Latest news with #ConvexSeascapeSurvey
CTV News
4 days ago
- Science
- CTV News
Scientists go deep into the Saguenay fjord to study seafloor mud
Scientists from U.K. and Université Laval gathered in Quebec City to study how and when the muddy seafloor stores carbon. Sarah Plowman reports. A few hours northeast of Quebec City is the Saguenay fjord, a flooded glacial valley that snakes inland from the St. Lawrence River. It's here where scientists from the U.K. and the Université Laval have come to study what lies beneath — the mud at the bottom of the seafloor. Understanding it better could be key to understanding how to mitigate climate change. Ceri Lewis, a professor of marine biology at the University of Exeter and a researcher with the Convex Seascape Survey, explains how when people think about the big parts of the earth system that control carbon in the atmosphere and oceans, they often think of terrestrial ecosystems like rainforests, coral reefs or seagrasses. 'We know that sediment, the mud at the bottom of the seafloor, is also really, really rich in organic carbon, and it's storing this carbon. But we know much less about it because it's so far down, it's so deep, and it's really hard to study,' said Lewis. As the sun rises over the fjord, the researchers climb aboard a boat carrying containers they'll use to hold their samples. Fjord As the sun rises over the fjord, the researchers climb aboard a boat carrying containers they'll use to hold their samples. A sediment grabber is attached to the boat's rear. They'll drop it into the water to the bottom of several basins within the fjord, sometimes going up to 200 metres deep to scoop up samples. Freshwater flows from Lac Saint-Jean and saltwater flows from the St. Lawrence River. The fjord's gradients offer a variety of species. The project is part of the Convex Seascape Survey, a five-year global project looking at how, where and when the ocean's continental shelves and muddy seafloor stores carbon. This study will narrow in on the role the tiny animals that live in seafloor mud play in the process. 'What we're particularly interested in looking at here is the role of the biodiversity. So, there's a number of different types of animals that live in the mud. How they affect these processes. Is it just one or two key species that are kind of doing all of the work, or is it about that community composition that really matters?' Lewis said the Saguenay fjord is a fantastic place to ask this question because of its biodiversity. 'It's full of some really interesting big worms and all sorts of interesting animals in the mud. And so, we're learning a lot about how these different types of marine animals affect these processes. And they're not all doing the same jobs, but we don't know which ones really matter yet,' she said. 'That's what we're trying to find out.' It's not just mud: scientists Martin Solan, a professor of Marine Ecology at the University of Southampton and researcher with the Convex Seascape Survey, notes that when people see seafloor mud, they may just see mud. But within it, there's a diversity of life: worms, sea cucumbers, brittle stars. Solan says within an area the size of a typical coffee table, there may be somewhere between 50 to 150 species, depending on where you are in the world. 'They're extremely diverse systems. They're extremely active. They're very busy. And if you peel apart the mud, as we've done today, you see a network of burrows, of chambers, or mounds and pits,' said Solan, adding they're having effect on things like how elements of living matter are circulated through biogeochemical cycles. Similar to how earthworks rework the soil in a garden to make it healthier, the animals on the seafloor do the same thing. Fjord Within an area the size of a typical coffee table, there may be somewhere between 50 to 150 specie Researchers want to know how that process influences where the carbon goes. Once samples are collected, they're brought to a makeshift lab in Chicoutimi for experimenting. Researchers will put the samples in tanks and then add little fluorescent tracers in sands and add algae, carbon they've labelled and can track, to watch the animals move and measure where that carbon goes in the sediment. 'Is it being locked away? Which is what we would want for climate solutions. Or is it just being used up by the animals in that ecosystem?' said Lewis. 'And by labelling the carbon in the experience, we'll see exactly where it all goes.' Lewis said knowledge gained through their research can help make sure the models used to calculate carbon on a global scale and are used for climate change predictions are accurate. 'Because, at the moment, they don't really look at these processes in the mud, so we are hoping to improve some of that accuracy of those models. But we also want to be able to actually manage the ocean floor and protect these carbon stores that are doing important jobs. And finding protected parts of the ocean for mud is really, really hard at the moment,' she said.
