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Abundant and diverse ecosystem found in area targeted for deep-sea mining

A species of cnidarian in the genus Relicanthus with 8-foot long tentacles attached to a dead sponge stalk on a nodule in the eastern Clarion-Clipperton Zone. These are closely related to anemones. Credit: Diva Amon and Craig Smith, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.

In a study published in Scientific Reports, scientists discovered impressive abundance and diversity among the creatures living on the seafloor in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ)--an area in the equatorial Pacific Ocean being targeted for deep-sea mining. The study, lead authored by Diva Amon, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), found that more than half of the species they collected were new to science, reiterating how little is known about life on the seafloor in this region.

"We found that this exploration claim area harbors one of the most diverse communities of megafauna [animals over 2 cm in size] to be recorded at abyssal depths in the deep sea," said Amon.

The deep sea is where the next frontier of mining will take place. A combination of biological, chemical and geological processes has led to the formation of high concentrations of polymetallic "manganese" nodules on the deep seafloor in the CCZ--an area nearly the size of the contiguous United States. These nodules are potentially valuable sources of copper, nickel, cobalt and manganese, among other metals, which has led to an interest in mining this region. All of the potential polymetallic-nodule exploration contracts that have been granted in the Pacific are in this region, according to the International Seabed Authority.

This study, part of the ABYSSLINE Project, was the first to characterize the abundance and diversity of seafloor-dwelling animals, a key component of deep-sea ecosystems, in an exploration claim area leased to UK Seabed Resources Ltd (UK-1) in the eastern portion of the CCZ.

The fish Bathysaurus mollis and brittle star seen in a field of polymetallic nodules in the eastern Clarion-Clipperton Zone. Credit: Diva Amon and Craig Smith, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.

Using a remotely operated vehicle, the research team surveyed the seafloor at four sites within the UK-1 exploration contract area and at a site east of the UK-1 area to estimate abundance and diversity of the ecosystems.

The preliminary data from these surveys showed that more animals live on the seafloor in areas with higher nodule abundance. Further, the majority of the megafaunal diversity also appears to be dependent on the polymetallic nodules themselves, and thus are likely to be negatively affected by mining impacts.

"The biggest surprises of this study were the high diversity, the large numbers of new species and the fact that more than half of the species seen rely on the nodules--the very part of the habitat that will be removed during the mining process," said Amon.

Exploitation plans are pushing ahead even though knowledge of the seafloor ecosystem in this region is still limited.

"In order to more effectively manage the area and mitigate the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining in the CCZ and within the UK-1 contract area, baseline knowledge of the abundance, diversity, and species ranges of megafauna--a key component of this ecosystem--is essential," said Craig Smith, oceanography professor at UHM SOEST and ABYSSLINE lead investigator.

An Amperima holothurian or sea cucumber seen on a bed of polymetallic nodules in the eastern Clarion-Clipperton Zone. Several corals, a sponge and a brittle star can also be seen in the image. Credit: Diva Amon and Craig Smith, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.

The ABYSSLINE team will be publishing many more papers about the seafloor biology of the CCZ, with forthcoming papers from UHM scientists including an atlas of megafauna from the UK-1 exploration contract area, a study documenting extremely high diversity in the community of macrofaunal community (crustaceans, worms, mollusks and other invertebrates between 2 and 0.3 cm in size) in the UK-1 exploration claim area.

Citation: Diva J. Amon, Amanda F. Ziegler, Thomas G. Dahlgren, Adrian G. Glover, Aurélie Goineau, Andrew J. Gooday, Helena Wiklund & Craig R. Smith; Insights into the abundance and diversity of abyssal megafauna in a polymetallic-nodule region in the eastern Clarion-Clipperton Zone; Scientific Reports 6, Article number: 30492 (29 July 2016); DOI:10.1038/srep30492.

This is part of the ABYSSLINE Project, an international program led by Craig Smith at UHM with investigators from six countries, which is conducting benthic biological baseline surveys for the UK Seabed Resources Ltd. exploration contract area (UK-1) in the CCZ in accordance with the ISA stipulation that prior to exploitation, a benthic biological baseline study must be undertaken for each exploration contract area. This work was funded by UK Seabed Resources Ltd. and the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Contact: Marcie Grabowski
University of Hawaii at Manoa

 

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International search reveals genetic evidence for new species of beaked whale

DNA analysis identifies 8 known specimens of elusive North Pacific species.

