ecosystem importance: a new system found (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, October 23, 2022, 17:55 (550 days ago) @ David Turell

Five hundred meters below sea surface:

https://phys.org/news/2022-10-discovery-ecosystemthe-zonecreating-oasis-life.html

"The Nekton Maldives Mission, involving researchers from the University of Oxford, has found evidence of a previously undescribed ecosystem—"The Trapping Zone"—that is creating an oasis of life 500 meters down in the depths of the Indian Ocean. The discovery has been hailed as highly significant by the Maldives Government.

"Video evidence from Nekton science cameras aboard the Omega Seamaster II submersible, combined with collected biological samples and extensive sonar mapping, indicate that in this zone predators such as sharks and other large fish feed on swarms of small organisms known as micro-nekton.

"These are marine organisms that can swim independently of the current and typically migrate from the deep sea to the surface at night and dive back into the deep at dawn (known as The Vertical Migration). But in this area, the micro-nekton become trapped against the subsea landscape at the 500m mark.

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"Marine ecosystems are defined by both the topography and ocean life. "This has all the hallmarks of a distinct new ecosystem," explained Professor Alex Rogers (University of Oxford) who has spent over 30 hours underwater in the mission's submersibles observing The Trapping Zone during the expedition. "The Trapping Zone is creating an oasis of life in the Maldives and it is highly likely to exist in other oceanic islands and also on the slopes of continents."

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"Analysis of the video and biological data is ongoing in the Maldives, Nekton's UK headquarters in Oxford, and at partner laboratories. The discovery could have important implications for other oceanic islands and the slopes of continents, sustainable fisheries management, the burial and storage of carbon and, ultimately, climate change mitigation.

"President of the Maldives H.E Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, says that "the discovery of The Trapping Zone and the oasis of life in the depths surrounding the Maldives provides us with critical new knowledge that further supports our conservation commitments and sustainable ocean management, and almost certainly support fisheries and tourism.'"

Comment: an important identification. This system has effects on other systems