Scotsman
14-07-2025
- General
- Scotsman
Survey finds Scots' climate knowledge below average - and jargon doesn't help
Ragworm in petri dish A new survey reveals that many people in Scotland struggle to understand the ocean's role in tackling climate change – with key terms like Blue Carbon and carbon sequestration causing confusion. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Commissioned by the Convex Seascape Survey, the research polled over 2,000 UK adults and found that Scotland's climate knowledge is below average in several areas: Just 32% of Scots knew that the ocean, not forests or soil, is Earth's biggest natural carbon sink – close to the national average of 34%, but still a minority. 44% wrongly believed the Amazon rainforest produces most of the Earth's oxygen – the correct answer is the ocean. Only 36% identified seagrass as the marine plant that can store up to 10 times more carbon per hectare than a rainforest – slightly above the UK average of 35%. 67% correctly defined Blue Carbon – higher than the national average (61%), but 29% still confused it with carbon emitted by oceans. 60% recognised carbon sequestration as a way to store carbon – better than the UK average (54%), yet 15% still believed it was related to flowers emitting carbon. Where Scotland fares poorly is in confidence around climate language: Professor Ceri Lewis on assignment in Millport for the Convex Seascape Survey 57% of respondents said environmental terms felt as confusing as learning a foreign language – well above the UK average of 49%, and the second highest in the UK after Northern Ireland (63%). Nearly 1 in 3 (30%) didn't know what the Paris Climate Agreement is. 76% of Scots were classed as 'Eco-Newbies' – scoring low on the survey's environmental knowledge quiz. Despite this, people in Scotland are keen to act: Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 46% said they want to reduce their carbon footprint – above the UK average of 42%. 47% reported already making eco-friendly choices, like recycling and using reusable products. 'Scotland shows a strong desire to act, but the knowledge gap is still holding people back,' said Victoria Turner, Education Lead at Blue Marine Foundation. 'The more people understand the basics – like how oceans store carbon – the more empowered they'll be to push for change.' The Convex Seascape Survey is a global, five-year research programme exploring how continental shelves in the ocean store carbon, and how this natural process can help combat climate change. Over 100 scientists from 10 countries are involved in the project. To improve public understanding, the initiative also partners with Encounter Edu to deliver ocean literacy programmes, already reaching 14 million students across 90 countries. 'We've spent decades talking about forests – but oceans are just as vital for storing carbon,' said Professor Callum Roberts, the project's lead scientist. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'You don't need to be an expert to get involved,' added Rachel Delhaise, Head of Sustainability at Convex Insurance. 'From reducing single-use plastic to spreading awareness, small steps add up.' To test your own Environmental IQ or find out more about the Convex Seascape Survey, click here.
The Guardian
30-06-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
I'm obsessed with brittle stars: fish often nip off bits of their arms but they regenerate
Brittle stars have a lot of remarkable features as a species. Many of them are bioluminescent and can flash blue light; some will have patterns and do displays. These slender relatives of starfish can be very beautiful to look at and come in a range of colours – in the tropics, for example, they can be red, black or orange. And they've got spines all over them, so they can look quite ornate. They can also regenerate. Fish and other creatures will often nip off bits of their arms – known as sublethal predation – so they are constantly regenerating themselves. You can even break off all their arms, and sometimes even half the disc, and the brittle star will still regenerate. Brittle stars have the same radial symmetry and five arms as starfish but their arms are much thinner and can be 60cm long, depending on the species. People talk about the blue planet but I think of Earth as the brown planet, because most of the Earth's environment is the sea floor. It measures 361m sq km (140m sq miles) and is full of sediment – and where there is sediment, there are often brittle stars. In total, there are about 2,000 species of brittle stars and about half of these live at depths of more than 200 metres. As part of the Convex Seascape Survey, I have studied brittle stars all over the world. A lot rest on rocks or on the sediment surface, but my favourite species is the Amphiura filiformis, a burrowing brittle star found around British shores. Its centre disc is typically only 5mm wide and it's extremely numerous – in a 1 sq metre area, you can find up to 3,000 individuals of that species alone. It is my favourite species because it constantly turns