Marine Life & Conservation
Global Study Reveals New Hotspots of Fish Biodiversity
Teeming with species, tropical coral reefs have been long thought to be the areas of greatest biodiversity for fishes and other marine life — and thus most deserving of resources for conservation.
But a new global study of reef fishes reveals a surprise: when measured by factors other than the traditional species count — instead using features such as a species’ role in an ecosystem or the number of individuals within a species — new hotspots of biodiversity emerge, including some nutrient-rich, temperate waters.
The study, by an international team of researchers including graduate student Jon Lefcheck and Professor Emmett Duffy of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, appears in a recent issue of the journal Nature.
Led by Dr. Rick Stuart-Smith of the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, the study team also includes researchers from Stockholm University, the University of Bologna, Stanford University, the Natural Products and Agrobiology Institute in Tenerife, Spain, the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Indonesia Marine Program, the University of Dundee, the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, and the University of Portsmouth.
The study is based on information collected through the Reef Life Survey program, a “citizen science” initiative developed in Tasmania. The RLS program now operates worldwide, training recreational SCUBA divers to survey numbers of reef animals and supporting their research endeavors.
Stuart-Smith and fellow RLS founder Graham Edgar, also a University of Tasmania professor, highlight the central role the volunteer divers played in contributing to the new study. “The assistance of over 100 dedicated divers has allowed us to look at ecological patterns and processes impossible for scientific dive teams to cover,” says Edgar.
Species richness
The number of different species in an ecosystem — what researchers call “species richness” — has dominated the scientific view of global biodiversity patterns since the days of Darwin and Linnaeus. It has also long been used as a biological basis for management of imperiled ecosystems.
But, says Lefcheck, “Just counting species is a really coarse way of understanding diversity. By gathering information on the animal’s traits — what they eat, how they move, where they live — we can understand more about how dissimilar they are. Dissimilarity is the essence of diversity.”
Lefcheck illustrates the team’s new approach to studying biodiversity by reference to a tide pool. “Consider a pool with a fish, a bird, and a crab,” he says. “Now consider one with three fishes. Which is more diverse? Intuitively, we know it’s the one with the fish, bird, and crab. But until recently, ecologists treated each of them as equally diverse, since they both have the same number of species.”
“Most biodiversity censuses simply count species because it’s relatively easy to do,” says Duffy. “But to understand how species help ecosystems work, we need to know how abundant they are and what they’re doing. That sounds obvious but such data are much harder to get. Ours is the first study to do this comprehensively, and we find that the extra knowledge paints a very different map of global diversity.”
Functional Traits
The team conducted their study by analyzing data from 4,357 standardized surveys conducted by RLS divers at 1,844 coral and rocky reef sites worldwide. The surveys spanned 133 degrees of latitude and found 2,473 different species of fish.
Moving beyond traditional species counts, the research team noted how the members of each of these species make a living, using a detailed matrix of “functional traits.” These include what the fishes eat (plankton, invertebrates, algae, other fish, or a combination), how they eat it (browsing, scraping, or predation), where they live (in, on, or near the bottom or free-swimming), whether they are active at night or during the day, and how gregarious they are (solitary, paired, or schooling).
“Determining the biology and ecology of these fishes — noting what they do and how they do it — alters hotspots of diversity,” says Lefcheck. “Coral reefs remain the most species-rich habitats on earth, but a trait-based view reveals new areas where the diversity of ways in which fishes function is even higher.”
“Functional biodiversity is highest in places like the Galápagos with only moderate species counts,” adds Duffy, “whereas functional biodiversity is low in many classical hotspots with high species counts, such as the iconic coral triangle of the west Pacific.”
Lefcheck notes that the team’s study also looked at how individuals are distributed among species — what scientists call “evenness,” and that doing so further alters global diversity patterns.
“Coral reefs have lots of species but many are doing largely the same thing, whereas temperate reefs with many fewer species tend to spread individuals out among species that are doing different things,” he explains.
Resource management
The team’s findings have important implications for planning and management. Lead author Stuart-Smith notes, “Incorporating information on functional traits into monitoring programs will add an extra dimension and greater ecological relevance to global efforts to manage and conserve marine biodiversity.”
Says Lefcheck, “Loss of species in a community in which all species are doing different things may have greater consequences, since each species plays a unique role that can’t be filled by any other species. Investing resources in conserving the most non-redundant — and therefore vulnerable — communities may have the greatest impact.”
Source: www.sciencedaily.com
The Ocean Cleanup, the global non-profit project, has removed a verified all-time total of ten million kilograms (22 million lbs.) of trash from oceans and rivers around the world – approximately the same weight as the Eiffel Tower.
To complete its mission of ridding the oceans of plastic, The Ocean Cleanup uses a dual strategy: cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) to remove the plastic already afloat in the oceans, while stopping the flow of plastic from the world’s most polluting rivers.
Through cleaning operations in the GPGP and in rivers in eight countries, the cumulative total of trash removed has now surpassed ten million kilograms. This milestone demonstrates the acceleration of The Ocean Cleanup’s impact, while underlining the astonishing scale of the plastic pollution problem and the need for continued support and action.
