August 15, 2012

Newsletter: 

Brittle stars and squat lobsters may sound like tough yoga, but these ubiquitous seabed creatures are the basis of a global mapping initiative supported by the Census of Marine Life (CoML).

The new NERP Marine Biodiversity Hub project, led by Dr Tim O’Hara of Museum Victoria, shares Cosmos Prize funds awarded to CoML by the Commemorative Foundation for the International Garden and Greenery Exposition, Osaka, Japan. It will develop a global map of seabed fauna to guide deep-sea biodiversity management, and will enhance the uptake of CoML data through the Ocean Biogeographic Information System.

‘A sound understanding of the distribution of seafloor fauna is fundamental to identifying areas that require management and conservation, both in national jurisdictions and on the high seas, and to managing activities such as fishing, mining, and oil and gas exploration,’ Dr O'Hara says.

Dr O'Hara and his colleagues – from Australia, Sweden, Japan, Brazil, Spain and New Zealand – will scout collections from the South Atlantic, Western Africa, North Indian Ocean and the central Pacific regions to plug geographic gaps in brittle star and squat lobster datasets.

Their statistical analyses will build on earlier work for the CERF Marine Biodiversity Hub that developed habitat models for 267 species of brittle stars, mapped them across one-eighth of the globe, and identified a lateral pattern to their distribution in the Indo-Pacific region. A key aspect of this research has been the use of consistent verified taxonomy that allows far better analysis of distributions than has hitherto been possible with marine invertebrates. The team will also apply a new approach to identifying groups of species with similar environmental profiles and modelling their distribution, which was developed in CERF Hub research led by Piers Dunstan of CSIRO.

‘This global extension of Marine Biodiversity Hub research will improve the spatial management and conservation of oceans around the world,’ Dr O'Hara says. ‘It will frame the way we think in future about the spatial distribution of deep-sea fauna and support further biogeographic investigation, such as the examination of patterns of marine species richness and beta diversity across the globe.’

A workshop will be held to confirm the appropriate mapping methodology for the project after the International Deep-Sea Biology Symposium to be held in December 2012 at Wellington, New Zealand (organised by the International Network for Scientific Investigation of Deep-sea Ecosystems).

 


Image:

  • Locations of brittle star samples destined to contribute to the global mapping project.  Blue dots: continental shelves; red dots: bathyl; yellow dots: abyssal. Tim O'Hara, Museum Victoria.

Further reading:


Contact:
Dr Tim O'Hara, Museum Victoria