biodiversity

• A study led by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) has revealed a biogeographical boundary at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
• High biodiversity is maintained in deeper areas of the abyssal north Pacific seabed by phylum-level species shifts across this region.

A study led by National Oceanography Centre (NOC) scientists, recently published in Frontiers in Marine Science, presents the first ever images of animals living below 4000 metres within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Republic of Kiribati, a remote island group in the Pacific.

The type and size of barnacles on the Malaysian Airways MH370 flight debris could provide clues to the path it took through the Indian Ocean, according to researchers at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC).

Innovative experiments carried out by scientists at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) and abroad show that dead jellyfish contribute to the deep-sea food chain, unlike previously thought.

Ocean scientists have, for the first time successfully balanced the supply of food to mid-water organisms with their demands for this food. The depth at which they consume this sinking material regulates our climate by determining how much carbon is stored by the ocean and how much remains in the atmosphere.

A global study has questioned claims that jellyfish are increasing worldwide.

Writing in the scientific journal Nature, scientists have called for increased discussion of independent monitoring of deep-sea hydrocarbon industry activity with the aim of obtaining a better understanding of its ecological impact.

By studying the tolerance of marine invertebrates to a wide range of temperature and pressure, scientists are beginning to understand how shallow-water species could have colonised the ocean depths.

On 9 May, RRS James Cook set sail from Glasgow in the direction of Rockall Trough, Rockall Bank and Hatton Basin, to find out what happens to the seabed fauna in a deep-water trawling area if you leave it undisturbed several years.