While encouraging for the mission, this milestone is only a staging point: millions more tons of plastic still pollute our oceans and The Ocean Cleanup intends to continue learning, improving and innovating to solve this global catastrophe.
This announcement comes as governments from around the world meet to continue negotiations to develop a new legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution at INC4 in Ottawa, Canada. Representatives of The Ocean Cleanup will be in attendance and the organization will be urging decision-makers to collaborate towards a comprehensive and ambitious global treaty which addresses plastic at all stages of its life cycle and in all marine environments worldwide, including in areas beyond national jurisdiction.
It is encouraging to see that the need for remediation is reflected in the various options for potential treaty provisions. It is essential that the final treaty contains clear targets for the remediation of legacy plastic pollution, and reduction of riverine plastic emissions.
Tackling plastic pollution requires innovative and impactful solutions. The treaty should therefore incentivize the innovation ecosystem by fostering innovations that make maximal use of data, technology and scientific knowledge – such as those designed and deployed by The Ocean Cleanup.
‘After many tough years of trial and error, it’s amazing to see our work is starting to pay off – and I am proud of the team who has brought us to this point.’ said Boyan Slat, Founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup. ‘While we still have a long way to go, our recent successes fill us with renewed confidence that the oceans can be cleaned.’
The Ocean Cleanup was founded in 2013 and captured its first plastic in 2019, with the first confirmed catch in the GPGP coming soon after the deployment of Interceptor 001 in Jakarta, Indonesia. After surpassing one million kilograms of trash removed in early 2022, the non-profit project has since progressed to the third iteration of its GPGP cleaning solution, known as System 03, and a network of Interceptors currently covering rivers in eight countries, with more deployments set for 2024.
About The Ocean Cleanup
The Ocean Cleanup is an international non-profit organization that develops and scales technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. They aim to achieve this goal through a dual strategy: stemming the inflow via rivers and cleaning up the legacy plastic that has already accumulated in the ocean. For the latter, The Ocean Cleanup develops large-scale systems to efficiently concentrate the plastic for periodic removal. This plastic is tracked and traced through DNV’s chain of custody model to certify claims of origin when recycling it into new products. To curb the tide via rivers, The Ocean Cleanup has developed Interceptor™ solutions to halt and extract riverine plastic before it reaches the ocean. Founded in 2013 by Boyan Slat, The Ocean Cleanup now employs a broadly multi-disciplined team of approximately 140. The foundation is headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
For more information, visit: theoceancleanup.com and follow @theoceancleanup on social media.
Marine Life & Conservation
Steve Backshall to headline Shark Trust’s flagship event: For the Love of Sharks
Join a host of amazing, shark loving, speakers including Steve Backshall and the Shark Trust team for an evening celebrating shark conservation at the Royal Geographical Society in London this November.
Date: 29th November 2024
Time: 6-10pm
Location: Royal Geographical Society, London
Tickets: https://www.sharktrust.org/Event/flos24
The event will be a celebration of all things shark. Those lucky enough to get hold of tickets will hear from engaging guest speakers with a passion for sharks.
The line-up includes (*subject to change if unforeseen circumstances arise)
Steve Backshall: One of television’s busiest presenters, BAFTA award-winning wildlife expert Steve has been passionate about the wild world ever since he was young.
Steve’s impressive TV career has taken him all around the world, investigating a wide array of species and environments. Steve has filmed over 100 hours of children’s wildlife programmes with the BAFTA award winning Deadly 60 franchise and recently, with Sky Nature, for his new series ‘Whale with Steve Backshall’. He has been a patron for the Shark Trust for 10 years.
Simon Rogerson: is a photojournalist specialising in natural history, diving and the sea.
He is editor of SCUBA magazine, the official journal of the British Sub-Aqua Club. Simon started his career as a crime reporter but gravitated towards his ‘less depressing’ interest in underwater exploration, joining the staff of DIVE magazine in 1999. In 2005 he was named ‘Editor of the Year’ in the PPA’s Independent Publishing Awards. Simon also works as a freelance writer, contributing frequently to the Sunday Times and Telegraph, in addition to BBC Wildlife, Esquire, and a host of international diving magazines. He is the author of a book, Dive Red Sea, published by Ultimate Sports. Now based in Berkshire, Simon has been a Patron of the Shark Trust for 20 years.
More speakers to be announced soon. Head to the Shark Trust website to learn more.
The evening will also allow guests the final chance to see the Oceanic 31, shark art exhibition. Some of the artwork will be auctioned/raffled at the event, while the rest will be auctioned online to raise money for the Shark Trust Oceanic Programme.
For the Love of Sharks is an evening with something for everyone who is interested and fascinated by sharks. Join the Shark Trust, their Patrons, Trustees and Staff, along with a host of supporters for this celebration of shark conservation.
For more information or to buy a ticket: https://www.sharktrust.org/Event/flos24
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