thought to be as biodiverse as tropical rainforests • Many novel proteins found only in deep sea organisms • Archaeal and bacterial life have unprecedented diversity in the deep ocean having completely different life styles than their photophilic cousins

Three Main Deep Ocean Habitats • Benthos – Sediment Layer – Very diverse and important habitat

• Water Column

– Harsh, energy poor environment – Extremely cold (avg. 2°C)

• Hydrothermal Vents – –

Energy rich environment Forms very diverse endemic hot spot communities

Benthos • Very bottom of the ocean • 98% of ocean species live on or just above ocean floor • Important for decomposition and nitrogen cycle

– Deep ocean benthic archaea are thought to be largest contributor to nitrification in the world (important for generating nutrient rich waters for upwelling in coastal regions)

• Habitat also largest carbon sync in the world • Only ~2000 organisms formally documented at deep sea benthic locations

Threats to Benthic Habitats • Trawling

– Single largest threat to continued existence of the benthic environment at the bottom of the ocean – Nets are drug with metal weights attached – Weights dig up sediment and nets catch all the organisms – Results in a dead zone – Recovery extremely slow because of the life histories of these organisms

• Other threats

– Acidification, global warming, pollution, etc.

Water Column • Extremely hostile environment • Relies on other habitats’ detritus and • • • •

chemosynthesis for energy Evolution has shifted the paradigm of this habitat to small body sizes, large heads, and bioluminescence. Sit and wait techniques of hunting prevalent to reduce energy loss Huge expanse of habitat leads to very sparsely populated areas Some organisms from here feed in both the photic and aphotic zones to compensate for lack of food

Threats to the Water Column • Over Fishing

– Fishing vessels are continually moving to greater and greater depths – Organisms extremely scarce, any removal has huge repercussions – Causes increased stress to already stressed environment – Alters dynamics between communities – Recovery has been shown to extremely slow

• Other threats

– Global climate change, acidification, pollution

Hydrothermal Vents • Extremely high endemism

– 350 individual species of tube worms found on one hydrothermal vent – 30,000 species of microbes found at one site near Oregon – Atlantic Ocean hydrothermal vent communities have completely different assemblages of species than Pacific Ocean vents. – Separated from each other, no chance of recolonization

• Water reaches temperatures of 400°C • Archaea and bacteria form the basis of the food chain – Use Sulfur and other substances as electron donors

• Symbiotic relationships • Bioprospecting

Threats to Hydrothermal Vents • Trawling can cause devastation tearing vents apart

– Such high endemism leads to high extinction rates

• Increased carbon in atmosphere leads to

increased concentration of carbonic acid in the oceans causing lowering of pH

– Causes problems for some of these organisms as they are unable to lay down proper shells

• Most recently concern over undersea mining operations

– Looking for silver, gold and other valuable metals being expelled from the Earth’s mantle

Conservation Status • Most of the deep ocean is completely

unprotected from trawling • Thousands of miles of deep ocean habitat are already lost due to increased fishing demands • Some deep water along the coastal US and other countries’ zones are protected • Problems with jurisdiction

Why Should We Care? • Deep sea vitally important for entire ocean biodiversity

– Nutrient cycling and sequestration of carbon – Study conducted showed 25% loss of species could reduce ecosystem function by 50% and 50% loss of species could cause ecosystem collapse. – Lead to increased [CO2] in atmosphere and collapse of fishing industries

• Last frontier for ecological and biological research

– Almost completely unexplored, many new species yet to be discovered – Bioprospecting: Deep sea corals known to produce antibiotics, hydrothermal vent archaea produce heat and cold stable proteins, etc

Future Research and Protection • We need to better understand this

environment and how it affects the rest of the world – Organism’s needs? Habitat ranges? Extinction risks? Medically/Industrially useful compounds? – Need to perform wide scale surveys and just more study of the deep sea

What can you do? • Write letters like me to NOAA and Oregon

Ocean Policy Advisory Council (OPAC) urging them to protect deep sea locations • Get in contact with United Nations or other large scale organizations to implement global trawling and pollution restrictions • Limit your carbon footprint • Other ideas?