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Results from Global Ocean Sampling Expedition Unveiled
 A press conference with live web cast announcing the results from the Sorcerer II Global Ocean Sampling Expedition aired on Tuesday March 13, 2007.
Census of Marine Life Chair Victor Gallardo joined J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., who circumnavigated the globe on a two-year sailing research expedition to expand understanding of mircrobial biodiversity through genomic analysis. They discovered millions of new genes and thousands of new protein families. A special edition of PloS Biology is dedicated to their results.
http://www.venterinstitute.org/research/gos/
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MAR-ECO's Project Leader Receives Prestigious EU Award
 Odd Aksel Bergstad was one of five laureates who received the EU's 2006 Descartes Prize for Science Communication at a ceremony in Brussels on March 7. Bergstad was nominated by The Norwegian Research Council for his leadership of MAR-ECO's outstanding public outreach effort since its inception in 2001. "Management of ocean systems requires both scientific knowledge and public awareness," says Bergstad. "And this has been the primary motivation for the communication efforts that have been acknowledged so overwhelmingly today."
For more information:
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CAML Expedition Reveals First Hints of Biological Change
After Collapse of Polar Ice Shelves
 Fifty-two marine explorers from 14 countries recently completed the first comprehensive biological survey of a 10,000 square kilometer portion of the Antarctic seabed during a 10-week expedition aboard the German research vessel Polarstern. They explored icy waters as deep as 850 meters off the Antarctic Peninsula - an area made suddenly accessible to exploration by the collapse of the Larsen A and B ice shelves, 12 and five years ago respectively. Among their findings were 15 potential new amphipod species, including one of the largest ever collected, four presumed new species of cnidarians, and deep-sea species at unusually shallow depths.
The voyage was one of 14 Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML) expeditions planned during International Polar Year (2007-2008). Says CAML leader Michael Stoddart of Australia, "What we learned from the Polarstern expedition is the tip of an iceberg, so to speak. Insights from this and CAML's upcoming International Polar Year voyages will shed light on how climate variations affect ice-affiliated species living in this region."
Photo: A new species of Shackletonia, an amphipod crustacean sampled near Elephant Island, Antarctic Pensisula. © C. d'Udekem, Royal Belgium Institute for Natural Sciences, 2007.
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Census of Marine Life in Print
 Census scientists are having an impact in both the scientific and publishing worlds. CReefs researcher Philippe Bouchet of the French National Museum of Natural History authored a chapter in The Exploration of Marine Biodiversity, published by
Fundación BBVA (www.fbbva.es). Philippe reviews the global magnitude of marine biodiversity, including the current accelerated rate of species discovery. ChEss researchers Eva Ramirez-Llodra and David Billett also authored a chapter in this book about deep-sea ecosystems, which featured the innovative work being done by the Census' projects ChEss, COMARGE, MAR-ECO, CeDAMar and OBIS. Scientific Steering Committee member Victor Gallardo also was the author of a chapter on marine biodiversity, which is in The Biodiversity of Chile, released by the Chilean publisher Conama. http://www.conama.cl/portal/1301/channel.html
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OBIS Reaches 200 Data Sets Milestone
 OBIS China has started to publish data to the OBIS Portal, which brings the total number of data sets available through OBIS to 200! OBIS has grown phenomenally over the last year and now publishes data from literally around the globe through its 11 regional nodes. This latest increase results from the Chinese Regional OBIS Node, which is now publishing a small part of the data from the Chinese National Comprehensive Oceanographic Survey (1958-1960), mainly information on Polychaeta and Echinodermata. Almost1200 stations were sampled in the surveyed area, which covered the coast of China Seas, including the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea. (Photo of Sunflower Sea Stars, Pycnopodia helianthoides courtesy of Casey Debenham). |
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Extreme Life, Marine Style, Highlights 2006 Ocean Census
 A host of record-breaking discoveries and revelations that stretch the extreme frontiers of marine knowledge were achieved by the Census of Marine Life in 2006, highlights of which were released today.
They include life adapted to brutal conditions around 407°C fluids spewing from a seafloor vent (the hottest ever discovered), a mighty microbe 1 cm in diameter, mysterious 1.8 kg (4 lb) lobsters off the Madagascar coast, a US school of fish the size of Manhattan Island, and more unfamiliar than familiar species turned up beneath 700 meters of Antarctic ice.
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German Ice-breaker Polarstern to explore uncharted seafloor
47 scientists representing more than a dozen different nationalities
are aboard the Polarstern for a two-month expedition to explore huge
areas of sea floor (around 3,250 km) that have been freed up by the
collapse of the Larsen B platform along the Antarctic Penisula--
leaving a blank spot on Antartic maps. The scientific team is
comprised of polar experts from the Census of Antarctic Marine Life,
the Cousteau Society, the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and
Marine Research, International Polar Year Foundation, and The Polar
Embassy, who will conduct 25 different research projects. Follow
along as the team explores new areas and makes new discoveries. (Photo credit: Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research).
Daily log: http://www.cousteau.org/caml.html
Follow the course: http://www.awi.de/MET/Polarstern/psobse.html
Read about the expedition
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Census Projects Featured in Science and Nature
 In a two-week span, the work of FMAP and HMAP were reported on by two of the most prestigious scientific journals, Science and Nature. The work of HMAP researchers was featured in a three-page news feature in the October 12 issue of Nature that focused on how scientists were learning about the present state of marine affairs by looking at the records of the past. Two weeks later, in the November 3 issue of Science, an international group of ecologists and economists, spearheaded by FMAP's Boris Worm, reported that the loss of biodiversity is profoundly reducing the ocean's ability to produce seafood, resist diseases, filter pollutants, and rebound from stresses caused by over-fishing and climate change. (Image: Fish Species Diversity Worldwide).
To read the Nature article (by subscription):
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v443/n7112/full/443622a.html
To read the Science article: http://www.sciencemag.org/
Read the FMAP press release at: http://www.fmap.ca/ |
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Who's Who in the Census: Conversations
Dr. Ahmet Kideys: Impact of Invasive Ctenophores
 CMarZ researcher Ahmet Kideys loves his work so much that he jokes that he would be willing to pay for what he sees and experiences. He studies the impact of invasive ctenophores on plankton and other major ecosystem groups in the Black and Caspian Seas.
To read more about Dr. Kidey's investigative work, visit Conversations.
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 Census Around the World
More than 1,000 scientists from 70 countries are involved in the Census of Marine Life's investigation of the world's oceans. Now people from all over the world are learning about the Census and the work of its scientists as they watch their TVs. CNN International (and the BBC) is airing a series of public service announcements (PSA's) about the Census, so when in Singapore, Paris, or Rio de Janeiro tune in and learn more. View the PSA's.
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