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Reply to: Ecological variables for deep-ocean monitoring must include microbiota and meiofauna for effective conservation

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 5, pages 30–31 (2021)Cite this article

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The Original Article was published on 16 November 2020

replying to J. Ingels et al. Nature Ecology & Evolution https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01335-6 (2020)

Meiofauna and microbes are key components of deep-sea ecosystem assessments and were included among the list of essential variables in our recent comprehensive assessment and prioritization of a global deep-ocean monitoring and conservation strategy1. Meiofauna ranked in the top three variables, whereas microbes (bacteria, and archaea) were reported as key variables for some aspects of monitoring the deep sea. However, larger components of the deep-sea fauna (such as macro- and megafauna) received the highest priority.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the H2020 projects MERCES (Grant agreement no. 689518), and IDEM (Grant agreement no. 11.0661/2017/750680/SUB/EN V.C2.), by the Norwegian Institute for Water Research, by the NSERC Canadian Healthy Oceans Network and CFREF Ocean Frontier Institute, by JPI Oceans2 and ONC, by ARIM (MartTERA ERA-Net Cofound), by NSF grant OCE 1634172, by DOOS from the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, by the EMSO-Link EU project (Grant agreement ID: 731036) and by the Faculty of Science RAE Improvement Fund of The University of Hong Kong.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy

    Roberto Danovaro, Emanuela Fanelli, Laura Carugati & Antonio Dell’Anno

  2. Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Naples, Italy

    Roberto Danovaro, Emanuela Fanelli & Jacopo Aguzzi

  3. Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (ICM-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain

    Jacopo Aguzzi

  4. National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK

    David Billett & Henry A. Ruhl

  5. Department of Sciences and Engineering of Materials, Environment and Urban Planning (SIMAU), Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy

    Cinzia Corinaldesi

  6. IUCN Global Marine and Polar Programme, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Kristina Gjerde

  7. School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Alan J. Jamieson

  8. The Biodiversity Research Group, The School of Biological Sciences, Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Salit Kark

  9. Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, Chauvin, LA, USA

    Craig McClain

  10. Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation and Integrative Oceanography Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Lisa A. Levin

  11. Department of Geography, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Noam Levin

  12. Remote Sensing Research Centre, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Noam Levin

  13. Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Oslo, Norway

    Eva Ramirez-Llodra

  14. Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA, USA

    Henry A. Ruhl

  15. Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii at Mano’a, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Craig R. Smith

  16. Departments of Ocean Sciences and Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada

    Paul V. R. Snelgrove

  17. Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany

    Laurenz Thomsen

  18. Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Cindy L. Van Dover

  19. School of Biological Sciences and Swire Institute of Marine Science, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Moriaki Yasuhara

  20. State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Moriaki Yasuhara

Authors
  1. Roberto Danovaro
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  2. Emanuela Fanelli
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  3. Jacopo Aguzzi
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  4. David Billett
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  5. Laura Carugati
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  6. Cinzia Corinaldesi
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  7. Antonio Dell’Anno
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  8. Kristina Gjerde
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  9. Alan J. Jamieson
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  10. Salit Kark
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  11. Craig McClain
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  12. Lisa A. Levin
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  13. Noam Levin
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  14. Eva Ramirez-Llodra
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  15. Henry A. Ruhl
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  16. Craig R. Smith
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  17. Paul V. R. Snelgrove
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  18. Laurenz Thomsen
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  19. Cindy L. Van Dover
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  20. Moriaki Yasuhara
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Contributions

R.D., E.F., J.A., D.B., L.C., C.C., A.D., K.G., A.J.J., S.K., C.M., L.A.L., N.L., E.R.-L., H.A.R., C.R.S., P.V.R.S., L.T., C.L.V.D. and M.Y. equally contributed to the work, critically revised the final version and gave approval for publication.

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Correspondence to Roberto Danovaro.

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Danovaro, R., Fanelli, E., Aguzzi, J. et al. Reply to: Ecological variables for deep-ocean monitoring must include microbiota and meiofauna for effective conservation. Nat Ecol Evol 5, 30–31 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01337-4

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