The Census of Antarctic Marine Life: The First Available Baseline for Antarctic Marine Biodiversity

Abstract

The Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML, www.caml.aq) was a 5-year long international project that focused the attention on the ice-bound oceans of Antarctica during the International Polar Year (IPY) in 2007–08, bringing together\ud researchers from 30 different countries and more than 50 institutions. It was one of the fifteen IPY-endorsed biological projects devoted to Antarctica (Project #83)\ud and coordinated field operations of 18 research voyages in Antarctica during IPY and/or within the CAML life-span.\ud CAML’s main objectives were to study the evolution of life in Antarctic waters to determine how this had influenced the diversity of the present biota and to use these observations to predict how it might respond to future change. CAML was also one of the fourteen projects of the international Census of Marine Life (CoML, www.coml.org) (Gutt et al. 2010), each focusing on specific geographic environments or subject areas, with the aim to understand marine biodiversity and set reference baselines to allow measuring change. CAML’s sister project was the Arctic Ocean Diversity (ArcOD), devoted to the census of Arctic\ud marine biodiversity. Thanks to strong interaction with this project, it is now possible to draw comparisons between differences in ecological structure and dynamics of the Arctic and Southern Oceans (Gradinger et al. 2010; Gutt et al. 2010)

Can we generate robust species distribution models at the scale of the Southern Ocean?

“…In the SO, relevant sampling methods remain an important issue to limit biases related to False Positive predictions. We recommend to follow the framework provided by the CAML (Schiaparelli et al., ). Several gear types should be deployed with different mesh sizes at the same location for a good biodiversity assessment.…”

“…However, remoteness and extreme environmental conditions also make the SO a challenging region to carry out field work because of limited access and strong logistical and financial constraints (Gutt et al., ; Kaiser et al., ; Kennicutt et al., ). Over the last 10 years, significant efforts have been devoted to improve our knowledge of the SO biodiversity (Gutt et al., ; Kaiser et al., ; Schiaparelli, Danis, Wadley, & Michael Stoddart, ). Hence, in the framework of the Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML) and of the International Polar Year (IPY), 18 concurrent oceanographic campaigns were led to the Antarctic and new biodiversity data were aggregated (Schiaparelli et al., ).…”

“…Over the last 10 years, significant efforts have been devoted to improve our knowledge of the SO biodiversity (Gutt et al., ; Kaiser et al., ; Schiaparelli, Danis, Wadley, & Michael Stoddart, ). Hence, in the framework of the Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML) and of the International Polar Year (IPY), 18 concurrent oceanographic campaigns were led to the Antarctic and new biodiversity data were aggregated (Schiaparelli et al., ). During the same time period, several oceanographic campaigns were also undertaken in the sub‐Antarctic Crozet and Kerguelen archipelagos (Améziane et al., ; Féral et al., ).…”

Distributional records of Ross Sea (Antarctica) Tanaidacea from museum samples stored in the collections of the Italian National Antarctic Museum (MNA) and the New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA)

“…The “XIX” (2003/2004), “XXV” (2009/2010) Italian PNRA expeditions and the New Zealand TAN0402 BIOROSS voyage (2004) aimed at understanding the complex ecosystems along the Victoria Land coast under the Latitudinal Gradient Program framework (LGP, http://www.lgp.aq/). The New Zealand TAN0802 IPY-CAML voyage (2008) aimed at assessing a reference baseline in the Ross Sea, fulfilling the CAML research targets (Schiaparelli et al 2013). …”

Preface: Biology of the Ross Sea and surrounding areas in Antarctica

“…The Schiaparelli et al, 2013). Thanks to these large-scale projects, their logistic support and the coordinated activities they promoted, several collaborations were established and brought to results that would not have been possible through the national research programs only.…”