This was by far the most important episode of the series. I am sure that many viewers were troubled by the scale of some of the issues touched upon in the programme; as biological scientists, we live in this state of concern perpetually, both professionally and personally. I tend to see a disconnect amongst the public, that the world we inhabit in our cities and towns are independent of ecological relationships that existed before humans, and now around humans, particularly when it comes to ocean life. In reality, this is not the case. Humans inhabit a unique ecological niche in the history of life on Earth, in that we are the only superpredators ever to regularly predate on the adult forms of other apex predators, in every environment on Earth. There has been talk of considering the era of humans a new geological epoch, defined by extinction, climate change and a stratigraphic layer of plastic for the geologists of the future. Accepting these problems are happening, let alone confronting them, can be depressing. I can’t speak for everyone, but taking a step back, as a scientist, and thinking of these as an interesting series of problems to be understood, is at least how I have decided apply myself to it. Entire books and feature length films have been made on each of the ecological issues in this final episode, so I will only focus on overfishing.

Unlike life on land, which has been drastically modified by humans for as long as we have existed, ocean life has only become heavily exploited more recently (although setting a baseline can be contentious). We have thought of life in the ocean as this resource which will  never be exhausted. Marine biologists have learned in the last few decades that this is not the case. A high profile example is the cod fishery off of Newfoundland, Canada, which was a plentiful food source for 500 years, thought to be the most productive fishery in the world. As fishing technologies improved, more fish could be caught more efficiently and in less time. After regulation failed to curb declines, the cod population completely collapsed in the early 1990s, and has still not recovered. With such a large amount of large predatory cod absent from the ecosystem, a trophic cascade occurred, where smaller fish severely declined and zooplankton, seals and crabs exploded in population. Meanwhile, cod in this area rarely reach adulthood here anymore. Managing the fishery like a resource by considering only population size, and not complex life histories and other ecological relationships, lead to this economic and biological catastrophe.

The wild caught fish that we eat is wildlife, and they shouldn’t be glossed over with the same brush as I sometimes see. Different commercially available fish are as ecologically different to each other as songbirds are to tigers. Tunas for example are apex predators, and although eating tigers, sharks and lions is unusual in the Western world, tuna consumption is extremely widespread. Imagine feeding tiger meat to your cat. Some bluefin tuna can grow to the size of a small car and have endangered or critically endagnered IUCN conservation status (on the same level as the Bengal tiger and black rhinoceros) and yet are still available at most sushi restaurants. There is always talk of ‘dolphin friendly’ tuna, but tuna themselves require urgent conservation as well. Despite improved scientific method, commercial fish species continue to decline worldwide, and faster than estimated.

I am sometimes asked: as a concerned citizen, what can I do in the face of these problems? Honestly, there is no easy answer. Some of the things I would recommend have been suggested a thousand times before, but I will make a few suggestions anyway:

• Only buy what you need. One third of all food is thrown out without being consumed – enough to feed two billion people in a time when one billion are malnourished – a tremendous waste of resources, and your own money. The same applies for all products – for everything you can buy to be produced, finite resources have had to be mined, extensive packaging has been used and goods have been shipped around the world.
• Use less packaging and bottles. 3 billion one-use coffee cups are thrown away in the UK every year, and less than 1% are recycled. This is one cup thrown away in the UK for every person in North and South America, Europe and Africa combined. Get a water bottle, reusable shopping bags and a refillable coffee cup. And is a straw really needed? This is one of the easiest changes to make.
• If you are going to eat seafood, be aware of where it comes from, and what kind of animal you are actually eating. As a general rule, it is better to eat lower down the food chain – sardines, jellyfish and shellfish for instance, and pole and line caught fish minimises bycatch associated with longlines and the habitat destruction associated with trawls. None of this is confidential information – a quick search and you can find plenty of information from the Marine Conservation Society (they even have iOS and Android apps) about where different species come from and how they are caught.
• Similarly, different foods require different resources. As a general rule, a diet with the least amount of environmental impact consists primarily of fruits, vegetables and grains and little or no meat. And if you can, buy produce that has not travelled a long way – less air miles, and less wastage from spoilage during long transits. See video below.
• Above all else, understand these issues – to me, this takes away their overwhelming amorphous terror. Start by learning about the human species in context. I cannnot recommend Elizabeth Kolbert’s incredible Pulitzer-winning The Sixth Extinction  enough, as a highly readable introduction to the concept. She interviews scientists watching their life’s work go extinct, visits an island made of bleached coral on the Great Barrier Reef and talks about how perceptions take a generation or so to change. Those more interested in marine life specifically should try Callum Roberts’ The Unnatural History of the Sea, who meticulously ploughs through archaic records from early fishermen, pirates and explorers to set a new baseline for human impacts on the ocean.

