The past, present and future of unique cold-water benthic (sea floor) ecosystems in the Southern Ocean

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Biodiversity loss and extinction are key issues today, around 1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction, many within decades. We rely on these natural resources for survival (e.g. food, drug uses) and leisure (e.g. tourism). Approximately 66% of marine environments have been significantly altered by human actions. The Southern Ocean, surrounding Antarctica is extremely vulnerable to environmental change; it is one of the fastest warming areas on the planet. As such, it is a natural laboratory for understanding environmental change. This fellowship aims to understand the biological response of ecosystems to environmental change, using the Southern Ocean as an example. This project is novel as it will include data on Antarctic sea floor communities from a long-time frame to the present day. To understand how Antarctica has changed over the last 50 million years, I will study the excellent fossil sites found in Antarctica, with well-preserved exposures from warm greenhouse and cool icehouse periods. I will use these past analogues to identify potential effects of climate warming. In addition, I will develop methodologies to understand the structure, function and stability of modern Southern Ocean ecosystems. Combined, this work will provide a step-wise increase in our ability to predict ecosystem disturbance in a changing environment.Southern Ocean sea floor communities here are vulnerable, deemed to be at a high risk from modern environmental change. We need to understand the stability of these communities, and how they formed, to be able to protect them from increasing human influence such as tourism, fishing, and climate change. Most marine biodiversity in Antarctica is found on the sea floor, where animals such as lamp shells, sponges, and sea lilies are common. I am interested in the interactions between these sea floor animals, and between the animals and their environment. Studying the fossil record will also indicate the environmental conditions under which these Southern Ocean communities evolved.I will compare the structure of sea floor animal communities from warm and cold-water periods in Antarctica's history. I will be looking for links between changes in environment, and changes in the composition and interactions of the organisms. This will help inform us of what predator and prey interactions, and environmental conditions caused this unique community to evolve in the first place. Studying the past gives us insights into how disturbances such as rapid climate change can alter biodiversity. For example: at what temperature in the past do we see the ecosystem structure change to what we find on modern Southern Ocean sea floors? If climate change causes temperatures to rise higher than this, it is likely to restructure the community. The fellowship will also look at the modern Southern Ocean sea floor community. A machine learning tool will be developed to identify the composition and structure of modern communities rapidly from photograph and video data. Statistical methods will be used to identify animals that underpin the community structure, and what effects changing their abundance will have on the rest of the community. With my new understanding of the structure, function, and evolution of these unique sea floor communities, I will pinpoint how human induced environmental change, such as warming, and the introduction of invasive species, could affect biodiversity and restructure communities. This work will provide information about how to manage marine areas, guiding the sustainability of activities such as fishing and tourism, in addition to identifying the risks to biodiversity and marine communities from climate change.