The only skeleton of the new species in the United States hangs on display in Unalaska High School, in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. The whale was found dead in 2004, and recent tests on stored tissue samples revealed that it is one of the few known specimens of the new species. Credit: Unalaska City School District.

An international team of scientists who searched out specimens from museums and remote Arctic islands has identified a rare new species of beaked whale that ranges from northern Japan across the Pacific Ocean to Alaska's Aleutian Islands.

Japanese whalers call the enigmatic black whales "karasu," the Japanese word for raven. The new species is darker in color and about two-thirds the size of the more common Baird's beaked whale, but so scarce that even whalers rarely see them.

A DNA analysis of 178 beaked whales from around the Pacific Rim found eight known examples of the new species, the scientists reported today in the journal Marine Mammal Science. The eight included specimens from the Smithsonian Institution and Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, a skeleton on display in an Alaska high school, and another that puzzled researchers trying to identify it when it washed up on an island in the Bering Sea.

"The challenge in documenting the species was simply locating enough specimens to provide convincing evidence," said Phillip Morin, a research molecular biologist at NOAA Fisheries' Southwest Fisheries Science Center, and lead author of the new study. "Clearly this species is very rare, and reminds us how much we have to learn about the ocean and even some of its largest inhabitants."

An earlier Japanese study had suggested that the black whales, sometimes considered a dwarf form of Baird's beaked whale, might represent a new species. That sent Morin in search of additional genetic samples to definitively answer the question and better understand the range of the elusive species.

He turned first to the Southwest Fisheries Science Center's marine mammal tissue collection, the largest in the world, and found two samples that appeared to represent a new species. One came from a whale found in Alaska's Aleutian Islands in 2004, whose skeleton now hangs on display at Unalaska High School. Then he and his colleagues pursued additional DNA samples from museums, research institutions and Japanese markets where whale meat is sold.

In 2014 scientists found a dead beaked whale on St. George Island, one of the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea. When it did not match any known species, they sent samples to Morin. Genetic tests later showed it to be the new species.

In 2004 Reid Brewer of the University of Alaska Southeast measured an unusual beaked whale that turned up dead in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. A tissue sample from the carcass later showed that the whale was one of the newly identified species. Credit: Don Graves.

"We knew it was not any whale we knew from our area," said Michelle Ridgway, a marine ecologist with Oceanus Alaska who documented the whale in the Pribilofs and is a coauthor of the new research.

DNA analysis shows that the new species and Baird's beaked whale are each more closely related to Arnoux's beaked whale from the Southern Hemisphere than they are to each other. The genetic differences and smaller size indicate that the black whale is distinctive enough to represent a new species, the scientists found. Official recognition and naming of the species awaits a formal review of the animal's characteristics and differences from other beaked whales.

Beaked whales remain among the least known whales in the ocean, with several species identified only in the past few decades. They have beaks like dolphins, diving thousands of feet into deep underwater canyons and basins to feed on squid and bottom fish. Japan hunts Baird's beaked whales, the largest of the beaked whales at about 35 feet long.

"Japanese whalers have known about the black form but didn't consider it a separate species," said Erich Hoyt, a research fellow with Whale and Dolphin Conservation in the United Kingdom and co-director of the Russian Cetacean Habitat Project. He is a coauthor of the new research, and his research group contributed genetic samples from beaked whales in the Russian Far East.

"The implication of a new species of beaked whale is that we need to reconsider management of both species to be sure they're sufficiently protected, considering how rare the new one appears to be," Hoyt said. "Discovering a new species of whale in 2016 is exciting but it also reveals how little we know and how much more work we have to do to truly understand these species."

The eight known examples of the new species cluster around northern Japan and the Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea. That suggests that the species has a smaller range than Baird's beaked whale, which occurs throughout the North Pacific from Japan to Baja California.

Scars from the cookie-cutter-like bites of tropical sharks suggest that, like other beaked whales, the species may migrate to tropical waters.

"As much as we know about the genetic heritage of this animal, we still do not know very much about the animal itself," Morin said. "We can draw some indications from what we know about other beaked whales in terms of its range and behavior, but we still have many more questions than answers."