over the environment and changes it, and you can see that happening in front of you; you can see the brittle star moving particles around and making mounds on the surface, injecting oxygen into the sediment, and breaking down the detritus that has fallen to the sea floor. When brittle stars such as Amphiura come up to the surface of the seabed, they put their arms up to catch particles passing by with the current. When currents become too slow or too fast, they will retract back down into their burrows and feed on the deposits by moving the particles down their arm to their mouth. I was the first scientist to obtain time-lapse footage of a population of burrowing brittle stars doing this. Nobody had seen their activities below, and I was struck by how active they were and how organised the population was, each at the same depth and neatly spaced apart like a row of soldiers. Brittle stars are essentially scavengers – they will eat particles of anything that is organic, including faecal pellets, the remains of dead fish that have fallen to the bottom of the ocean, and algae. They are extremely efficient in that way – they take in everything that is given to them. But since pollution settles at the bottom of the ocean and gets locked into the sediment, they are also very vulnerable. They are not like fish that can swim away; they are stuck in the sediment, they have to absorb it. When it comes to the climate crisis, brittle stars are the canary in the coalmine because their skeleton is made up of calcium carbonate: limestone, essentially. As temperatures warm and ocean acidification starts to spread, they are literally dissolving. They are also a keystone species. Like elephants in the savanna that knock trees down, which allows the grass to grow, they are constantly modifying their environment and making it more benign for other species. Because they do this so well and so efficiently, their presence alone enhances sea-floor biodiversity. Over the last half a billion years, we have gone through a huge diversification of life and brittle stars played a significant role in that. And they continue to have a significant role to play. So my hope is that one day we will recognise how vital these charismatic organisms are and put measures in place to protect them. As told to Donna Ferguson Martin Solan is a professor of marine biology at the University of Southampton
The Guardian
30-06-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
I'm obsessed with brittle stars: fish often nip off bits of their arms but they regenerate
Brittle stars have a lot of remarkable features as a species. Many of them are bioluminescent and can flash blue light; some will have patterns and do displays. These slender relatives of starfish can be very beautiful to look at and come in a range of colours – in the tropics, for example, they can be red, black or orange. And they've got spines all over them, so they can look quite ornate. They can also regenerate. Fish and other creatures will often nip off bits of their arms – known as sublethal predation – so they are constantly regenerating themselves. You can even break off all their arms, and sometimes even half the disc, and the brittle star will still regenerate. Brittle stars have the same radial symmetry and five arms as starfish but their arms are much thinner and can be 60cm long, depending on the species. People talk about the blue planet but I think of Earth as the brown planet, because most of the Earth's environment is the sea floor. It measures 361m sq km (140m sq miles) and is full of sediment – and where there is sediment, there are often brittle stars. In total, there are about 2,000 species of brittle stars and about half of these live at depths of more than 200 metres. As part of the Convex Seascape Survey, I have studied brittle stars all over the world. A lot rest on rocks or on the sediment surface, but my favourite species is the Amphiura filiformis, a burrowing brittle star found around British shores. Its centre disc is typically only 5mm wide and it's extremely numerous – in a 1 sq metre area, you can find up to 3,000 individuals of that species alone. It is my favourite species because it constantly turns over the environment and changes it, and you can see that happening in front of you; you can see the brittle star moving particles around and making mounds on the surface, injecting oxygen into the sediment, and breaking down the detritus that has fallen to the sea floor. When brittle stars such as Amphiura come up to the surface of the seabed, they put their arms up to catch particles passing by with the current. When currents become too slow or too fast, they will retract back down into their burrows and feed on the deposits by moving the particles down their arm to their mouth. I was the first scientist to obtain time-lapse footage of a population of burrowing brittle stars doing this. Nobody had seen their activities below, and I was struck by how active they were and how organised the population was, each at the same depth and neatly spaced apart like a row of soldiers. Brittle