Abstract
Maintaining healthy, productive ecosystems in the face of pervasive and accelerating human impacts including climate change requires globally coordinated and sustained observations of marine biodiversity. Global coordination is predicated on an understanding of the scope and capacity of existing monitoring programs, and the extent to which they use standardized, interoperable practices for data management. Global coordination also requires identification of gaps in spatial and ecosystem coverage, and how these gaps correspond to management priorities and information needs. We undertook such an assessment by conducting an audit and gap analysis from global databases and structured surveys of experts. Of 371 survey respondents, 203 active, long-term (>5 years) observing programs systematically sampled marine life. These programs spanned about 7% of the ocean surface area, mostly concentrated in coastal regions of the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia. Seagrasses, mangroves, hard corals, and macroalgae were sampled in 6% of the entire global coastal zone. Two-thirds of all observing programs offered accessible data, but methods and conditions for access were highly variable. Our assessment indicates that the global observing system is largely uncoordinated which results in a failure to deliver critical information required for informed decision-making such as, status and trends, for the conservation and sustainability of marine ecosystems and provision of ecosystem services. Based on our study, we suggest four key steps that can increase the sustainability, connectivity and spatial coverage of biological Essential Ocean Variables in the global ocean: (1) sustaining existing observing programs and encouraging coordination among these; (2) continuing to strive for data strategies that follow FAIR principles (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable); (3) utilizing existing ocean observing platforms and enhancing support to expand observing along coasts of developing countries, in deep ocean basins, and near the poles; and (4) targeting capacity building efforts. Following these suggestions could help create a coordinated marine biodiversity observing system enabling ecological forecasting and better planning for a sustainable use of ocean resources.
Highlights
Marine ecosystems provide essential services to society, including food security, livelihoods, recreation, and nature-based climate solutions (Benway et al, 2019; König et al, 2019; Winther et al, 2020; Estes et al, 2021)
The information, including the spatial extent, about these observing programs is available via a public metadata portal that is in development as part of the GOOS2
We suggest four key steps that can increase the sustainability, connectivity, and spatial coverage of biological EOVs in the global ocean: (1) sustain existing longterm observing programs to understand long-term trends and processes and encourage better communication and coordination among programs building connectivity across larger spatial scales; (2) promote and strive for FAIR data and the convergence toward common methods and community practices to ensure that observing data can be integrated across scales and domains; (3) expand biological ocean observations to fill gaps in sampling, including along coasts of developing countries, in deep ocean basins, and in the Arctic Ocean to enhance global coverage; and (4) leverage existing capacity development and technology transfer efforts to promote sustainability and broader coverage (Figure 7)
Summary
Marine ecosystems provide essential services to society, including food security, livelihoods, recreation, and nature-based climate solutions (Benway et al, 2019; König et al, 2019; Winther et al, 2020; Estes et al, 2021). Long-term and spatially representative measurements of marine ecosystems are vital to: (1) detect seasonal, annual, and decadal climate variability and trends, (2) distinguish between natural and human-induced change, (3) understand the causes of change (e.g., ocean warming relative to extractive industries), (4) understand ecological mechanisms (e.g., food web interactions) and consequences of change (including adaptive capabilities), and (5) improve coupled physical, biogeochemical, and ecological forecasting Such information underpins marine ecosystem management, conservation and development efforts, informs indicators of progress toward globally-agreed upon goals and targets, and is fundamental to achieve socially equitable and ecologically sustainable ocean economies (Benway et al, 2019; Rayner et al, 2019). Collecting this information and sharing it with stakeholders worldwide requires a coordinated, integrated ocean observing system, as recognized by many international entities and processes, including the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030; Ryabinin et al, 2019; Heymans et al, 2020) and the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (Winther et al, 2020)
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