Citation: Morin, P. A., Scott Baker, C., Brewer, R. S., Burdin, A. M., Dalebout, M. L., Dines, J. P., Fedutin, I., Filatova, O., Hoyt, E., Jung, J.-L., Lauf, M., Potter, C. W., Richard, G., Ridgway, M., Robertson, K. M. and Wade, P. R. (2016), Genetic structure of the beaked whale genus Berardius in the North Pacific, with genetic evidence for a new species. Marine Mammal Science. doi: 10.1111/mms.12345.

Contact: Michael Milstein
NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region

 

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How trees talk to each other

Photo by maf04 (CC 2.0)

"A forest is much more than what you see," says ecologist Suzanne Simard. Her 30 years of research in Canadian forests have led to an astounding discovery — trees talk, often and over vast distances. Learn more about the harmonious yet complicated social lives of trees and prepare to see the natural world with new eyes.

A professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia's Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences in Vancouver, Suzanne Simard studies the surprising and delicate complexity in nature. Her main focus is on the below-ground fungal networks that connect trees and facilitate underground inter-tree communication and interaction. Her team's analysis revealed that the fungi networks move water, carbon and nutrients such as nitrogen between and among trees as well as across species. The research has demonstrated that these complex, symbiotic networks in our forests -- at the hub of which stand what she calls the "mother trees" -- mimic our own neural and social networks. This groundbreaking work on symbiotic plant communication has far-reaching implications in both the forestry and agricultural industries, in particular concerning sustainable stewardship of forests and the plant’s resistance to pathogens. She works primarily in forests, but also grasslands, wetlands, tundra and alpine ecosystems.

 

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Why do consumers participate in 'green' programs?

From recycling to reusing hotel towels, consumers who participate in a company's "green" program are more satisfied with its service, finds a new study co-led by a Michigan State University researcher.

Doing good makes customers feel good, and that "warm glow" shapes opinion, said Tomas Hult, Byington Endowed Chair and professor of marketing in the Eli Broad College of Business. But it gets more complicated when companies throw incentives into the mix.

"Companies are increasingly adopting sustainability initiatives and ultimately these 'green' programs are intended to be good for the environment and also increase customers' satisfaction," said Hult, who is director of MSU's International Business Center. "Our research helps strike the right balance between incentivizing customers to participate in green programs and focusing on the bottom-line performance of the company."

Hult and researchers from Cornell University and Florida State University conducted four studies in three service settings: restaurants, hotels and online retailing. They found the types of rewards offered by companies to participate in sustainability programs could affect satisfaction.

The researchers tested two types of incentives: those that benefit solely the consumer (i.e. loyalty points) and those that benefit another organization (i.e. charitable donations).

For green program participants, rewards that benefit another organization created the highest rate of satisfaction about the business.

And for those who chose not to participate in a green program, self-benefiting rewards cast doubt about the motive of a program. That scenario offers nonparticipants an opportunity to rationalize their decision to not participate, and lack of guilt translates into feelings of satisfaction about the business, Hult said.

People will interpret incentives in whatever way best suits their egos, he said. So for both groups to be happiest, a company should allow customers to choose between a reward that benefits themselves or another organization.

Many managers, particularly in the hospitality industry, are reluctant to introduce sustainability initiatives that might negatively influence the guest experience, Hult said. But this research, one of the first of its kind, provides managers with guidance on how to best design such programs as well as best practices for "green marketing."

Citation: Michael Giebelhausen, HaeEun Helen Chun, J. Joseph Cronin and G. Tomas M. Hult; Adjusting the Warm-Glow Thermostat: How Incentivizing Participation in Voluntary Green Programs Moderates Their Impact on Service Satisfaction; Journal of Marketing, 2016; 80 (4): 56 DOI: 10.1509/jm.14.0497.

Contact: Kristen Parker
Michigan State University

 

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Scorpionfish too deep for SCUBA divers caught by submersible turns out to be a new species

Smithsonian Institution's DROP project describes a tenth new fish species near the Caribbean island of Curaçao.

Live specimen of the new scorpionfish (Scorpaenodes barrybrowni). Credit: Barry Brown (CC 4.0)

Discovered by scientists using the manned submersible Curasub in the deep-reef waters of the Caribbean island of Curaçao, a new scorpionfish species is the latest one captured with the help of the sub's two robotic arms.

