Project details

2. HERMES is an international, multidisciplinary research programme investigating Europe's deep marine ecosystems and their environment Funded by the European Commission’s Framework Six programme, HERMES brings together expertise in biodiversity, geology, sedimentology, physical oceanography, microbiology and biogeochemistry so that the generic relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning can be understood. Study sites extend from the Arctic to the Black Sea and include biodiversity hotspots such as cold seeps, cold-water coral mounds and reefs, canyons and anoxic environments, and communities found on open slopes. These important systems require urgent study because of their possible biological fragility, unique genetic resources, global relevance to carbon cycling and susceptibility to global change and human impact.

3. Project details • Funded under the EC’s Global Change and Ecosystems FP6 programme • Total project budget €60M, EC contribution €15.5M. • Project duration 4 years (April 2005 - March 2009) • 41 academic partners plus 9 business partners from 18 countries. HERMES is led by the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK. • Partners include small and large institutions and both universities and government laboratories • HERMES also has a large training element, committed to providing the best opportunities for Europe’s next generation of marine scientists, including dedicated training cruises and multidisciplinary workshops.

4. Study areas and field programme HERMES studies a variety of ecosystems in a range of geographic settings, stretching along the Atlantic Margin from the Norwegian Sea in the north to the Gulf of Cadiz in the south, and across the Mediterranean through to the Black Sea. HERMES has a huge cruise programme, and has already completed over 80 major cruises covering all of the HERMES study sites. HERMES uses the latest seagoing technology and instruments, ranging from ROVs and AUVs to in-situ sampling and laser-guided technology.

5. HERMES study areas

6. Project structure • 5 scientific work packages: • Open slope systems • Cold-water corals and carbonate mounds • Cold seeps • Anoxic microbial systems • Canyon systems • 5 cross-cutting packages: • HERMES GIS • Ecosystems modelling • Sustainable management and policy advice • Data management • Education & outreach

7. Project structure

8. Open slope systems • Open slopes research in HERMES aims to understand the environmental and biotic factors influencing biodiversity on Europe’s continental margin.  • Specific questions we hope to address are: • Why is biodiversity apparently greatest at mid-slope depths? • What role do geological disturbances (e.g, landslides) play in ecosystem development? • Are species distributed along particular isobaths? • Is there genetic separation of cryptic species in relation to physical oceanographic and topographic boundaries? Data will provide new insights for understanding the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and will contribute to identifying the most relevant attributes of biodiversity, which might directly control ecosystem functioning. In turn, this will help identifying the tools for the management and protection of deep-sea ecosystems using specifically targeted approaches.

9. Cold-water corals Cold-water coral systems and carbonate mounds are a key element of HERMES. The aims of this work are to understand: • Structure, functioning and dynamics of deep-water coral ecosystems under different trophic regimes and climatic settings; • Changes in biodiversity that affected deep-water coral ecosystems during the last glacial-interglacial cycle and to forecast how the ecosystem will react to future environmental change; • Links between deep-water circulation patterns and the likely geosphere-biosphere coupling of deep-water coral ecosystems in hydrocarbon provinces. The overall aim is to analyse and minimise the negative impacts of human activities on deep-water coral ecosystems through provision of mitigation options, risk assessments and recommendations for their management and conservation.

10. Cold seep systems • Cold seep ecosystems are under investigation on the Nordic margin, in the Gulf of Cadiz and in the eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea. Key goals are: • Characterise the environment associated with chemosynthetic communities, and constrain the lifespan of the seeps; • Assess how environmental factors influence species diversity and abundance and how chemosynthetic communities respond to variations in fluid chemistry and flux; • Understand the consequences of environmental interactions on substrate modification, benthic diversity and ecosystem production at local and regional scales, and evaluate the role of seep ecosystems in global ocean carbon budgets.