Despite grave threats facing the ocean, life is remarkably resilient, and where beneficial alternatives are provided, there are success stories. Despite resistance from the fishing industry, no-take zones like those in New Zealand have proved highly successful at restoring fully mature fish and species not seen in decades, protecting biodiversity and then being available for fishing as well. For us, the four-year Blue Belt plan aims to protect 4 million square kilometres of marine habitat, an area larger than India, across 7 UK Overseas Territories. Ultimately, getting business to prioritise conservation, and large scale international cooperation on legislation are ultimate goals, but these large scale changes always begin with small groups of scientist, campaigners and passionate citizens. Some of this has come from our university. If you can convince your place of work to waste less food or use less plastic, then why not do it? You can also go here to check if your local MP is on board with the Blue Belt plan, and contact them to tell them to vote in its favour. As a country with the fifth largest area of marine habitat in its jurisdiction, having this go through UK parliament would be globally significant.

The public engagement from this new Blue Planet series has been extremely heartening. It was so popular in China that it slowed down the internet there, and is the third most watched series of the last five years. I look forward to seeing what people inspired by the series will do in the future.

Feel free to ask me any further questions on Twitter @kieranyes.

The post Blue Planet 2 | Episode 7 | Our Blue Planet appeared first on Exploring our Oceans .

We have a tendency to take our coastlines for granted. It is by far the most accessible and relatable marine habitat, with thousands flocking there every day for their primary source of food, watersports, or just to relax. The UN estimates 40% of the world’s population live in coastal areas. They provide the most extensive economic and social benefits of any natural habitat, encompassing 77% of the services provided to us by all ecosystems. It is where most of us began our love for the sea. In the UK, you are never more than 70 miles away from it. Yet it is easy to forget it is a place of extremes, and as important as any other marine habitat.

Coastal species have to endure excruciating changes in their environment twice a day. Marine animals can be categorised based on their preferences and adaptability to two primary conditions: temperature and salinity (‘saltiness’). A change in salt might be nothing to one of us as we are osmoregulators (we regulate our internal environment) – for an osmoconformer, like a sea cucumber or starfish, this can be devastating. Too little salt, and your internal water diffuses out, and too much, and outside water will pass in until your cells burst. In the ocean, these conditions remain relatively stable – you can assume that they are unlikely to change dramatically in the next few metres, or few hours. However, if you live in the intertidal zone, you are likely to be bombarded with really hot temperatures at low tide, dramatic changes in salinity if you live in an estuary or at a river mouth, and running out of oxygen if you are caught in a rockpool. To make matters worse, the coast itself is constantly shifting, as shown in the programme. You have to be very hardy and resilient to live here.

Coastal management is a huge challenge anywhere in the world – there is always a trade off between using the coastline for economic and recreational ventures, but not at the sacrifice of the coast’s ecology and longevity. Although only covering 20% of the Earth’s surface, 41% of the world’s population are coastal inhabitants. For example Guyana, a country larger than the UK, 90% of its population lives on a narrow coastal plane, and only a narrow sea wall protects its inhabitants from the ocean. 21 of the world’s 33 megacities are found on the coast, including Tokyo, Lagos, New York and Buenos Aires. With a globally increasing population, how do we ensure coastlines are sustainably developed and not overxploited?

