The importance of the oceans, their wildlife and ecosystems
The land and oceans are part of one system: Earth. So when we ask, why are the oceans important? We’re asking about our own future. Life began in the ocean billions of years before the first plants or animals colonised land. Oceans regulate the state of our atmosphere because they are 99 per cent of the volume of living space for animals and wildlife is the mechanism that drives stability.
Climate change has always been the symptom of biodiversity loss … that’s to say, the breakdown of the complex connectivity between lifeforms that allows Earth to flex in response to changing conditions. Ocean wildlife has, for the large part, acted as a buffer against the most catastrophic effects and since about fifty million years ago, has kept our climate quite stable.
Industrial fishing only happened recently in our planet’s history and this reduction in the abundance of wildlife represents our greatest challenge for survival.
Below you will find a range of articles designed to inspire an understanding of the magnitude of animal impact on our oceans.
The importance of whales and dolphins in our oceans
What’s more important, the ocean or the land?
The importance we bestow on the land is anthropocentric because we live there. It’s naturally important to us that we protect it. Nonetheless, if life in the ocean dies, we suffer irreversible changes to land-based ecosystems and climate.
In this article, we take a look at many of the ways that land and oceans are linked together.
The answer to the question, ‘why are the oceans important’, is that we live on the land but the oceans regulate Earth’s temperature. The oceans are equally vital to the land we live on.
Seabirds
The necklace of remote Cook Islands landforms is a renowned safe haven for yachties and a sanctuary for 100,000 seabirds birds. But the islets became …
Sharks and Rays
A paper just published in the Journal of Animal Ecology [1] looks at how sharks scare dugongs and increase seagrass in a tropical environment. While …
Latest posts about why the oceans are important
Deep sea mining is an ocean climate catastrophe because of the release of thousands of years of ecosystem-disrupting chemicals into the oceans. Would you be surprised if I told you, that it’s the lack of animals that makes the deep sea bed critical for biodiversityWhat is the definition of biodiversity? When we ask, what is the definition of biodiversity? It depends on what we want to do with it. The term is widely and commonly misused, leading to significant misinterpretation of the importance of how animals function on Earth and why they matter a great deal, to human survival. Here I will try to More? Let me explain why.
First, let’s keep the science and risks of deep sea mining simple. It can take 1,000 years for animals to remove and safely store one centimetre of chemical-laden silt on the seabed. The proposed scale of deep sea mining could see fifty per cent of ocean bed disturbed to a depth of five centimetres. Even if we restore animal populations, it could take tens of thousands of years for wildlife to restabilise these critical habitatsWhat is habitat for animals and people? Habitat, hence the word "habitable" describes the natural surroundings in which any animal (or human) lives, that houses basic needs, such as food and shelter. Vegetation, for example, is habitat for animals. On its own, habitat is not necessarily stable or sustainable, which is why it differs from an ecosystem. Habitat in disrepair More. Meanwhile, energyEnergy and nutrients are the same thing. Plants capture energy from the Sun and store it in chemicals, via the process of photosynthesis. The excess greenery and waste that plants create, contain chemicals that animals can eat, in order to build their own bodies and reproduce. When a chemical is used this way, we call it a nutrient. As we More released into the ocean, will cause havoc with food chains. This puts pay to any benefits we might see from our efforts for nature-based solutions.
Ocean deserts have critical biodiversity
When we think about the deep sea, we imagine chimneys spewing smoke from the belly of the Earth. These structures are islands for animals that behave the way wildlife first evolved on Earth. The Golden-haired Snail is a relic of those times. Its shell is imbued with iron and it absorbs food energy from the bacteria that live inside its body. It even lacks mouthparts.
The comparatively barren landscapes between these outposts are likened to desert. It’s a good analogy. In parts of the Atlantic, the sediment is a kilometre thick. The world’s tallest sand dunes in Argentina are of similar stature.