stars are essentially scavengers – they will eat particles of anything that is organic, including faecal pellets, the remains of dead fish that have fallen to the bottom of the ocean, and algae. They are extremely efficient in that way – they take in everything that is given to them. But since pollution settles at the bottom of the ocean and gets locked into the sediment, they are also very vulnerable. They are not like fish that can swim away; they are stuck in the sediment, they have to absorb it. When it comes to the climate crisis, brittle stars are the canary in the coalmine because their skeleton is made up of calcium carbonate: limestone, essentially. As temperatures warm and ocean acidification starts to spread, they are literally dissolving. They are also a keystone species. Like elephants in the savanna that knock trees down, which allows the grass to grow, they are constantly modifying their environment and making it more benign for other species. Because they do this so well and so efficiently, their presence alone enhances sea-floor biodiversity. Over the last half a billion years, we have gone through a huge diversification of life and brittle stars played a significant role in that. And they continue to have a significant role to play. So my hope is that one day we will recognise how vital these charismatic organisms are and put measures in place to protect them. As told to Donna Ferguson Martin Solan is a professor of marine biology at the University of Southampton
The National
30-05-2025
- Politics
- The National
What can the UK's muddy shores tell us about marine conservation in the Gulf?
The history of the ocean seabed could be central to the future health of planet Earth, say scientists. Seabeds capture carbon from the remains of marine life. But when the ocean floors are disturbed by trawling or coastal development, the carbon is released from the sea into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. Scientists also believe that the seabed's ability to capture carbon could be used to cut global CO2 emissions by up to 6 per cent of the amount needed to cap the rise in global temperatures at 1.5°C. Carbon stores have been mapped around the world, but scientists are hoping they can go deeper to understand with greater accuracy the human and animal behaviours that cause seabeds to release or capture the gas. 'We will write a new history of the ocean, telling the story of how the seabed has been changed over centuries by human activities,' said Professor Callum Roberts, a marine biologist who is leading the Convex Seascape Survey at the University of Exeter. 'We're figuring out where are the most, the deepest and the most rich deposits of carbon in the seas,' he said, of the project which also involves the Blue Marine Foundation, a UK charity. 'At the moment, we don't have really strong science to give us robust answers,' he told The National. 'We're recreating the oceanography back to 17,000 years ago and we can turn back the clock.' The comprehensive survey, which also brings in researchers from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Jeddah among other institutions, could alter how coastal seas are managed and protected. 'When we think about marine protection, we protect certain things like habitats or species, but not typically the sediments and the organic matter and carbon that's contained within (them),' said Zoe Roseby, a marine geologist at the University of Exeter who is part of the five-year project. Shallow seabeds of the Gulf Although most the research has taken place in the UK, the findings will be of relevance to the Arabian Gulf, a shallow sea where urban development and commercial shipping increase at a rapid pace. 'We're focused on continental shelves, the underwater extensions of land masses. They go down to about 200 metres, which means the entirety of the Arabian Gulf is continental shelf,' said Prof Roberts, who has written about coral reefs in Saudi Arabia, which he helped to map in the 1990s. Although most fishing in the Gulf does not disturb the seabed, the increase in trawling, and the need to create deeper sea routes for commercial shipping could put the area at risk. 'We need to understand that impact, at least because we would need to incorporate this international carbon budgets, so that decision makers know that it's happening and they know that they need to include this in net zero calculations,' he said. Studies had shown there were benefits and negative side-effects to energy infrastructure such as offshore oil wells and wind farms. But Prof Roberts also suggests that shallow sea-beds could be disturbed so as to move the carbon to the deep sea, where there is little chance of it escaping into the atmosphere. 'If you're stirring up carbon from the seabed, then if there is a flow of water off the shelf, then that carbon could be taken into the deep sea, which is a long-term carbon store,' he said. Little is known about this process, and it is one of the possibilities that the project hopes to find an answer to. 