I have noticed that the UK’s coastlines are a severely underrated habitat among many wildlife enthusiasts. Since the establishment of Lundy Island as the first MCZ (Marine Conservation Zone) in January 2010, a total of 50 sites now make up an area the same size as Wales. These are designated to protect rare and threatened species, and also the wide diversity of life found here. We were lucky enough to conduct some camera drop surveys of the maerl beds of the Fal Special Area of Conservation – a red calcareous algae, superficially similar to corals – of which the UK has in several locations. Maerl can be up to 8000 years old, and provide habitat for rare species like Couch’s goby, much like coral reefs do in the tropics. Additionally mudflats, estuaries and sandbanks are not the most glamorous marine habitats but have still been highlighted for conservation as part of global efforts to conserve biodiversity. Just as an example to the importance of this Blue Belt initiative, seagulls are a red list species in the UK due to their overall declines across the country due to habitat loss. This will come as a surprise to many. They are widely considered pests as they have been increasing in urban areas, partly because of abundant food, and partly because they have nowhere else to go.

Appreciating and conserving the marine environment does not just encompass tropical coral reefs, the great whales of the open ocean and the polar ice caps that many of us will only ever admire through a screen. Declines in biodiversity are all-encompassing and are essential for the future of habitats, and ultimately, our own wellbeing. We in the UK are just as responsible for protecting our marine species as any other country, and you don’t have to fly to the tropics to be close to the Blue Planet.

The post Blue Planet 2 | Episode 6 | Coasts appeared first on Exploring our Oceans .

There is plenty about this episode to talk about. Phytoplankton – an umbrella term for a menagerie of different photosynthesizing organisms –  prop up all other life in the ocean and provide 50% of oxygen for the entire Earth. Despite only covering 0.1% of the Earth’s surface, ‘blue forests’ (seagrass meadows, kelp forests, salt marshes and mangroves) capture about a third of carbon dioxide produced since the Industrial Revolution. Stacey Felgate’s excellent post talked a great deal about ‘blue carbon’ and wetland decline’s consequences for global climate change. Elin correctly predicted sea otter trophic cascades making an appearance – there are fascinating other examples of this from Yellowstone Park to the extinction of giant Ice Age animals. The scenes showing octopus and cephalopod ingenuity could warrant several extensive essays on some of their incredible capabilities, and equally some of the challenges with defining ‘intelligence’ in order to study animal cognition.

I’ll talk specifically about mangrove forests, a tropical coastal habitat characterised by marine adapted trees. Mangroves are an extremely interesting, and extreme, habitat. They have to endure the dramatic changes in salinity and temperature that characterise the intertidal zone. To cope with living in salty water, the mangrove trees have had to evolve to excrete salt from their leaves or by depositing it in roots or bark. These trees are also considered ‘viviparous’ – meaning they give birth to live young (it sounds strange, but this is the correct term!) – as young trees fall straight out of the adult tree and stick straight into the sand or mud like daggers. These ‘baby trees’ are called propagules, and in other cases they may float for weeks across the ocean. Mangroves only cover 0.1% of the Earth’s surface, but account for around 14% of total terrestrial carbon input to the ocean. They provide a link between the ocean and the land, which an extensive menagerie of different species utilise and have adapted to.

As well as being home to many species of juvenile fish, they also provide shelter and resources for dolphins, manatees and dugongs, hundreds of species of birds, and even monkeys. Borneo’s distinguished proboscis monkey is a mangrove specialist. Biodiversity value aside, charismatic animals attract tourists and fish nurseries promote the availability of fish for consumption, particularly important when the majority of people around them rely on fish for their primary source of protein. The tree roots also stabilise the environment, making it easier for other species to live in. The role of mangroves in storm and tsunami protection has provided more incentives to protect them, particularly as extreme storms are becoming more frequent with climate change.

The simple fact is, if you are eating cheap shrimp today, it almost certainly comes from a turbid, pesticide-and-antibiotic filled, virus-ridden pond in the tropical clines of one of the world’s poorest countries

But not all is hopeless – mangrove restoration projects exist all over the world, and are reasonably successful. More robust protection is needed worldwide, and this starts with awareness, which Blue Planet II is doing superbly, and will continue to into the future. And, of course, think twice next time you buy cheap shrimp.

The post Blue Planet 2 | Episode 5 | Green Seas appeared first on Exploring our Oceans .

