Hotspot Ecosystem Research and Man's Impact On European Seas
Major aims of the project are to understand how humans are affecting the deep-sea environment and to provide policy makers with accurate scientific information, enabling effective management strategies to protect deep sea ecosystems.
Deep water coral reefs, undersea mountains populated by a multitude of organisms, vast submarine canyon systems, and hydrothermal vents are some of the features contained therein.
[5] The traditional view of the deep-sea realm as a hostile and barren place was discredited long ago, and scientists now know that much of Europe's deep sea is rich and diverse.
[6] However, the deep sea is increasingly threatened by humans: most of this deep-ocean frontier lies within Europe's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and has significant potential for the exploitation of biological, energy, and mineral resources.
Research and exploration over the last two decades has shown clear signs of direct and indirect anthropogenic impacts in the deep sea, resulting from such activities as overfishing,[7] littering and pollution.
[clarification needed] HERMIONE places special emphasis on human impact on the deep sea and on the translation of scientific information into science policy for the sustainable use of marine resources.
To achieve this, HERMIONE uses a highly interdisciplinary and integrated approach, engaging experts in biology, ecology, biodiversity, oceanography, geology, sedimentology, geophysics and biogeochemistry, who will work alongside socio-economists and policy-makers.
[9] HERMIONE research ranges from investigation of the ecosystems' dimensions, distribution, interconnection and functioning, to understanding the potential impacts of climate change and anthropogenic disturbance.
State-of-the-art technology will be used, with Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) one of the critical pieces of equipment being used for a wide range of delicate manoeuvres and high-resolution surveys, from precision sampling of methane gas at cold seeps to microbathymetry mapping to examine the structure of the seabed.
New research will also build on previous work to define the physical environment around cold-water coral reefs such as hydrodynamic and sedimentary regimes, which will help to understand biological responses.
[2] High-resolution mapping of the seafloor will be carried out to determine the location and distribution of cold-water corals, and photographic observations will be made to assess changes in the status of known reefs over time, such as their response to climatic variation or their recovery from destruction by fishing trawlers.
Chemosynthetic environments - such as hot vents, cold seeps, mud volcanoes and sulphidic brine pools - show the highest biomass and productivity of all deep-sea ecosystems.
HERMIONE researchers aim to illustrate the tight coupling between geosphere and biosphere processes, as well as their immense heterogeneity and interconnectivity, by observing and comparing the spatial and temporal variation of chemosynthetic environments in European Sea’s.
Their identification, their association with fauna, and the relationship between their diversity, function and habitat, are vital areas of research as biological communities act as important filters, controlling up to 100% of vent and seep emissions.
[42] By using DNA barcoding and genome analysis in addition to traditional methods of identification and experimentation, HERMIONE scientists will study the relationship between community structure and ecosystem functioning at a variety of vents, seeps, brine pools and mud volcanoes.
HERMIONE aims to provide this by filling the knowledge gap about threatened deep-sea ecosystems and their current status with respect to anthropogenic impacts (e.g. litter, chemical contamination).
Socio-economists and natural scientists work together in HERMIONE, researching the socio-economics of anthropogenic impacts, mapping human activities that affect the deep sea, assessing the potential for valuing deep-sea ecosystem goods and services, studying governance options and designing and implementing real-time science-policy interfaces.
HERMIONE natural and social science results will provide national, regional (EU), and global policy-makers and other stakeholders with the information needed to establish policies to ensure the sustainable use of the deep ocean and conservation of deep-sea ecosystems.
