MIDAS
According to MIDAS website, the partnership comprises 32 organisations from across Europe, including research institutes, universities, specialist SMEs and industry partners. This partnership brings together a wealth of scientific expertise in deep-sea biology, ecology, biochemistry, oceanography, geology and geochemistry to work alongside specialists in marine policy, environmental regulation and legislation. A critical component of the partnership is the expertise in deep-sea exploitation operations and technologies brought by our industry partners, who will also drive the engagement with other commercial stakeholders in the offshore sector.
MIDAS has an ambitious set of objectives, aimed at building the knowledge base to underpin sound environmental policies in relation to deep-sea exploitation:
- To identify the scale of possible impacts, and their duration, on deep-sea ecosystems associated with different types of resource extraction activities;
- To develop workable solutions and best practice codes for environmentally sound and socially acceptable commercial activities;
- To develop cost-effective technologies for monitoring the impacts of mineral exploitation and the subsequent recovery of ecosystems;
- To work with policy makers in the European and international arenas to enshrine best practice in international and national regulations and overarching legal frameworks.
Posts
Diversity of deep-sea scale-worms in the CCFZ: the most oligotrophic site is also the most diverse?
The Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCFZ) harbours the largest field of polymetallic nodules in the world potentially holding 34 billion metric tons of manganese that could represent at least 25 trillion USD.
New genera and species of polynoids provide phylogenetic insights into deep-sea scale-worms
This paper was published end 2018 after two long years of work and I would like to remember it :D
The family Polynoidae is one of the six polychaete families of scale-worms, so-called because they are covered by some sort of scales on dorsal side (often lost).
Publications
Diversity of deep-sea scale-worms (Annelida, Polynoidae) in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone
Our study is the first to describe the diversity patterns of polynoid assemblages along a 1400 km transect crossing a productivity gradient in the CCFZ with the aim to assess the factors possibly driving alpha and beta diversity. Polynoids are a very diverse group of scale worms living at water sediment interface that can only be accurately sampled in the abyss with an epibenthic sledge (EBS). Although the EBS may suffer from methodological biases, our findings are surprisingly contrasting with previous studies examining mostly sedentary polychaetes in that we found high abundance and species richness in the most oligotrophic site. We suggest that during their radiation in the deep sea, macellicephalins have adapted to the exploitation of meager resources at the benthic boundary layer. Our findings contribute to understanding of how food-limitation could drive diversification in the deep-sea by accessing the water column and thus exploiting new benthopelagic niches.
Alpha and beta diversity patterns of polychaete assemblages across the nodule province of the eastern Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (equatorial Pacific)
The patterns observed in the composition of polychaete assemblages were attributed to variations in food supply at the regional scale and nodule density at the local scale. The high levels of species replacement were mainly driven by rare species, leading to regional species pool estimates between 498 and 240 000 species. The high proportion of singletons seems reflect an under-sampling bias that is currently preventing the assessment of potential biodiversity loss due to nodule mining.
New genera and species from the Equatorial Pacific provide phylogenetic insights into deep-sea Polynoidae (Annelida)
This is the first study within the CCFZ describing polynoids species (17 new species and four new genera). Also we provide a reclassification of the subfamilies and comments about polynoids evolution within the deep-sea.