Huge shoals of plankton move from the deep sea and back every day as the sun rises and sets. There are massive migrations of small fish and squid that follow them to exploit this resource, as well as larger predators which hunt them. This enormous movement of biomass from the deep sea to surface and back happens every single day.

Despite the colossal size of this environment, Attenborough very rightly points out that it is still by no means hugely separated from human life. As well as the famous Pacific Garbage Patch that Elin talked about in another post, there is plastic and other marine waste in the most pristine and remote coral reefs. I have heard stories from fellow divers in the Indo-west Pacific about seeing used nappies floating past on dives. I was lucky enough to be involved with a school trip to Baubau near Sulawesi in Indonesia, and we spent a few hours on an uninhabited island cleaning up trash. On another island in Malaysia I found a DVD player and a washing machine on the beach. These are unusual exceptions – polystyrene, plastic bags and straws are ubiquitous in the ocean anywhere in the world. It’s no different in the UK – the Marine Conservation Society at Southampton spend hundreds of hours removing rubbish from beaches on the South coast. When we see pollution in an area we can all agree it is unpleasant, but as a scientist we understand it in context of this colossal, global and unprecedented problem.

This affects all levels of the marine food web. We tend to think of the deep sea as being this remote alien world, but it is still inextricably linked to human life. Microplastics accumulate in deep sea sediments – at 10,000 times higher concentrations than at the surface. Up to 90% of seabirds have plastic in their guts. Another aspect not explored in the programme is that other pollutants dissolved in water – fouling paint, oil and other contaminants – accumulate on plastics, and so make plastic even more toxic to marine life. Pollution becomes more concentrated in higher levels of the food chain in a process known as ‘biomagnification’, where smaller fish with some pollution in them are eaten in large quantities by larger fish. This means that top predators like tuna, sharks and marine mammals are the most contaminated. And as well as being concerning for environmental reasons, the seafood we eat are no exception – plastic has been found in a third of UK-caught fish, and shellfish lovers may consume up to 11,000 plastic particles per year.

Biodegradable plastic is not biodegradable in the sense one might think. These plastics are held together with degradable fibres, so they break down into smaller components. Eventually, they break down into ‘microplastics’, which then spread into every corner of the ocean. It has been suggested that a layer of plastic will be what will distinguish the human era in the fossil record of the future.

It is extremely heartening to see the reactions to this problem, and some countries (most recently Kenya) have even completely banned plastic bags outright. Hopefully Blue Planet will encourage more people than ever to think twice about whether they need that straw or bag, and eventually encourage governments and large companies to move away from the excessive use of this material.

The post Blue Planet | Episode 4 | Big Blue appeared first on Exploring our Oceans .

It is therefore extremely concerning that reefs are in the worst state they have ever been in. The programme was not exaggerating how serious this is. No reef anywhere on Earth is what it was 20 years ago, and is barely recognisable from 100 years ago. One important consideration in ecological science is setting a baseline – a ‘pristine’ environment, or a ‘fully grown’ fish – to act as a control with which to assess the extent of change. This is usually a nearby area, or the same location a few months or years before. What is problematic is that these baselines change generation to generation (2).

As a young person, the places I have dived and snorkelled that I consider ‘amazing’ would be considered degraded to senior divers who started diving 50 years ago. On a fieldcourse in Bermuda this summer I was struck by the beauty of an offshore reef we visited to measure coral cover – I was surprised to hear the scientists working at BIOS considered this site degraded. The same issue occurs with fisheries, where what is considered a ‘big fish’ by one generation would have been considered a juvenile by a great grandparent. The programme’s spectacular footage from French Polynesia represents the kind of community that most coral reefs would have possessed at one time – today represented by very few extremely remote places. It is thought that before human interference, apex predators like groupers and sharks would have made up the majority of biomass in a reef community (3). Perspective is powerful, and as scientists we must select ours carefully.