Found by Dr. Carole C. Baldwin, lead scientist of the Smithsonian's Deep Reef Observation Project (DROP) and based at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, Ms. Diane Pitassy, also affiliated with the Smithsonian in Washington, and Dr. Ross Robertson, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama, the new species is described in the open access journal ZooKeys. In their paper, the authors also discuss the depth distributions and relationships of western Atlantic members of its genus.

The new scorpionfish is distinguished from other similar scorpionfishes by a number of physical traits, including its distinctive bright orange-red colors, more elongated fin rays, and DNA. Inhabiting depths between 95 m and 160 m, it is also the deepest-living member of its genus in the western Atlantic Ocean.

The new scorpionfish is officially called Scorpaenodes barrybrowni in honor of Substation Curaçao and freelance photographer Barry Brown, who "has patiently, diligently, and expertly taken photographs of hundreds of fishes and invertebrates captured alive by DROP Investigators," explain the authors. "He has generously shared his photographs, and they have enhanced numerous scientific and educational publications. It is an honor to recognize Barry Brown's contributions to science through his photography."

"Fish specimens that are brought up from deep reefs only occasionally surface alive," explains Baldwin. When DROP scientists return to the surface in the Curasub with a living fish, Barry races it to his aquarium and begins to work his photographic magic."

Live specimen of the new scorpionfish western Atlantic congener Scorpaenodes tredecimspinosus. Credit: Barry Brown (CC 4.0)

The new fish already has a common name as well. For the public, it will be known as the Stellate Scorpionfish, deriving from its star-shaped yellowish spots and the radiating pigment markings accentuating its eyes.

The manned submersible Curasub reaches depths up to 300 m and is used by DROP and other marine scientists to search for tropical marine fishes and invertebrates, while conventional SCUBA divers are unable to reach deeper than 30 - 50 metres below the water surface.

"The 50-300 m tropical ocean zone is poorly studied - too deep for conventional SCUBA and too shallow to be of much interest to really deep-diving submersibles," notes Baldwin. "The Curasub is providing scientists with the technology needed to remedy this gap in our knowledge of Caribbean reef biodiversity."

The sub relies on two hydraulic arms, one equipped with a suction hose, and the other designed to immobilize the fish with an anaesthetizing chemical. Once anesthetized, the individuals are collected with the suction hose, which empties into a vented plexiglass cylinder attached to the outside of the sub.

Live specimen of the new scorpionfish western Atlantic congener Scorpaenodes caribbaeus. Credit: Brian Mayes (CC 4.0)

In January, the team of Drs. Luke Tornabene, Robertson and Baldwin discovered the Godzilla goby. About a year ago, Baldwin and Robertson stumbled upon another new goby species, which amazed the scientists with its love for the depths so much that they named it after the Curasub. In 2013, the authors recognized the DROP research program in the name of a beautiful new species of small blenny fish, Haptoclinus dropi.

"Stay tuned for more new discoveries," suggests Baldwin. "We have only scratched the surface of our understanding of the biodiversity of tropical deep reefs."

Citation: Baldwin CC, Pitassy DE and Robertson DR (2016); A new deep-reef scorpionfish (Teleostei, Scorpaenidae, Scorpaenodes) from the southern Caribbean with comments on depth distributions and relationships of western Atlantic members of the genus; ZooKeys 606: 141-158; DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.606.8590.

Contact: Carole C. Baldwin
Smisthonian

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Ocean acidification - the limits of adaptation

World's longest laboratory experiment with the single-celled calcifying alga Emiliania huxleyi reveals that evolutionary adaptation to acidification is restricted.

Photo credit: USFWS/Jerry Reid

In an unprecedented evolutionary experiment, scientists from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel and the Thünen Institute of Fisheries Ecology demonstrated that the most important single-celled calcifying alga of world's oceans, Emiliania huxleyi, is only able to adapt to ocean acidification to a certain extent. The proof of principle for evolutionary adaptation was provided by GEOMAR scientists already in 2012. But four years after the start of the experiment, the growth rates of the calcifying alga have only made little progress. "Emiliania huxleyi's potential for adaptation is still lower than initially expected. Even after four years of evolution, the alga could not compensate completely for the negative impact on its growth", explains Dr. Lothar Schlüter, author of the study and a former doctoral student at GEOMAR. The researchers present their results, which were obtained in the frameworks of the Cluster of Excellence "The Future Ocean" and the German research network BIOACID (Biological Impacts of Ocean Acidification) in the journal Science Advances.

