Nearly five years of studying the deep Atlantic Ocean in unprecedented detail have revealed 12 species that are new to science.
The sea urchins, molluscs and corals have escaped discovery because the seabed is so unexplored, scientists say.
Researchers warn that newly discovered animals may already be threatened by climate change.
Carbon dioxide taken up by the ocean makes it more acidic, which corrodes coral skeletons in particular.
The scientists involved emphasized that it was “not too late to protect these special species” and the important habitats they inhabited.
Some important Atlantic discoveries from the mission:
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New species: “At least” 12 new deep-sea species. The team also found about 35 new records of species in areas where they were previously unknown
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Climate change: Ocean warming, acidification and declining food availability will significantly shift and reduce the availability of suitable habitats for deep-sea species by 2100.
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Hydrothermal vents: Scientists have discovered a field of these hot springs at the bottom of the Azores. Hydrothermal fields are important areas with relatively high biological productivity that offer complex communities in the vast deep ocean
Cities of the Depth
As Prof George Wolff, an ocean chemist from the University of Liverpool, who was involved in the project, pointed out: “We can still say that we have better maps of the surface of the Moon and Mars than of the seabed. . “
“When you go to the deep ocean, you find something new – not just individual species, but entire ecosystems as well.”
Prof Murray Roberts of the University of Edinburgh led the Atlas project, as it is called. He told BBC News that nearly five years of exploration and exploration had revealed some “special places” in the ocean and worked out how they type.
“We found whole communities formed by sponges or deep ocean corals that form the cities of the deep sea,” he explained. “They support life. So, very important fish use these places as spawning grounds.
“If those cities are damaged by destructive human customs, those fish have nowhere to spawn and the function of those entire ecosystems will be lost for future generations.
“It’s like understanding that the rainforest is an important place for biodiversity on land; this also applies to the deep sea – there are important places that need to be protected, and it’s important that they are all interconnected. . “
Slow ocean currents
The project involved researchers from 13 countries across the Atlantic – combining ocean chemistry and physics, as well as biological discovery, to find out how the ocean environment is changing as the world warms and people use more of the deep sea for fishing and mineral extraction. .
The study of ocean currents and precipitation of fossils on the seabed revealed that the major currents in the North Atlantic area have decreased dramatically in response to climate change.
“Its implications are complex, but possibly the connections between ecosystems are reduced,” Prof Roberts explained, because ocean currents are the highways that connect different habitats in the vast deep-sea.
Outside
“The value of all this knowledge is that it enables us to understand what we can lose,” said Prof Claire Armstrong, a natural resources economist at the University of Tromsø.
“The deep ocean can be so out of sight and out of mind that we are not really aware of what we are doing to its surroundings and the consequences of what we are doing.”
With a growing global population, increasing pollution and emerging areas with commercial activities in the deep sea, including the detection of medical and industry-friendly products, marine scientists say it is essential to fill the gaps in our ocean knowledge.
The ocean is not an endless source, Prof Armstrong added. “It’s really very difficult to preserve and know what we need in the future.”
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