Additionally, the corals on which the entire reef ecosystem depends are imperilled worldwide. The largest living structure on Earth, the Great Barrier Reef, bleached two consecutive years in 2016 and 2017 – the first time this has ever happened – in the worst bleaching event in its history. Corals in the Caribbean have declined by 40% in the last five decades (4). Something that I have found as fascinating as shocking considering contemporary life on Earth in the context of its entire history. This decline is a geologically significant event – such large formations dying en mass in a blink of an eye in terms of Earth history is an unusual freak event. The science is increasingly showing that humans are the most influential species of vertebrate in the history of life on Earth.

There have been encouraging suggestions of long-term adaptability – some of the research coming from the Coral Reef Lab at NOC. Some reefs in the Middle East have showed less extreme responses to bleaching. However, I attended a seminar by Dr. Leonard Nurse of University of the West Indies in Barbados a few weeks ago, who is involved in Caribbean coastal management and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He made no qualms about mentioning that “no evidence exists that corals can adapt to unabated thermal stress over decadal timescales”.

Change is occurring at both regional and global scales, and although reefs are already declining globally, regional management, intergovernmental climate change agreements and robust science are key to boosting reef longevity and resilience. Seeing the enormous engagement and widespread reaction to the Blue Planet episode is extremely encouraging, and I look forward to seeing a new generation inspired to understand and protect these beautiful habitats.

1. Pascal, N. et al. Economic valuation of coral reef ecosystem service of coastal protection: A pragmatic approach. Ecosyst. Serv. 21, 72–80 (2016).
2. Roberts, C. The Unnatural History of the Sea. (Island Press/Shearwater Books, 2008).
3. Friedlander, A. M. & DeMartini, E. E. Contrasts in density, size, and biomass of reef fishes between the northwestern and the main Hawaiian islands: the effects of fishing down apex predators. Marine Ecology Progress Series 230, 253–264 (2002).
4. Gardner, T. A., Côté, I. M., Gill, J. A., Grant, A. & Watkinson, A. R. Long-Term Region-Wide Declines in Caribbean Corals. Science (80-. ). 301, 958–960 (2003).

The post Blue Planet | Episode 3 | Coral Reefs appeared first on Exploring our Oceans .

One answer is complexity. The oceans contain a myriad of living organisms, and witnessing so many unique creatures interacting with each other provides endless fascination. As a chemist, I will never cease to marvel at the multitude of different atomic combinations which allows this incredible system to exist and live. The most complex molecules that man can create pale in comparison to what nature can do!

I am also interested in the unique challenges and opportunities that the oceans represent. Looking at the bigger picture, the oceans provide millions of people with food, contain vast reserves of metals and minerals, and are even inspiring new medicines. To me, this means a responsibility for us all – figuring out how to make use of the oceans whilst still preserving and protecting them is a huge challenge for humanity. From a personal perspective, I believe the oceans are worth caring for and I want to contribute to that in whatever small way I can. Luckily this is a very enjoyable challenge, and I have been able to learn many interesting skills in pursuit of this goal both at work and in my spare time.

The post Heather Goring-Harford: What do the oceans mean to me? appeared first on Exploring our Oceans .

Having written a similar post for the previous runs of the MOOC, I thought I would show a few photos of what the ocean means to me at the moment. My research group recently took part in some exciting fieldwork in Canada. I am part of the Sedimentology and Marine Geohazards research group, and we focus on studying the record left behind in marine sediments of natural disasters. A few of us took some time to explore what this means in Western Canada, we are specifically interested in studying the past history of tsunamis, which can be generated not only by earthquakes, but also by large submarine landslides. This is a very real risk in Canada, and well managed through information signs and guided evacuation routes. Part of my PhD is looking at how frequently we have had tsunami waves in the UK, and how likely it is to happen again:

The Pacific Coast is also truly beatiful, rugged coastlines, crashing waves, fog rolling in:

Whilst we were working in Canada, I was part of the sediment filtering team, which gave me a new perspective on ocean research. We collected water samples periodically to calibrate our equipment and to look at how concentration of sediment changes throughout the day. We had to improvise a lab on shore, for which we needed running water, a sink and power, so we put together an improvised lab in one of the hotel bathrooms!