The study is based on a single cell of the calcifying alga from Raunefjord in Norway. Since Emiliania huxleyi cells divide about once a day at the laboratory, a large number of genetically identical starting cultures were obtained from the isolate. For the study, five cultures were kept under a constant temperature and three different concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2): a control value with today's conditions, the conditions that could be reached until the end of this century according to the most critical calculations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and the highest possible degree of acidification.

After four years, or 2100 algae generations later, the scientists concluded: The cells of adapted populations divided considerably faster than the non-adjusted when exposed to ocean acidification. But their fitness had improved only marginally. After one year, growth rates relative to the control cultures had increased slightly, but later hardly any increase could be detected -- which is a contrast to many other evolution experiments. "Apparently, the adaptation has its limits, and the negative impact on the growth rate can not be compensated completely by evolution", says Schlüter.

Single-celled calcifying algae such as Emiliania huxleyi store carbon dioxide in their calcium carbonate platelets (Coccoliths). Functioning as a ballast, these platelets are important for the carbon transport to the deep ocean -- and thus for the ability of the oceans to take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and mitigate the effects of climate change. "Three years after the start of the experiment, the production of calcium carbonate platelets of cultures adapted to higher CO2 concentrations was lower than in non-adjusted", stresses Prof. Thorsten Reusch, Head of Marine Ecology at GEOMAR and coordinator of the study. "We were astonished that this effect did not occur at the beginning of the experiment -- because if ocean acidification impairs biological calcification, it should have been reduced directly." In contrast to observations of the first year of the experiment published in 2012, the researchers now observe that evolution amplifies the negative effects on the microalgae's calcification.

However, cultures that had adapted to ocean acidification, have not entirely their ability to form calcium carbonate platelets permanently. When exposed to today's CO2 concentrations, the production was just as high as in present calcifying algae. "The algae reduce the calcification only when it is costly for them - namely under ocean acidification", says Professor Reusch. Currently, investigations are carried out to better understand the cell-biological mechanisms that regulate calcification. "The evolutionary response of phytoplankton organisms is far more complex than originally assumed. Laboratory experiments with individual species help us get a better idea of it. Only with this knowledge, we can estimate how global change will alter the carbon cycle in the future."

Citations:

• Schlüter L, Lohbeck KT, Gröger JP, Riebesell U, Reusch TBH (2016); Long-term dynamics of adaptive evolution in a globally important phytoplankton species to ocean acidification; Science Advances in 2016; 2: e1501660; DOI: 10.1126 / sciadv.150166.
• Lohbeck KT, Riebesell U, Reusch TBH (2012); Adaptive evolution of a key phytoplankton species to ocean acidification; Nature Geoscience 5: 346-351; DOI: 10.1038 / ngeo1441.

Contact: Maike Nicolai
Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR)

 

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Policy makers and ecologists must develop a more constructive dialogue to save the planet

An international consensus demands human impacts on the environment "sustain", "maintain", "conserve", "protect", "safeguard", and "secure" it, keeping it within "safe ecological limits". But, a new Trinity College Dublin-led study that assembled an international team of environmental scientists shows that policy makers have little idea what these terms mean or how to connect them to a wealth of ecological data and ideas.

Progress on protecting our planet requires us to dispel this confusion, and the researchers have produced a framework to do just that.

Ian Donohue, assistant professor at Trinity, and leader of this study, said: "Human actions challenge nature in many ways. We lump these into a grab-bag of ideas we call ecological stability. We want nature to be stable in some sense of that word. But what do we know about stability from our theories and experiments? And how can that knowledge help policy makers? We offer some solutions to these important questions."

In the paper published today in the journal Ecology Letters, Donohue and an international team of colleagues outline exactly what policy makers, ecological experimenters, and theoreticians all think about this term "stability."

The answer is very different things -- and there's a real problem with this lack of agreement. Professor Donohue said: "We need to be talking about the same things, using the same language, so that what ecologists know can sensibly inform the choices of policy makers."

