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Man and the Last Great Wilderness: Human Impact on the Deep Sea
The deep sea, the largest ecosystem on Earth and one of the least studied, harbours high biodiversity and provides a wealth of resources. Although humans have used the oceans for millennia, technological developments now allow exploitation of fisheries resources, hydrocarbons and minerals below 2000...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2011
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3148232/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21829635 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0022588 |
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author | Ramirez-Llodra, Eva Tyler, Paul A. Baker, Maria C. Bergstad, Odd Aksel Clark, Malcolm R. Escobar, Elva Levin, Lisa A. Menot, Lenaick Rowden, Ashley A. Smith, Craig R. Van Dover, Cindy L. |
author_facet | Ramirez-Llodra, Eva Tyler, Paul A. Baker, Maria C. Bergstad, Odd Aksel Clark, Malcolm R. Escobar, Elva Levin, Lisa A. Menot, Lenaick Rowden, Ashley A. Smith, Craig R. Van Dover, Cindy L. |
author_sort | Ramirez-Llodra, Eva |
collection | PubMed |
description | The deep sea, the largest ecosystem on Earth and one of the least studied, harbours high biodiversity and provides a wealth of resources. Although humans have used the oceans for millennia, technological developments now allow exploitation of fisheries resources, hydrocarbons and minerals below 2000 m depth. The remoteness of the deep seafloor has promoted the disposal of residues and litter. Ocean acidification and climate change now bring a new dimension of global effects. Thus the challenges facing the deep sea are large and accelerating, providing a new imperative for the science community, industry and national and international organizations to work together to develop successful exploitation management and conservation of the deep-sea ecosystem. This paper provides scientific expert judgement and a semi-quantitative analysis of past, present and future impacts of human-related activities on global deep-sea habitats within three categories: disposal, exploitation and climate change. The analysis is the result of a Census of Marine Life – SYNDEEP workshop (September 2008). A detailed review of known impacts and their effects is provided. The analysis shows how, in recent decades, the most significant anthropogenic activities that affect the deep sea have evolved from mainly disposal (past) to exploitation (present). We predict that from now and into the future, increases in atmospheric CO(2) and facets and consequences of climate change will have the most impact on deep-sea habitats and their fauna. Synergies between different anthropogenic pressures and associated effects are discussed, indicating that most synergies are related to increased atmospheric CO(2) and climate change effects. We identify deep-sea ecosystems we believe are at higher risk from human impacts in the near future: benthic communities on sedimentary upper slopes, cold-water corals, canyon benthic communities and seamount pelagic and benthic communities. We finalise this review with a short discussion on protection and management methods. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-3148232 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2011 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-31482322011-08-09 Man and the Last Great Wilderness: Human Impact on the Deep Sea Ramirez-Llodra, Eva Tyler, Paul A. Baker, Maria C. Bergstad, Odd Aksel Clark, Malcolm R. Escobar, Elva Levin, Lisa A. Menot, Lenaick Rowden, Ashley A. Smith, Craig R. Van Dover, Cindy L. PLoS One Review The deep sea, the largest ecosystem on Earth and one of the least studied, harbours high biodiversity and provides a wealth of resources. Although humans have used the oceans for millennia, technological developments now allow exploitation of fisheries resources, hydrocarbons and minerals below 2000 m depth. The remoteness of the deep seafloor has promoted the disposal of residues and litter. Ocean acidification and climate change now bring a new dimension of global effects. Thus the challenges facing the deep sea are large and accelerating, providing a new imperative for the science community, industry and national and international organizations to work together to develop successful exploitation management and conservation of the deep-sea ecosystem. This paper provides scientific expert judgement and a semi-quantitative analysis of past, present and future impacts of human-related activities on global deep-sea habitats within three categories: disposal, exploitation and climate change. The analysis is the result of a Census of Marine Life – SYNDEEP workshop (September 2008). A detailed review of known impacts and their effects is provided. The analysis shows how, in recent decades, the most significant anthropogenic activities that affect the deep sea have evolved from mainly disposal (past) to exploitation (present). We predict that from now and into the future, increases in atmospheric CO(2) and facets and consequences of climate change will have the most impact on deep-sea habitats and their fauna. Synergies between different anthropogenic pressures and associated effects are discussed, indicating that most synergies are related to increased atmospheric CO(2) and climate change effects. We identify deep-sea ecosystems we believe are at higher risk from human impacts in the near future: benthic communities on sedimentary upper slopes, cold-water corals, canyon benthic communities and seamount pelagic and benthic communities. We finalise this review with a short discussion on protection and management methods. Public Library of Science 2011-08-01 /pmc/articles/PMC3148232/ /pubmed/21829635 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0022588 Text en Ramirez-Llodra et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited. |
spellingShingle | Review Ramirez-Llodra, Eva Tyler, Paul A. Baker, Maria C. Bergstad, Odd Aksel Clark, Malcolm R. Escobar, Elva Levin, Lisa A. Menot, Lenaick Rowden, Ashley A. Smith, Craig R. Van Dover, Cindy L. Man and the Last Great Wilderness: Human Impact on the Deep Sea |
title | Man and the Last Great Wilderness: Human Impact on the Deep Sea |
title_full | Man and the Last Great Wilderness: Human Impact on the Deep Sea |
title_fullStr | Man and the Last Great Wilderness: Human Impact on the Deep Sea |
title_full_unstemmed | Man and the Last Great Wilderness: Human Impact on the Deep Sea |
title_short | Man and the Last Great Wilderness: Human Impact on the Deep Sea |
title_sort | man and the last great wilderness: human impact on the deep sea |
topic | Review |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3148232/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21829635 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0022588 |
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