Assessing sea floor functional biodiversity and vulnerability

Assessing vulnerability

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Large-scale patterns in biodiversity of microbial eukaryotes from the abyssal sea floor.

Eukaryotic microbial life at abyssal depths remains "uncharted territory" in eukaryotic microbiology. No phylogenetic surveys have focused on the largest benthic environment on this planet, the abyssal plains. Moreover, knowledge of the spatial patterns of deep-sea community structure is scanty, and what little is known originates primarily from morphology-based studies of foraminiferans. Here ...

Surprises from the sea floor

Unknown planet: Around 72% of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans, and much of that surface is still unchartered territory for science. (Graphic: SuperStock.) More than seventy percent of the surface of our planet is covered by oceans. 88 percent of their area is deeper than 1,000 metres and thus difficult to access for research. There are only a handful of research submersibles that can d...

Assessing Vulnerability of Groundwater

Computational bioacoustics for assessing biodiversity

The INFN NEMO-OνDE (Ocean Noise Detection Experiment) station, deployed on the seafloor at 2000 m depth 25 km offshore Catania (Sicily, Italy) in year 2005, was designed to continuously transmit broad-band acoustic data through optical cables to the INFN lab located in the port of Catania. It was operational until November 2006, when it was replaced by other experimental equipment. During the o...