Initiatives

DSBSoc is proud to be part of a flourishing set of initiatives, their various working groups and other friendly, cooperative efforts with a focus on the deep-sea biology and broader sciences. Here’s a few:

  • Challenger 150 –  “The Challenger 150 programme is a global scientific cooperative developed to respond to the needs of the UN Ocean Decade. It is a vehicle for coordination of deep-sea research globally towards a set of common objectives. Those objectives are set out by the UN Ocean Decade but here are set in the deep-sea research context (see Howell et al. (2020) for detail)”
  • International Network for Scientific Investigations of Deep-Sea Ecosystems (INDEEP) – “The aim of INDEEP is to develop and synthesise our understanding of deep-sea global biodiversity and functioning and provide a framework to bridge the gap between scientific results and society to aid in the formation of sustainable management strategies.”
  • Deep Ocean Stewardship Initiative (DOSI) – “DOSI seeks to integrate science, technology, policy, law and economics to advise on ecosystem-based management of resource use in the deep ocean and strategies to maintain the integrity of deep-ocean ecosystems within and beyond national jurisdiction”
  • VentBase – “VentBase was established as a forum where academic, commercial, governmental and non-governmental stakeholders can develop a consensus regarding the management of exploitation in the deep-sea, specifically the mining of seafloor massive sulfide (SMS) deposits.”
  • …

Major projects:

  • Census of Marine Life (CoML) – project ended in 2010, website now functioning as an archive. See also the subgroup on the Census of Diversity of Abyssal Marine Life (CeDAMaR)
  • CoralFISH – “assessing the interaction between cold water corals, fish and fisheries, in order to develop monitoring and predictive modelling tools for ecosystem based management in the deep waters of Europe and beyond.” Project now ended, website functioning as an archive.
  • “Deep Life” working group of the Deep Carbon Observatory – initiative aiming to characterize microbial life in the deep subsurface of marine sediments.
  • Hotspot Ecosystem Research and Man’s Impact On European Seas (HERMIONE) –  “Ecosystems such as cold-water coral reefs and hydrothermal vents support a huge diversity of life that is both beautiful and alien, but also vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and human activities. The HERMIONE project focused on investigating these and other ecosystems, including submarine canyons, seamounts, cold seeps, open slopes and deep basins. The HERMIONE project ran from April 2009 to September 2012, and was made up of a consortium of 41 partners – research organisations, universities and small organisations – from 13 countries across Europe.”
  • Hotspot Ecosystem Research on the Margins of European Seas (HERMES) – “Funded by the European Commission, HERMES brought together expertise in biodiversity, geology, sedimentology, physical oceanography, microbiology and biogeochemistry so to better understand the relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. HERMES study sites extend from the Arctic to the Black Sea and include biodiversity hotspots such as cold seeps, cold-water coral mounds and reefs, canyons and anoxic environments, and communities found on open slopes. HERMES started work in April 2005, and ran for 4 years, with completion in March 2009. The HERMES consortium comprised scientific teams from 50 research organisations, universities and small businesses from around Europe and neighbouring countries.”
  • Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning (MarBEF) –  “a network of excellence funded by the European Union and consisting of 94 European marine institutes, was a platform to integrate and disseminate knowledge and expertise on marine biodiversity, with links to researchers, industry, stakeholders and the general public.” Project ended in 2009, website now functioning as an archive.
  • Ocean Networks Canada – “Ocean Networks Canada operates the world-leading NEPTUNE and VENUS cabled ocean observatories for the advancement of science and the benefit of Canada. These observatories collect data on physical, chemical, biological, and geological aspects of the ocean over long time periods, supporting research on complex Earth processes in ways not previously possible”
  • WoRDSS: World Register of Deep-Sea Species – “a taxonomic database of deep-sea species based on the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). This site was launched in December 2012 as a project of the International Network for Scientific Investigation of Deep-sea Ecosystems (INDEEP). The primary goal of the project is to build a comprehensive database of known deep-sea species and to present this as a thematic species database (TSD) of WoRMS, with all data dynamically linked to WoRMS and their team of taxonomic editors. A secondary goal is to accumulate high quality specimen images of deep-sea species and to present these on both the website and the iOS app (Deep Sea ID, currently in development) that allows offline-viewing of the complete database and imagery to assist with identifications at sea and in the laboratory. Through WoRDSS, we are also providing taxonomic references (sources) that will allow researchers and educators easier access to identification literature.”

These lists are outdated! We need you!

Please send names, URLs and short descriptions of your projects and initiative so the members of the Society can join: communications@dsbsoc.org

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