Future challenges in Southern Ocean ecology research

Details of Research

TitleFuture challenges in Southern Ocean ecology researchAbstractThe Southern Ocean is experiencing relentless change. The Antarctic and Southern Ocean community, represented by 75 scientists and policy-makers from 22 countries, recently met to formulate a collective vision on the priorities for Antarctic research for the next two decades and beyond. Here, we assess high-interest research areas related specifically to Southern Ocean life and ecology that, although not all retained as the 80 top priorities among the addressed scientific domains, are of considerable relevance to the biology and ecology of the Southern Ocean. As certain regions of the Southern Ocean ecosystems have witnessed abiotic and biotic changes in the last decades (e.g., warming, climate variability, changes in sea ice, and abundance of marine organisms), such an exercise was urgently needed. We concluded that basic biological information on the taxonomy of numerous organisms is still lacking in areas, such as the deep-ocean floor or the under-ice environments. Furthermore, there is a need for knowledge about the response and resilience of Antarctic marine ecosystems to change. The continuation of a long-term commitment and the development and use of innovative technology to adequately monitor the Southern Ocean ecosystems is required. Highlighting the most important Southern Ocean research topics allow the identification of the challenges and future requirements in technological development, and both research and funding strategies for the various stakeholders. Copyright 2016 Xavier, Brandt, Ropert-Coudert, Badhe, Gutt, Havermans, Jones, Costa, Lochte, Schloss, Kennicutt and Sutherland.AcknowledgementsWe thank the organizers and all participants of the first SCAR Antarctic and Southern Ocean Science Horizon Scan and the Tinker Foundation for financial support, as well as Antarctica New Zealand, the New Zealand Antarctic Research Institute, the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs, the Alfred-Wegner-Institut, Helmholtz Zentrum fur Polar- und Meeresforschung (Germany), and the British Antarctic Survey. Support was provided by the Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (Australia), the Canadian Polar Commission, the Climate and Cryosphere Program, Kelly TarltonÅ› Sea Life Aquarium, the Korean Polar Research Institute, the Instituto Antarctico Chileno, the National Institute for Polar Research (Japan), New Zealand Post, the Programma Nazionale di Ricerche in Antartide (Italy), Monash University, Polar Research Institute of China, and the University of Malaya (Malaysia). The support of the SCAR Secretariat and Antarctica New Zealand staff is gratefully recognized. We thank Bruno Cruz, Huw Griffiths, Peter Bucktrout, Graham Hosie, Torben Riehl, and Lloyd Peck for preparing and contributing with figures/photos/comments to the manuscript. Finally, we also thank members of the SCAR expert groups (e.g., SCAR EGBAMM, Trophic interactions WG, ICED AG) and science research programs AnT-ERA and AntEco, for providing their valuable opinion. JX is supported by the Investigator FCT program (IF/00616/2013) and by the Foundation for Science and Technology (Portugal). WS is funded by Arcadia.Funding DetailsMonash University; UM, Universiti Malaya

Details

1st AuthorXavier, J.AuthorXavier, J.Brandt, A.Ropert-Coudert, Y.Badhe, R.Gutt, J.Havermans, C.Jones, C.Costa, E.Lochte, K.Schloss, I.Kennicutt M.C., I.Sutherland, W.Year2016JournalFrontiers in Marine ScienceVolume3NumberJUNDOI10.3389/fmars.2016.00094URLhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/recor.....4bd8158f5f5d7588ade27979cKeywordsrank4

Other

TypeArticleCitationXavier, J., Brandt, A., Ropert-Coudert, Y., Badhe, R., Gutt, J., Havermans, C., Jones, C., Costa, E., Lochte, K., Schloss, I., Kennicutt M.C., I. and Sutherland, W. (2016). Future challenges in Southern Ocean ecology research. Frontiers in Marine Science, 3(JUN) IdentifierXavier2016Relevancerank4