My favourite thoughts of the ocean is invariably from many holidays spent at the beach, and the briefest of summer days this year when it has been sunny enough to walk the Dorset coastline with my dog:

What does the ocean mean to you? The MOOC mentors are looking forward to seeing your photos on the padlet wall!

The post Millie Watts: What does the ocean mean to me? appeared first on Exploring our Oceans .

Just a few short days until we get started with “Exploring our Oceans”, the course is ready, the mentors and educators are excited and we cannot wait to get stuck into what promises to be an exciting course. Last time (our first run was in February) we asked staff at NOC (The National Oceanography Centre) and students on the course to share a picture with the rest of the course that shows what the ocean means to you.

This was one of our most popular activities, and we had over 1000 images uploaded to twitter and Padlet, and using these images we created this mosaic of the world (full size zoomable version here):

We are going to run the same activity this time, during the first week of the course (next week) we will be asking students to share a photo on Padlet (you do not need to create an account for this, full instructions in week 1). In the meantime, our course team, staff and students at NOC will be sharing a few of their images on Twitter (@UoSOceans or #FLoceans), we would love to see your images as well, so send us a tweet or post a link below and we will be capturing all your shared images for a new mosaic at the end of week 2.

Here is mine, taken from my most recent ocean based adventure on Svalbard, we spent a week in a field centre only accessible by boat, and the weather turned so bad, we had to abandon our attempt to leave by open ribs, and return to base camp (actually a very lovely hotel/remote university classroom at Isfjord Radio). Fortunately, the Norwegian Coastguard were in the area, and offered to pick us up, along with some tourists who had come for a day trip. As we were returning to Longyearbyen, we passed through the fjord and captured this shot of the snow mountains bathed in alpine glow, a result of the low angle of elevation the sun reaches this far north. This part of the world is one of the great unknowns in understanding our climate, and the role of the oceans in regulating it. The poles are prone to very rapid change, and the effects of anthropogenic warming are far more pronounced here than at lower latitudes. So for me, this photo captures a particularly exciting field expedition, some very good luck for us that the coastguard were available, and a very beautiful meeting of the oceans and the ice, an essential part of my PhD!

Looking forward to seeing your images!

@GeoMillie

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For those of you unfamiliar with polychaete worms (bristle worms), they are segmented worms generally found in marine environments from shallow coastal waters to deep-sea abyssal plains.  On each body segment of a polychaete worm there is a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia, these bare many bristles called chaetae. Polychaetes range in size from 1 mm to 3 m long! Here are my top three pretty polychaetes:

1) Spirobranchus giganteus also known as the Christmas tree worm. This worm has a tubular segmented body, the two “crowns” shaped like Christmas trees are specialized mouth appendages that it uses to trap prey.

2) Eupolymnia cf. korrangia.  From the family Terebellidae, these are surface deposit feeders, catching falling particles with numerous elongate tentacles splayed out on the sea floor. The tentacles give them their common name of spaghetti worms.

3) Riftia pachyptila are found living next to hydrothermal vents (underwater chimneys). These worms can reach up to 2.4 m long. They depend on bacteria living inside them to supply food. The bacteria convert chemicals from the hydrothermal vents into organic molecules. 

These are just a few of many, many pretty polychaetes

Image credits:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Spirobrancheus_giganteus.jpg

http://australianmuseum.net.au/image/Polychaete-Eupolymnia-cf-korrangia/

http://invertebrates.si.edu/Features/stories/vestimentifera.html

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Week 1 is drawing to a close, and we have been so touched by the response to our padlet activity that we wanted to show you how many wonderful pictures had been uploaded. We currently have jus over 1000 images you have shared, and we wanted to be able to display them all as a summary image, so here is a photo mosaic from all your images! You can click on the image for a link to a zoomable version, you should be able to make it full screen by clicking on the square image on the bottom right (once you are in the mosaically website) and see if you can find your picture!

Thank you again for so many of you taking part, and from all of us here on the MOOC team, we hope you continue to enjoy the course! Next weeks materials will be available on monday morning, when we get stuck into some physical oceanography! As with this week, please do use the forums to ask questions or if you need further explanation, and remember you can revisit the course materials at any time.

See you on the forums!

Millie

(@GeoMillie)

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