Here’s where our use of the term biodiversity becomes a problem. For decades now, we have been confusing it with species richnessThe number of species within a given area. Note, this is often confused with biodiversity but is very different. Species richness is not equal in all areas. Desert species richness is lower but the scale and intensity of species function can still be significant as biodiversity is not about number of species, it's about ecosystem processes. More. Just because habitats aren’t overflowing with animal life, doesn’t mean they aren’t important. Biodiversity is the value that animals bring to our survival on Earth and can’t be discounted that way. Take a river for example. Silt is deposited on the outside of a bend where water slows down. This substrate has fewer animals but you wouldn’t disregard it. This is the process that creates fertile floodplains and maintains the balance between soil carbon and atmospheric carbon.
By ignoring the importance of the seabed, we’re disregarding the enormous role it plays in planetary ocean-climate linked processes.
Successful animals don’t disturb the deep sea climate
If anything, the lack of heavy, lumbering animals is an indication of an ecosystems’ over-riding fragility. Tropical rainforests are species rich, which makes them comparatively resilient, despite hosting many large animals. Whereas any species that changes a less diverse landscape too much, risks extinction, as there are fewer other animals to take up the slack. This is why humans can’t manage ecosystems without a planet-wide abundance and diversity of animals. It doesn’t mean animals have to be densely distributed everywhere.
We’re about to place 25-tonne robotic vacuum cleaners into this landscape.
Light-footed deep sea animals have minimal effect. They maintain surface integrity like the security cordons for a museum’s priceless artworks. Their lack of abundance, if anything, is key to their success, because when it comes to ecosystemsHow ecosystems function An ecosystem is a community of lifeforms that interact in such an optimal way that how ecosystems function best, is when all components (including humans and other animals) can persist and live alongside each other for the longest time possible. Ecosystems are fuelled by the energy created by plants (primary producers) that convert the Sun's heat energy More, less is more. The seabed is the ultimate example of an ecosystem we have to yield to, to survive.
The latest ocean climate catastrophe
Deep sea mining is the latest ocean climate catastrophe because the release of energy locked safely in sediment for thousands of years will irreversibly disrupt global ecosystems. It will change the way ocean systems work and this effect will leak into our atmosphere, affecting our survival on Earth.
Since we are going to immediately destroy something it will take thousands of years for animals to recover, there is no way mining companies can ever successfully mitigate or restore the damage done.
Deep sea mining is possibly one of the biggest threats we have ever faced and it’s happening now. Follow these links to find out what you can do about it.
Spotlight
Sign the Petition
A few countries have agreed full or partial bans, and leading scientists just appealed for a freeze on deep sea mining contracts. Let’s amplifyAmplification (of nutrients and energy). Animals consume plants and other animals and in doing so, reintroduce important energy-containing nutrients back into the environment, at even higher concentrations and in patches. Amplification of energy is driven by migration and happens at every scale, from insects moving daily in and out of your vegetable patch, to African wildebeest herds and the seasonal More their message with a million-strong call, take out newspaper ads to hand deliver to each delegate, then publish their names and their responses. Add your voice and share this widely.
Are you a business?
Commercial deep-sea mining is a new threat that looms for our already imperiled ocean. If allowed to go ahead, mining would irreversibly destroy ancient deep-sea habitats. Add your voice here to companies such as BMW, Google, Samsung and Volvo Group.
Are you a marine scientist?
Please join other marine researchers calling for a pause to deep-sea mining until sufficient and robust scientific information has been obtained to make informed decisions about whether to go ahead. Sign here
No Deep Seabed Mining – WWF
There is widespread concern in the scientific community about deep seabed mining (DSM) and the irreversible impact it would have on delicately balanced deep ocean ecosystems. Read more …
Greenpeace: Busting the deep sea mining industry greenwash
Deep at the bottom of the ocean lies an ecological realm so inaccessible that scientists have only just begun to explore and understand it. Read more …