"Consider this example" says Stuart Pimm, Doris Duke Chair of Conservation at Duke University, in the USA, and one of the paper's co-authors. "There's a lot of discussion about "tipping points" -- the idea that there are boundaries beyond which, if we push nature it will collapse. There may be places where this happens, but while nature may work this way sometimes, there is no compelling argument that it must always."

Why should this matter? Pimm responds: "if politicians think there are tipping points and the world hasn't collapsed thus far, then it encourages policies that continue to degrade our world. If there isn't a catastrophe so far, why worry? The more likely alternative is not a sudden change, but a progressive loss of fisheries, croplands, damage to all our natural worlds. A wrong view of nature can have disastrous consequences."

So what can we do? Professor Donohue and his colleagues believe that the solution is to recognise that nature responds to human pressures in complex ways, even as policy makers often demand simple solutions. Acknowledging the need for better communication on the science-policy interface is essential.

Policy makers sometimes have designed crisp, clearly defined targets, such as several of those for the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services -- a body broadly based on the more familiar IPCC that deals with climate change. "That's good. The issue is when they have not. Our work identifies those discrepancies," argues Donohue. "And we suggest solutions."

Unfortunately, most of the policies examined by Professor Donohue and his colleagues contain terms that are ambiguous, or have multiple definitions that mean different things to different people. The recently announced United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are no exception.

Professor Donohue added: "This ambiguity is a huge problem as it means that we cannot measure progress, or indeed a lack of progress, towards achieving policy goals. This paralyses policy. Ecologists, policymakers and practitioners urgently need to develop a shared language in order to be more effective in managing the world's ecosystems -- our life-support system."

Citation: Donohue, I., Hillebrand, H., Montoya, J. M., Petchey, O. L., Pimm, S. L., Fowler, M. S., Healy, K., Jackson, A. L., Lurgi, M., McClean, D., O'Connor, N. E., O'Gorman and E. J. and Yang, Q.; Navigating the complexity of ecological stability; Ecology Letters (19 July 2016); DOI:10.1111/ele.12648.

Contact: Thomas Deane
Trinity College Dublin

 

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Closing parts of the ocean to fishing not enough to protect marine ecosystems

Crab boat from the North Frisian Islands working in the North Sea. Photo by Jom (CC2.0)

A University of Washington fisheries professor argues this week that saving biodiversity in the world's oceans requires more than banning fishing with marine protected areas, or oceanic wilderness areas. In a three-page editorial published this week in the journal Nature, he argues that this increasingly popular conservation strategy is not as effective as properly managing recreational and commercial fisheries. "There's this idea that the only way you can protect the ocean is by permanently closing parts of the ocean to fishing, with no-take areas," said Ray Hilborn, a professor in the UW's School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. "You protect biodiversity better by regulating fisheries over the country's entire economic zone."

Marine protected areas have grown in popularity since the early 2000s. Recent examples include an area twice the size of Texas in the central Pacific established in 2014 by President Barack Obama, and a proposal to close 25 percent of the Seychelles' exclusive economic zone, an island nation off Africa's east coast.

Several environmental organizations have set a longer-term goal of making 30 percent of the world's oceans into no-take marine protected areas by the year 2030. But Hilborn believes this is not the best way to protect global marine ecosystems.

"If the problem is overfishing or bycatch, then fisheries management is much more effective than establishing MPAs because you regulate the catch over the entire economic zone," Hilborn said. "I don't see how anyone can defend MPAs as a better method than fisheries management, except in places where you just can't do management."

In countries with functioning fisheries management systems, Hilborn believes, conservationists and the fishing industry should work together on large-scale protection of marine biodiversity and sensitive marine habitats.

The article argues that many countries have managed to stabilize or increase fisheries since the 1970s, bringing them to above the blue line of a sustainable fishery.

For example, changes in fishing practices that allowed "dolphin-safe tuna" have cut dolphin deaths in the eastern Pacific by almost 100 times between 1986 and 1998, the article notes.

"You could never have reduced dolphin deaths that much by simply closing part of the ocean to fishing," Hilborn said.

He argues that working with the fishing industry to modify what types of gear are used and when and where different species are allowed to be caught can make more of a difference than establishing new marine protected areas.

"In Alaska, for example, more than 50 percent of the continental shelf waters are closed to specific kinds of fishing gear and the entire shelf is covered by species-specific catch restrictions," he writes. "This is much more protection than could be offered by turning 30 percent of the region into MPAs."

