1997-98

At the Fourth International Marine Biotechnology Conference in Italy in 1997, IABO representatives met with others to discuss international action on marine biodiversity. The following Plan was agreed and has since been published:

The International Marine Biodiversity Network (IMBiN) Plan

The Situation and the Problem
The biological characteristics of the oceans fluctuate naturally; but, given inadequate coastal management and increasing coastal population growth, local losses of biodiversity and consequent changes in ecosystem function may become irreversible. Major fisheries are in decline; coastal wetlands have been lost or are being modified; native species have been displaced by introduced, exotic species; harmful algal blooms appear to occur more frequently; coral reefs and mangroves are among the ecosystems showing adverse effects of over fishing, disease, unregulated mariculture practices, and runoff from land; the ability of ocean life to cope with wastes is seen to be limited; and there is widespread speculation concerning the global effects of climate change such as increased temperature, ultraviolet radiation, and dissolved CO2.

Marine environments are estimated to provide nearly two thirds of the ecosystem services needed to maintain our society (Costanza et al. 1996), yet we are unable to characterize and to detect many of the changes in the diverse assemblages of organisms in the ocean that could affect these services. Biological censuses are infrequent and, even in the case of macroscopic animals, many species with important ecological functions are missed. The animal and plant life of most of the world's vast areas of highly productive coastal habitats have not been inventoried and the largest biotope on the planet, the deep sea, remains largely unexplored. The major divisions of life, Phyla, evolved in the ocean, yet the origins and maintenance of oceanic genomic, species, and habitat diversity are poorly understood. Only recently was it discovered that free-living photosynthetic bacteria might contribute as much to oceanic primary production as all previously known primary producers (NAS CBDMS 1996). Such recent advances underline how much remains to be discovered in the marine environment.

Understanding the processes causing a decline in species numbers or changes in species distributions will require an integrated approach at all biological levels of organization. Individually, marine laboratories have supported important research on local marine populations, habitats, and ecosystems. Nevertheless, the scope for understanding these effects of larger-scale migrations, transport of dispersal stages, plankton blooms, and infrequent events such as storms and heavy rainfall has been limited. Future research needs to predict environmental variability and change, and develop ecological theories to elucidate relationships between the structure and function of systems and the transfer of variability between small and large scales of organization.

Patterns of variability at each level of biological organization will inform relationships observed:
- between local, regional and global scales of variability,
- between genetics and environment, and
- between biodiversity and ecosystem function.

Environmental problems are related to human activities at local (e.g. point-source discharge into an embayment), regional (e.g. diffuse inputs from an entire watershed and atmospheric deposition into an estuary), and global (e.g. climate change) scales. It has become clear that the major scientific challenges to developing predictive models of environmental changes and their consequences are:
- How changes in land-use patterns and in the atmosphere affect coastal habitats and estuarine/marine biodiversity;
- How changes in biodiversity are related to changes in plant and animal populations and in ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling, carbon storage and export, and water quality; and
- How global climate change will be or is being expressed locally and regionally in terms of changes in biodiversity and biogeography, ecosystem processes, and the sustainability of living marine resources.

Understanding these interdisciplinary, multi-scale problems, and resolving and predicting the effects of human activities can only come through:
- Time-series measurements of species distributions and environmental parameters that are sufficiently frequent and sustained to resolve short-term variability, episodic events, and trends;
- Comparative analyses of ecosystems subjected to varying degrees of human impact over a range of ecosystem types and scales; and
- More rapid exchanges of data and more effective use of the collective expertise of environmental scientists worldwide.

Marine Laboratory Networks: A Mechanism for Tackling the Problem
A meeting on Marine Biodiversity was held during the 4th International Marine Biotechnology Conference in Sorrento, Italy, in September, 1997 to discuss the use of marine laboratory networks in furthering the objectives and research components of the international Diversitas Marine Biodiversity program. Participants included representatives of the MARS Network of European Marine Stations, Man and the Biosphere (MAB), the International Network for Diversitas Western Pacific and Asia (DIWPA), national networks such as the U.S. National Association of Marine Laboratories (NAML LABNET), the French Diversitas Marine Diversity network (Reseau Diversitas Marine: RDM), the Japanese Committee of Marine Biological Laboratory Directors (JACMAB) network, the International Association for Biological Oceanography (IABO), the Coastal Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS), and Diversitas.

