Product catalogue
Responses of Southern Ocean Seafloor Habitats and Communities to Global and Local Drivers of Change
Our knowledge of life at the Antarctic sea-bed has increased in the past decades with increasing ship-based surveys and monitoring sites, new technologies and data sharing. However, seafloor habitats and their communities exhibit high spatial variability and heterogeneity that limits our ability to assess the state of the Southern Ocean benthos on larger scales. The seafloor communities that inhabit the Antarctic shelf are often diversity hotspots. These habitats are important in the generation of ‘blue carbon’ and habitat for commercial fish species, for this reason we focus on these habitats. Many Southern Ocean seafloor habitats and their communities seem to be especially vulnerable to certain drivers of change including increasing ocean temperatures, iceberg scour, sea-ice melt, ocean acidification, fishing pressures, pollution and non-indigenous species. Some of the most vulnerable areas include those experiencing rapid regional warming and increased iceberg-scouring e.g. the West Antarctic Peninsula; where human activities and environmental conditions increase the potential for the establishment of non-indigenous species e.g. sub-Antarctic islands and tourist destinations and areas with fishing activities e.g. around South Georgia, Heard and MacDonald Islands. Vulnerable species include calcifying species susceptible to increasing ocean acidity as well as slow-growing habitat forming species that can be damaged by fishing gears e.g. sponges, bryozoan and coral species. Management regimes can protect seafloor habitats and key species from fishing activities but only if they consider specific traits, such as longevity, food availability, their physiological adaptation and rare or common occurrences. Ecosystem-based management practices and long-term protected areas may be the most effective in the preservation of vulnerable seafloor habitats. However, action is needed to reduce carbon emissions to limit the impact of increasing ocean temperatures and ocean acidification. We focus on outlining seafloor responses to drivers of change observed to date and projections for the future. We discuss the need for action to preserve seafloor habitats under climate change and fishing pressures.
<b>Citation:</b> Brasier MJ, Barnes D, Bax N, Brandt A, Christianson AB, Constable AJ, Downey R, Figuerola B, Griffiths H, Gutt J, Lockhart S, Morley SA, Post AL, Van de Putte A, Saeedi H, Stark JS, Sumner M and Waller CL (2021) Responses of Southern Ocean Seafloor Habitats and Communities to Global and Local Drivers of Change. <i>Front. Mar. Sci.</i> 8:622721.
doi: 10.3389/fmars.2021.622721
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Creation)
- 2020-03-11
- Date (Publication)
- 2023-10-20T05:59:46
- Citation identifier
- Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/134969
Identifier
- Codespace
-
Digital Object Identifier
- Cited responsible party
-
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Author Brasier, M.
Author Barnes, D.K.A.
Author Bax, N.
Author Brandt, A.
Author Christianson, A.
Author Constable, A.
Author Downey, R.
Author Figuerola, B.
Author Griffiths, H.J.
Author Gutt, J.
Author Lockhart, S.
Author Morley, S.
Author Post, A.L.
Author Van de Putte, A.P.
Author Saeedi, H.
Author Stark, J.S.
Author Sumner, M.
Author Waller, C.
Publisher Frontiers in Marine Science
External Contact
- Name
-
Frontiers in Marine Science
- Issue identification
-
Volume 8
- Purpose
-
Publication for the Marine Ecosystem Assessment of the Southern Ocean (MEASO)
- Status
- Completed
- Point of contact
-
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Point of contact Post, A.
Space Division Internal Contact Resource provider Space Division
External Contact
- Spatial representation type
- Topic category
-
- Geoscientific information
Extent
Extent
))
- Maintenance and update frequency
- As needed
Resource format
- Title
-
Product data repository: Various Formats
- Website
-
Data Store directory containing the digital product files
Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes
- theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
-
-
EARTH SCIENCES
-
BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
-
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
-
Ecological Impacts of Climate Change
-
- Keywords
-
-
benthos
-
- Keywords
-
-
Antarctica
-
- Keywords
-
-
Southern Ocean
-
- Keywords
-
-
marine protected areas
-
- Keywords
-
-
vulnerable marine ecosystems
-
- Keywords
-
-
fishing
-
- Keywords
-
-
Published_External
-
Resource constraints
- Title
-
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
- Alternate title
-
CC-BY
- Edition
-
4.0
- Access constraints
- License
- Use constraints
- License
- Other constraints
-
© 2021 The Authors
Resource constraints
- Title
-
Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Resource lineage
- Statement
-
Publication for the Frontiers in Marine Science. This article is part of the Research Topic Marine Ecosystem Assessment for the Southern Ocean: Meeting the Challenge for Conserving Earth Ecosystems in the Long Term.
Metadata constraints
- Title
-
Australian Government Security Classification System
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
-
urn:uuid/48ef8a18-8c29-450b-908e-54ec98c64a26
- Title
-
GeoNetwork UUID
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
- Contact
-
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Owner Post, A.
Space Division Internal Contact Point of contact Post, A.
Space Division Internal Contact
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Document
- Name
-
Journal Articles and Conference Papers
Alternative metadata reference
- Title
-
Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with
uuid
- Citation identifier
- eCatId/134969
- Date info (Creation)
- 2019-04-08T01:55:29
- Date info (Revision)
- 2019-04-08T01:55:29
Metadata standard
- Title
-
AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
-
ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
-
ISO 19115-3
- Title
-
Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014
- Edition
-
Version 2.0, September 2018
- Citation identifier
- https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551