Pushing the frontier of knowledge and conservation action for deep sea ecosystems

Expected Outcome:

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Member States and Associated Countries contribute to the implementation of area-based management tools, such as protection targets and adaptive management approaches for deep-sea regions under the Treaty on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), for Regional fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) and for transitions areas with the EU exclusive economic zone notably by identifying Ecologically and biologically significant marine areas (EBSAS), and informing the next Global Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services;
• Public Authorities prioritise deep sea areas for inclusion in their 30% protection target while enhancing maritime spatial planning achieved through science-based information, habitat mapping and ecosystem-based approach, aligned with the EU strategies for biodiversity and climate adaptation by 2030.

Scope:

The deep sea represents 90% of the Ocean volume and remains the least explored biome of the planet. Nevertheless, we know that the deep sea forms an extensive and complex ensemble of ecosystems which functioning is crucial to the rest of the biosphere, global biogeochemical cycles and ecosystems upon which much terrestrial life, including human civilisation, depends. The critical limiting factors in the definition and implementation of protection and restoration measures are the lack of biodiversity knowledge and appropriate monitoring, especially in layers below 1000 m. The main reasons are the limited access and high cost of explorations of the diversity of biotopes in the deep sea, and the resources available to identify organisms across the full range of sizes (from microorganisms to megafauna) and describe ecosystems functioning.

In line with the objectives and targets of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030, the EU Nature Restoration Regulation, the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, the EU climate adaptation strategy, the strategy for European life sciences, the European Ocean Pact, the Treaty on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), proposals should:

• fill the gaps in geographical coverage in habitats mapping, species inventory, genetic diversity, ecological functioning, food webs and ecological connectivity (including migratory species) of deep sea ecosystems in the bathypelagic and abyssopelagic zones (abyssal seafloor, hydrothermal sites, seamounts, canyons and across the water column) between them and with shallower ocean zones (mesopelagic, epipelagic, coastal...);
• develop, integrate and deploy imaging, acoustic, multi-omics, genomics and taxonomic technologies and methodologies for the inventory and fast identification of deep-sea marine species from microbes, invertebrates to migratory species, apex predators such as sharks and mammals, corals and other habitat-forming species, generating reference datasets from identified voucher specimens and novel methods to improve biodiversity monitoring and inventory and the discovery of novel biological traits, enhancing understanding of ecosystem resilience to climate and anthropogenic pressures;
• contribute to the Global Taxonomy Initiative of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and to free and open access to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility’s biodiversity data;
• establish baselines, spatial and temporal dynamics, assess and predict the cumulated impacts from climate change and other anthropogenic stressors including underwater noise, on ecosystems functioning and services, including the biological carbon pump fisheries stock;
• describe holistic interactions between the deep sea, Ocean and planetary health and propose actionable knowledge by involving multiple stakeholders for identifying adaptive management approaches, and mitigation and conservation scenarios for prioritised deep sea areas to reduce impacts of climate change and other anthropogenic stressors on ecosystem structure and functioning;
• identify the indicators and thresholds, such as Essential Ocean Variables (EOV) and Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBV) and propose cost-effective observation approaches and the data integration, for the long-term monitoring and the modelling of deep-sea biodiversity and ecosystems functioning, covering oxygen concentration, carbon fluxes, nutrients and biogeochemistry, to inform management on impacts and conservation or mitigation measures.

Proposals should foresee dedicated tasks and resources for cooperating with projects funded under this topic as well as with other relevant international, Horizon Europe and Horizon 2020 projects on marine biodiversity, functional ecology and on observation, mapping, monitoring and modelling. Proposals should also foresee appropriate resources to ensure close cooperation with the EC Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity (KCBD) and its Science Service. International cooperation is encouraged.