Abstract

Sustained observations of marine biodiversity and ecosystems focused on specific conservation and management problems are needed around the world to effectively mitigate or manage changes resulting from anthropogenic pressures. These observations, while complex and expensive, are required by the international scientific, governance and policy communities to provide baselines against which the effects of human pressures and climate change may be measured and reported, and resources allocated to implement solutions. To identify biological and ecological essential ocean variables (EOVs) for implementation within a global ocean observing system that is relevant for science, informs society, and technologically feasible, we used a driver-pressure-state-impact-response (DPSIR) model. We (1) examined relevant international agreements to identify societal drivers and pressures on marine resources and ecosystems, (2) evaluated the temporal and spatial scales of variables measured by 100+ observing programs, and (3) analysed the impact and scalability of these variables and how they contribute to address societal and scientific issues. EOVs were related to the status of ecosystem components (phytoplankton and zooplankton biomass and diversity, and abundance and distribution of fish, marine turtles, birds and mammals), and to the extent and health of ecosystems (cover and composition of hard coral, seagrass, mangrove and macroalgal canopy). Benthic invertebrate abundance and distribution and microbe diversity and biomass were identified as emerging EOVs to be developed based on emerging requirements and new technologies. The temporal scale at which any shifts in biological systems will be detected will vary across the EOVs, the properties being monitored and the length of the existing time-series. Global implementation to deliver useful products will require collaboration of the scientific and policy sectors and a significant commitment to improve human and infrastructure capacity across the globe, including the development of new, more automated observing technologies, and encouraging the application of international standards and best practices.

Highlights

  • Climate change and our increasing use of the ocean are affecting important marine resources and ecosystems at local, regional and global scales and threaten the well-being of human kind

  • Agencies that look after marine resources need timely information of relevant ocean changes to improve forecasting capabilities (Gattuso et al, 2015; ITF, 2015), respond with adaptive and more rapid mitigating measures (Dunn, Maxwell, Boustany, & Halpin, 2016; Maxwell et al, 2015) and sustain blue economies (Golden et al, 2017)

  • To meet the need of delivering ocean data to support governance and management, a framework for ocean observing emerged from the OceanObs’09 conference. This framework proposes the coordination and integration of routine and sustained observations of physical, biogeochemical, and biological essential ocean variables, or EOVs, which are fit for purpose and defined by specific requirements (Lindstrom, Gunn, Fischer, McCurdy, & Glover, 2012)

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Summary

| INTRODUCTION

Climate change and our increasing use of the ocean are affecting important marine resources and ecosystems at local, regional and global scales and threaten the well-being of human kind. They should address fundamental characteristics of the biological components of marine ecosystems that can be combined into indicators to (1) represent the complexity of real-world natural systems, (2) track temporal and spatial changes in the state of the environment, (3) evaluate management performance, (4) deliver information and products to scientific and policy audiences (Hayes et al, 2015) and (5) assess progress towards international goals and targets (Halpern et al, 2017; Tittensor et al, 2014; Walpole et al, 2009) With these criteria, GOOS defines biological/ecological EOVs as those sustained measurements that are necessary to assess the state and change of marine ecosystems, address scientific and societal questions and needs, and positively impact society by providing data that will help mitigate pressures on ecosystems at local, regional and global scales. We explain how we used the DPSIR (driver-pressure-state-impact-response) model, a well-known framework used to guide environmental assessment and reporting (Atkins, Burdon, Elliott, & Gregory, 2011; EEA, 1995; Hayes et al, 2015; Kelble et al, 2013; Maxim, Spangenberg, & O’Connor, 2009; Omann, Stocker, & J€ager, 2009) to prioritize types of observations and to build a suite of EOVs that will detect temporal and spatial changes in marine biodiversity and ecosystem state, supporting increasingly successful management of marine resources and ecosystems over the decades to come (Figure 1)

| MATERIALS AND METHODS
| RESULTS
Findings
| DISCUSSION
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