Hilborn said he worries that marine protected areas are being created without specific objectives, lacking input from affected communities, and without analysis of the larger-scale effects. Closing one area to fishing will just shift the pressure to a different area, Hilborn said, or cause people to seek other, more environmentally harmful sources of food.

In early September, world leaders will meet in Hawaii for the high-profile World Conservation Congress, held every four years by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Hilborn hopes his article will prompt discussion about priorities for preserving the health of marine environments.

"The modern conservation movement is places too much emphasis on protected areas," Hilborn said. "The focus needs to shift. We can better protect biodiversity, and still provide food, by looking to fisheries management as the first defense."

Citation: Policy: Marine biodiversity needs more than protection; Nature (13 July 2016).

Contact: Hannah Hickey
University of Washington

 

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Reduce its ability to sequester atmospheric CO2.

Coccolith morphology is shown as acidification and warming increases in the culture experiment. Credit: UAB

Two new studies recently published in Limnology & Oceanography and Biogeosciences report that ocean warming may exacerbate the impacts of ocean acidification on calcareous phytoplankton, and its evolutionary success and physiological performance will be hampered.

The oceans have absorbed more than a quarter of the human-made carbon dioxide (CO2) in the last century, changing the chemistry of the ocean and resulting in 'ocean acidification'. A rise in average temperatures is also warming the sea surface. The risks posed by warming and acidification are expected to become more acute in the next decades, as CO2 emissions into the atmosphere are increasing.

Coccolithophores is a very abundant calcifying phytoplankton group which plays a major role in the biogeochemical cycle and in the regulation of the global climate. These tiny algae which measure less than one hundredth of a millimeter "form the basis of the aquatic trophic chain, and through calcification and photosynthesis coccolithophores regulate atmospheric and oceanic CO2 levels", says Dr Patrizia Ziveri, ICREA researcher at ICTA-UAB and author of the study. The effects of acidification - and in particular warming - are rarely considered for the organism itself, and there is very little knowledge on how warming and acidification combined may affect the physiological performance or evolutionary success of coccolithophores.

Therefore, it was the aim of the team to investigate not only how temperature affects the impact of acidification on the cocolithophores, but also on the sinking rate and coccolithophores morphogenesis. A culture experiment was conducted on Mediterranean Sea and North Pacific Ocean strains of Emiliania huxleyi, the most abundant coccolitophore species.

Using scanning electron microscope (SEM) imaging, the researchers show in their study that there will be an increase in the percentage of malformed and incomplete coccoliths in a warmer and more acidified ocean. This will hamper the evolutionary success of these calcifiers and their role in regulating atmospheric carbon.

Since coccolithophores need to stay in the photic zone of the oceans, their sinking velocity affects their survival rate. Nothing is known about the response of coccolithophores to acidification and warming in terms of sinking rate, because it had been impossible to estimate sinking rate in the framework of a typical laboratory experiment. The team used a novel approach to calculate sinking rate from cell-architecture and showed that an increase in temperature will lead to an increase in sinking rate. Hence, the faster sinking for the organism itself has an impact on future global carbon cycling and therewith on atmospheric levels of CO2 and global climate.

Citation: Rosas-Navarro, A., Langer, G., and Ziveri, P.; Temperature affects the morphology and calcification of Emiliania huxleyi strains; Biogeosciences, 13, 2913-2926 (18 January 2016), DOI:10.5194/bg-13-2913-2016.

Contact: Patrizia Ziveri
Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona

 

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Decoding the complete genome of the Mediterranean's most emblematic tree: The olive

A team of scientists from three Spanish centers has sequenced, for the first time ever, the complete genome of the olive tree.

A sequenced olive tree (Olea europaea). Photo by Manuel Sánchez, RJB-CSIC.

The olive was one of the first trees to be domesticated in the history of mankind, probably some 6,000 years ago. A Mediterranean emblem par excellence, it is of vital importance to the Spanish and other regional economies (Italy, Greece and Portugal). In fact, Spain is the leading producer of olive oil in the world. Every year, nearly three million tons of oil are produced, for local consumption and export. Spain produces one third of this total.

Nonetheless, up to now, the genome of the olive tree were unknown. The genome regulate such factors as the differences among varieties, sizes and flavor of the olives, why the trees live so long or the reasons for their adaptation to dryland farming.