11. Anoxic microbial systems • A work package dedicated to study of anoxic microbial ecosystems aims to: • identify the key microbes providing sources and sinks of carbon; • describe their biodiversity; • understand their energy budgets and ecosystem structure. An ambitious cruise programme will monitor fluid release and microbial activity at gas chimneys, pockmarks and mud volcanoes in the Black Sea, Eastern Mediterranean, Gulf of Cadiz and the Norwegian margin. Integration of geological techniques with biogeochemical flux measurements and biological data will enable us achieve a quantitative understanding of these ecosystems, which hold a great diversity and biomass of bacteria and archaea. Above: sampling microbial anoxic habitats in the Black Sea. Images from Microhab M72-2 cruise 2007/MARUM

12. Canyon systems Canyons are hotspots of biodiversity, major pathways for the transportation and burial of organic carbon and fast-track corridors for material transported from the land to the deep sea.  Canyons act as temporary buffers for sediment and carbon storage.    • Our work in canyons involves: • Study of the physical processes in canyons with particular regard to the transport of particulate material and the distribution of key fauna; • Understand the timing, frequency and importance of episodic events within canyons, such as turbidity currents, and their effect on ecosystems; • Study processes such as the focusing of internal waves and storm events, which are critical in understanding the production of nepheloid layers by resuspension and the enhancement of primary productivity at canyon heads. The Nazare Canyon, Portuguese margin

13. HERMES GIS and data management HERMES has developed a pan-European GIS to assist in determining the boundary conditions required to assess and forecast regional scale responses of margin hotspots to global change. The GIS includes an inventory of margin hotspots together with integrated seafloor maps at various scales and resolutions using state-of-the-art techniques and technology. HERMES GIS involves the entire consortium at different levels in data provision, GIS products and interpretation, data archiving (via PANGAEA) and data exchange, both inside the consortium and with stakeholders. A user-friendly GIS environment has been created using web-based software that is easy to use and accessible to all project scientists to aid planning of fieldwork and interpretation of data.

14. Ecosystem modelling Modelling experts within HERMES have developed ecological models to advance our abilities to forecast the effect on ecosystems of natural and anthropogenic perturbations. The results will serve to explore the effects of natural and anthropogenic impacts on deep-sea ecosystems. WP7 models mass and energy flows between the abiotic environment and the biota, and between all ecosystem components. Specifically, the link between geochemistry and bacteria and from bacteria to higher trophic levels will be determined. These models will then be used to understand how natural (global change) and anthropogenic impacts propagate through the food webs to higher trophic levels. This will in turn provide insights into changes in ecosystem functional relationships and biodiversity.

15. Sustainable management & policy advice A key goal of HERMES is the integration of natural sciences, socio-economics and legal research underpinning the development of a comprehensive European Ocean and Seas Governance strategy. It is the first time that such an approach has been adopted on a pan-European scale for the deep sea. HERMES is developing concepts and strategies for the sustainable use of offshore marine resources, while taking into account the negative impact of human activities. An important aspect of work is the establishment of stakeholder networks to ensure project relevance and to facilitate rapid policy evolution. We have dedicated panels of experts from industry, conservation groups, NGOs, policy development agencies and the scientific community working together to improve the flow of information from research to policy. In promoting sustainable resource management, HERMES will help to underpin a true ecosystem management approach and will support the development of a comprehensive European Ocean and Sea Governance policy.

16. Education, training and outreach WP10 supports the HERMES commitment to train a new generation of experts on deep ocean margins from Europe and outside by offering educational activities and training opportunities to a broad audience, from schoolchildren through to undergraduate students and young researchers. Hands-on training is provided by dedicated TTR cruises, during which 40 undergraduates, postgraduates and young researchers will gain valuable experience in marine science field techniques. Classroom@Sea has provided opportunities for teachers to participate in HERMES cruises, and has created links between HERMES researchers and schools across Europe E-learning, thematic maps and 3D visualisation of ecosystems, interactive study programmes for schools, public seminars and contacts to offshore industry. Images, from top: Specialist GIS training in Bremen; students and scientists aboard the TTR-16 cruise; school teachers join scientists on the JC10 cruise.