'If some of that carbon is going down into the deep sea, then disturbance could actually contribute to long term storage. It's a paradox that we don't know scientifically what the answer is,' he said. Prof Roberts believes the Gulf could be a good test case for this because of the interaction between the freshwater Euphrates and Tigris rivers that feed into the sea, and the sea water from coming in from the other side through the Straits of Hormuz. 'That's one of the things that's keeping the Arabian Gulf habitable for marine life, is that you get this big exchange of water coming in,' Prof Roberts said. 'It could be that disturbing carbon in the Arabian Gulf is leading to the transport of that carbon through the Strait of Hormuz into the Arabian Sea and deep water,' he said. 'There is possibly a way in which that carbon could be transported to somewhere it is more secure and less likely to come back into the atmosphere,' he said. Antarctica samples go to Jeddah The research is already expanding to other parts of the world. A recent expedition to Antarctica, led marine ecologist Professor Carlos Duarte who is based at KAUST, will seek to establish the role that whales play in maintaining the ocean's ability to sequester carbon. The survey looking back 500 years will examine the changes in carbon stores in periods when whales thrived on the peninsula, compared to those when whale hunting led to their near extinction. "We hope to either validate or reject the hypothesis that great whales contribute to carbon sequestration by keeping the ecosystem in a highly productive stage," Prof Duarte told The National. The samples extracted earlier this year will arrive in Jeddah in June month for eDNA testing. "If the hypothesis is correct, then when whales were being hunted down, we expect to see that ... the organic carbon content of the sediment will decline, ... along with the decline in productivity in plants," he said. "We can reconstruct a record of how the Antarctic ecosystem responded to the massive depletion of whales," he said. North west coastal research Scientists are finding the richest carbon stores around the UK and Ireland by looking at deep history all the way back to the end of the last Ice Age. The melting of ice sheets 17,000 years ago changed the shape of the coastline, as well as the tidal currents. A team led by Dr Sophie Ward developed a model that could trace the changes in coastal shapes, and tidal currents through this time, in order to identify the places with the most carbon-rich mud stores, and how vulnerable they are to disturbance. 'We've used this case study to look at the carbon stock of the surface elements of that area, to consider the amount of carbon that's being stored in this elements, but also the kind of quality, the reactivity of that carbon as well," Dr Roseby said. "So, how vulnerable is that carbon to disturbance from human pressures, such as trawling." The study published last month found that while mud was still accumulating in places like the Western Irish Sea Mud Belt and the Celtic Deep, in the North Sea's Fladen Ground above Scotland, the mud floor was ancient, formed after the end of the last Ice Age and preserved for millennia by low tidal currents. She hopes the model will allow them to predict the location of muds in other lesser studied seas, such as those on the coast of Patagonia, where the team will be heading next. Their findings will remain open source so that other scientists can access them, she said. The data that we produce in our projects is going to be open access, so other members of the scientific community will be able to utilise our model and data outputs for like, any you know, ongoing work that they're doing,' she said. Sedimentologist Torsa Sengupta showed how she was able to trace the amount of carbon in a muddle samples from the laboratories at Exeter University's Penryn campus in Cornwall. Sediment cores several metres long were extracted from the North Sea corers, then cut into metre-long samples and analysed in laboratories. The deeper the sediment, the older the carbon deposits in there will be. The mud is first dried and then mortared make a fine powder. Then an acid is poured onto it to remove the inorganic carbon that comes from sea shells. The resulting powder, which has isolated the organic carbon, is then put into a carbon analysis machine. 'We use this course to identify the total amount of carbon, and the difference in the proportion between organic and inorganic carbon, and how did the amount and the types of organic carbon change through time,' she said. 'This is mainly to find out the natural organic carbon, or the natural carbon reservoirs deep down in ocean sediments which can spread,' she said. The research can take months of this painstaking work. Yet Ms Sengupta said she is compelled to do it because of the rise in climate-related migration, which affects the developing world the most. 'Even when humans had no control over the climate, the natural climate has driven large human populations to migrate,' she said. 'That motivated me to find out, where is this total source of carbon?'.
