Marine and Polar Life

Topic 6 contributes to providing a scientific basis for sustainable management of the oceans by determining the functions and dynamics of marine ecosystems and assessing options to address and mitigate human impacts.

About 70 percent of the Earth is covered by oceans. But only 13 percent of this huge area can be considered pristine. Most marine and polar habitats are suffering as a result of shipping, commercial fishing, pollution, global warming, and rising levels of CO₂. All of this has a serious impact on biodiversity and on ecosystems, including the services they provide. Normally, the oceans absorb large quantities of the carbon dioxide generated by human activity, thereby reducing the concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere.

We want to investigate how marine biodiversity is responding to this pressure through adaptation, habitat shift, or changes in the composition of biotic communities. We will analyze the impact that these changes have on food webs, on the uptake and release of carbon, and on other fundamental cycles. Examples of subjects we aim to explore include the extent to which marine ecosystems are able to continue storing sufficient quantities of CO₂ in the oceans, especially under the influence of climate change, and what the long-term impacts of deep-sea mining are on ecosystem functions and microbial communities on the seafloor.

Our research into marine and polar biodiversity draws on a range of sources, such as data collected on the Polarstern research icebreaker during the international MOSAiC expedition in the Arctic. The Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg (HIFMB) will develop scientific grounds for marine protection and management measures by analyzing the roles and functions of biodiversity in ocean ecosystems. The Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), and the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel will also pool their expertise in biology and biogeochemistry to describe how the entire Atlantic Ocean is responding to and coping with changes in the global climate for the first time. We will contribute these findings to international expert bodies, such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

An overview by Topic speaker Anja Engel

Structure

Future ecosystem functionality

The research in this Subtopic identifies general principles in the relationships between functional biodiversity and major ecosystem processes and determines the mechanistic background of the response of biodiversity and species interactions to natural variability and global change. It develops sustainable conservation and management strategies to mitigate consequences of global change by e.g., assessing strategies to establish and manage marine protected areas.

Speakers: Murat Eren (Meren, HIFMB) and Katja Metfies (AWI)

Adaptation of marine life: from genes to ecosystems

Research in this Subtopic focuses on the dynamic responses of marine species to ongoing anthropogenic perturbations. The main objective is an integrative understanding of responses at the molecular, cellular, organ, organismal and holobiont level. The outcomes of adaptation processes are in turn critical for ecosystem functioning, information that feed into Subtopic 6.1.

Speakers: Thorsten Reusch (GEOMAR) and Uwe John (AWI)

Future biological carbon pump

This Subtopic studies how marine ecosystems facilitate the sequestration of CO₂ in the ocean. Employing the knowledge gained in Subtopics 6.1 and 6.2, Subtopic 6.3 will investigate how CO2 uptake and turnover by marine ecosystems respond to ongoing and future climate change, and collaborates with Topic 2 on past ocean carbon fluxes and climate. Subtopic 6.3 contributes to the overall Program by assessing fluxes of CO₂ and other climate active gases across the atmosphere/ocean boundary, one of the major interfaces of the Earth system.

Speakers: Scarlett Trimborn (AWI) and Wolfgang Koeve (GEOMAR)

Use and misuse of the ocean: Consequences for marine ecosystems

This Subtopic studies how plastic debris, anthropogenic noise and harmful substances released during deep-sea mining and ordnance disposal spread in the ocean and affect the habitat of marine organisms. Building on the approaches and results of Subtopics 6.1 and 6.2, Subtopic 6.4 investigates how marine ecosystems respond to these direct human interventions and how adverse effects can be minimized by improved ocean management.

Speakers: Eric Achterberg (GEOMAR) and Gunnar Gerdts (AWI)