Now a team of researchers from the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, the Real Jardin Botánico (CSIC-RJB) and the Centro Nacional de Análisis Genómico (CNAG-CRG), has brought new insight to the genetic puzzle of the olive tree, by sequencing the complete genome of this species for the first time ever. The results of this work, fully funded by Banco Santander, have been published this week in the groundbreaking Open Access and Open Data journal GigaScience. The article will pave the way to new research work that will help olive trees in their development and protecting them from infections now causing major damage, such as the attacks of bacteria (Xilella fastidiosa) and fungi (Verticillium dhailae).

"Without a doubt, it is an emblematic tree, and it is very difficult to improve plant breeding, as you have to wait at least 12 years to see what morphological characteristics it will have, and whether it is advisable to cross-breed," says principal author of this paper Toni Gabaldón, ICREA research professor and head of the comparative genomics laboratory at the CRG. "Knowing the genetic information of the olive tree will let us contribute to the improvement of oil and olive production, of major relevance to the Spanish economy," he adds.

Private funding to support public science

The story of this project begins with a presentation, a coincidence and a challenge. Four years ago, Gabaldón worked with Pablo Vargas, a CSIC researcher at the Real Jardín Botánico, on the presentation of scientific results of projects focused on endangered species, such as the Iberian lynx, that had been financed by Banco Santander.

At that time, Banco Santander had expressed great interest in financing scientific projects in Spain. Over the course of the presentation, Pablo Vargas proposed to Emilio Botín the complete sequencing of the olive tree genome, using the same technology as had been used to sequence the lynx; in other words, the most state-of-the-art technological strategy to achieve a high-quality genome.

Five months after that meeting, a contract was signed to carry out the first complete sequencing of the olive tree's DNA, a three-year research effort coordinated by Pablo Vargas.

"There are three phases to genome sequencing: first, isolate all of the genes, which we published two years ago. Second, assemble the genome, which is a matter of ordering those genes one after the other, like linking up loose phrases in a book. Last, identify all of the genes, or binding the book. The latter two phases are what we have done and are now presenting," says the CSIC Real Jardín Botánico researcher.

To continue with the book analogy, according to Tyler Alioto of the CNAG-CRG "this genome has generated some 1.31 billion letters, and over 1,000 GBytes of data. We are surprised because we have detected over 56,000 genes, significantly more than those detected in sequenced genomes of related plants, and twice that of the human genome."

Decoding its evolutionary history

In addition to the complete sequencing of the olive tree genome, researchers have also compared the DNA of this thousand-year-old tree with other varieties such as the wild olive. They have also found the transcriptome, the genes expressed to determine what differences exist on the genetic expression level in leaves, roots and fruits at different stages of ripening.

The next step, researchers say, will be to decode the evolutionary history of this tree, which has formed part of old-world civilizations since the Bronze Age. At that time, in the eastern Mediterranean, the process of domesticating wild olive trees that led to today's trees began. Later, selection processes in different Mediterranean countries gave rise to the nearly 1,000 varieties of trees we have today.

Knowing the evolution of olive trees from different countries will make it possible to know their origins and discover the keys that have allowed it to adapt to very diverse environmental conditions. It will also help discover the reasons behind its extraordinary longevity, as the trees can live for 3,000 to 4,000 years.

"That longevity makes the olive tree we have sequenced practically a living monument," says Gabaldón. "Up to now, all of the individuals sequenced, from the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) to the first human being analyzed, have lived for a certain time, depending on their life expectancy, but then died or will die. This is the first time that the DNA of an individual over 1,000 years old, and that will probably live another 1,000 years, has been sequenced." say Gabaldón and Vargas.

Citation: Fernando Creu, Irene Julca, Jèssica Gómez-Garrido, Damian Loska, Marina Marcet- Houben, Emilio Cano, Beatriz Galán, Leonor Frias, Paolo Ribeca, Marta Gut, Manuel Sánchez-Fernández, Jose Luis García, Ivo G. Gut, Pablo Vargas , Tyler S. Alioto, and Toni Gabaldón; Genome sequence of the olive tree, Olea europaea; GigaScience 2016; DOI: 10.1186/s13742-016-0134-5. 

Contact: Laia Cendros
Center for Genomic Regulation

 

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