HOT : Hadal Zones of our Overseas Territories

Stewart, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5590-6972; Jamieson, Alan J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9835-2909. 2019 HOT : Hadal Zones of our Overseas Territories. [Poster] In: SAGES ’19 Global Challenges for a Blue Economy: scientific evidence; its relevance; societal solutions., Edinburgh, UK, 27-28th November 2019. Edinburgh, UK, British Geological Survey. (Unpublished)

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Abstract/Summary

HOT: Hadal zones of our Overseas Territories is a multi-disciplinary program that will deliver a step-change in our understanding of the fundamental ecological and geological processes in the South Sandwich Trench (SST). The SST reaches water depths of 8266 m ±13m at a location known as Meteor Deep, named after the German research vessel who first sounded it in 1926, and uniquely is the only sub-zero hadal environment on Earth. This Darwin Plus (Round 7) funded project will improve understanding of marine biodiversity and geodiversity to fill an identified knowledge gap supporting the existing Marine Protected Area and obligations under the Convention of Biological Diversity. The South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Marine Protected Area (MPA) is one of the largest MPAs on Earth covering >1 million km2 and includes the SST. Predicting trench habitats and their fauna cannot be extrapolated from shallower systems as they exhibit stark ecotones and abrupt changes in geology, making MPA management at depths >6000m at best difficult. The MPA is designed to ensure the protection and conservation of the region’s rich and diverse marine life, whilst allowing sustainable and carefully regulated fisheries. Key outcomes of the 5-year review of the MPA (November 2017) included: a need to enhance bathymetric knowledge around the region; recognition there is a lack of data on the abyssal and hadal ecosystems; that more information is needed on assemblages versus biodiversity, ecosystem processes and function; and general information on how to record long-term change to factors such as climate change. This project will make use of high-resolution bathymetric maps of the South Sandwich Trench acquired using the latest generation full-ocean-depth EM124 by the Five Deeps Expedition (www.fivedeeps.com). These data form a primary dataset for geological and geomorphological analysis and provide the context for research into the biological communities of these deeps. With the newly collected invertebrate samples from the SST, this project will utilise specimens of scavenging amphipods including: new species from the genus Hirondellea, and Bathycallisoma schellenbergi. These species are model species for understanding the historical and present connectivity of the hadal zone and its effects on speciation. The remoteness and uniqueness of the low temperatures and high pressures of the South Sandwich Trench makes these recent findings highly important in resolving ultra-deep sea speciation on a large geographical scale. Geological and geomorphological interpretation and map production was funded by a grant awarded through the Darwin Initiative funded by the UK Government: Hadal Zones of our Overseas Territories (DPLUS093). STEWART, H, JAMIESON, A. 2019. HOT: Hadal zones of our overseas territories. [Poster] In: SAGES ’19 Global Challenges for a Blue Economy: scientific evidence; its relevance; societal solutions, Edinburgh, UK, 27-28th November 2019 (p 74 of abstract booklet). (doc) Poster presentation by H Stewart. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.10374.60483

Item Type:	Publication - Conference Item (Poster)
Additional Keywords:	hadal, subduction trench, distribution ecology
NORA Subject Terms:	Ecology and Environment Marine Sciences
Related URLs:	Other
Date made live:	28 Oct 2020 13:24 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/528792

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