It was agreed that there is a growing international consensus that networks of marine research stations should form the backbone of sustained research and observation of marine biodiversity, and its origin, maintenance, and function (see Ogden 1987, Grassle et al. 1991, Lasserre and Warwick 1992, Lasserre et al. 1994, NAS, CBDMS 1995, Malone and Nemazie 1996, Diversitas Operational Plan 1996, Warwick et al. 1997). Marine laboratory networks are needed to provide the necessary long-term and large-scale coverage of processes and changes at population and community levels. Processes controlling the origins, magnitude, and maintenance of marine biodiversity at the genomic, species, and ecosystem level require study at many spatial and temporal scales within entire biogeographical units. Well-established local institutions have the interest and commitment needed to make the long-term observations essential to understand the impact of infrequent events or shifts in communities, and to distinguish natural from anthropogenic variability.

Marine laboratory networks will be able to make better use of existing data and information, document and compare local changes in biodiversity, and relate ecological processes in the broader context of regional and global patterns of environmental change and human activity. In addition, laboratory networks provide an important means for developing new hypotheses, identifying common problems, defining goals, standardizing and intercalibrating methods, and developing a consensus on interpretation. Network activities should involve regional and global transfer of expertise and investment, access to expensive research instrumentation and facilities, and mechanisms for taxonomic analysis and training. This will result in more cost-effective research and timelier implementation of economically and ecologically sound environmental policies. Although national priorities may differ, regional and global networks will allow investigators to learn from the mistakes and successes of others. Networks will foster better mapping of biogeographical distribution patterns, expedite communication, and increase co-operation and sharing of data, thus increasing biological knowledge. Marine stations are often strategically positioned to provide access to habitats of particular interest (species-rich environments and natural biogeographical boundaries) and have distinguished records of biodiversity research. Working together they can establish regional approaches to sampling and experimental designs, coordinate and standardize long-term measurements, and develop robust management criteria for conservation and wise use of marine resources.

Timeliness
Through new technologies, marine stations can more effectively and efficiently fulfil their traditional roles. Continuous spatial and temporal coverage of physical processes and patterns of marine productivity are becoming available through use of satellite technology. A similar revolution is taking place in the production of high-resolution bathymetric and habitat maps. Multi-beam sonar bathymetric survey coverage is available in many areas and is now being complemented with other techniques (LIDAR, laser line scan, and high resolution side-scan sonar) to provide spatial characteristics necessary to map biological habitats. Better information from the ocean surface and bottom will provide a framework for more efficient sampling and design of experiments. Through use of satellite navigation and Geographical Information Systems (GIS), information on individual animals and plants can be mapped in the context of relevant physical, chemical, and geological processes; in other words, the study of large-scale regional processes in precise biological terms is now possible. A similar revolution is taking place in the development of acoustical and optical methods for observing animals and plants in the natural environment--either from ships or various underwater platforms.

Capabilities for sequencing the genomes of marine species is becoming more available at marine laboratories, so increasing the possibilities for studying the origins and maintenance of biodiversity at the genomic level. One can now look to a new generation of integrative biologists with the broad range of skills needed to assess complex biological processes.

The intersection of objectives of international programs such as Diversitas, the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) program, and the International Geosphere, Biosphere Program (IGBP), emphasizes the need for cooperative research on regional and global scales. The Diversitas Workshop concluded that the infrastructure and institutional commitment to address crucial regional and global marine environmental issues already exist in the worldwide system of marine stations and in the further establishment of networks. Common attributes of a marine biodiversity research agenda include the need for experimental approaches to address basic issues in the ecology and evolution of marine biodiversity, long-term commitment, strong involvement of systematists and taxonomists, and new approaches to setting priorities for sampling and design of experiments.

*The following individuals constituted an ad-hoc Marine Diversitas Planning Group to draft this manuscript: Colleen Adam, Friedrich Buchholz, Eurico de Oliveira, Jean-Paul Ducrotoy, Jean-Pierre Féral, Frederick Grassle, Carlo Heip, Ahmet Erkan Kideys, Pierre Lasserre, Thomas Malone, Jack Matthews, John Ogden, Yoshihisa Shirayama, Kenneth Tenore. This group of individuals includes representatives of CARICOMP, Coastal GOOS, DIWPA, IABO, MAB, MARS, NAML, and UNESCO. We thank other participants in the IMBC'97 Diversitas Workshop for their contributions.

References
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