Expressions of Intent for International Polar Year 2007-2008 Activities

Expression of Interest Details

PROPOSAL INFORMATION

Archaeology, Biogeography, and Evolution of Natural and Anthropogenic Chemosynthetic Ecosystems in the Antarctic  (Chemosynthetic Ecosystems in the Antarctic)

Outline
The tight coupling between geological processes and living organisms at hydrothermal vents provides an opportunity to study how fundamental planetary processes shape the evolution of life. These geological-biological systems have yielded a global network of extraordinarily productive chemosynthetic communities. The spatial and temporal variability within this network has created distinct biogeographic provinces influenced by a variety of underlying forces. Significant advances in our understanding of how ridge-crest processes shape life can be achieved by identifying key mid-ocean ridge localities that will yield large first order "jumps" in our knowledge of faunal evolution and biogeography. Discovery of chemosynthetic communities associated with hydrothermal vents in the Southern Ocean (the key junction of Atlantic and Pacific) is now the linchpin to understanding the evolutionary processes that have formed global biodiversity patterns of vent fauna and the processes driving these ecosystems. Additional evolutionary stepping stones for chemosynthetic fauna are woods falls and sunken wood sites (e.g., those associated with archaeologically – valuable and shipwrecks). In proximity to vents, these sites can provide fundamental insights into the regional evolution of chemosynthetic fauna. The origin and evolution of the Southern Ocean chemosynthetic fauna may have predominantly followed one of three pathways: 1) colonization from the Pacific driven by hydrography; 2) colonization from the Atlantic driven by the tectonic history of plate movements; or 3) independent or in situ evolution of novel life forms. Circumpolar Southern Ocean currents may today prevent or inhibit larval transport and gene flow of vent-endemic fauna outside of the region. Characterizing the chemosynthetic fauna inhabiting the unexplored Bransfield Strait, East Scotia Rise, and the historical Endurance and Antarctic shipwrecks will address these hypotheses through integrated characterization of archaeology, biology and geochemistry. Remotely-operated and autonomous underwater vehicle field programs to explore, locate and characterize shipwrecks and the first known hydrothermal vent ecosystems in the Southern Ocean will markedly increase our understanding of the dispersal and evolutionary pathways of chemosynthetic fauna throughout the world’s oceans. We will examine the impact of hydrography, tectonic movements, and faunal isolation as fundamental drivers of the dispersal, evolution, and biogeography of global vent fauna, and the comparative biodiversity, species composition, and evolution and gene flow patterns across chemosynthetic habitats. The biological character of the Southern Ocean Ridge systems’ vent fields is central to understanding the fundamental evolution and ecology of chemosynthetic fauna in the remote Southern Ocean and how these potentially unique ecosystems relate to the global biogeographic framework.

What significant advance(s) in relation to the IPY themes and targets can be anticipated from this project?
•discover and determine the biological character of the first Southern Ocean Ridge vent systems, and how these unique ecosystems relate to the global biogeographic framework to understand dispersal and evolutionary patterns of vent fauna. • reveal the impact of the Southern Ocean hydrography as barriers and thus fundamental drivers of the dispersal, evolution, and biogeography of global vent fauna. • first assessment and characterization of biodiversity, evolution and gene flow, and vent fluid chemistry and geology among Antarctic chemosynthetic habitats. • convey the excitement, global relevance, and historical importance of our biological and archaeological discoveries to students, public, and colleagues worldwide.

What international collaboration is involved in this project?
see project endorsed below:

FIELD ACTIVITY DETAILS

Geographical location(s) for the proposed field activities:
Vent sites along Hook Ridge in the Bransfield Strait (depth 1500m) The HMS Endurance bottom site (recently seabeam mapped) between 2000 and 3000m of water, some 550km south of the Antarctic, to the East of the Antarctic Peninsula in the NW Weddell Sea.

Approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities:
Arctic: n/a
Antarctic: 04/2007- 11/2007            

Significant facilities will be required for this project:
The Botnika Icebreaker The HMS Endurance The ROV Isis The autonomous underwater vehicle ABE (Autonomous Benthic Explorer)

Will the project leave a legacy of infrastructure?
We will leave an archaeological site in tact at the HMS Endurance and Antarctica shipwrecks. We will leave discovered hydrothermal vent fields well marked for future studies.

How is it envisaged that the required logistic support will be secured?
Consortium
National agency
Other sources of support

Has the project been "endorsed" at a national or international level?
David Mearns (Bluewater Recoveries, Inc., UK) is currently funded to locate Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance using the ROV ISIS and HMS Shackleton, as well as an icebreaker in early 2007. We are joining this funded ROV program to locate the Endurance, to conduct ABE exploration and bathymetric and image mapping of the Endurance and Antarctic shipwrecks as well as to explore and discover the first known vents in the Southern Ocean. We are collaborating with colleagues at the Southampton Oceanography Centre who have submitted their proposal to support the cost of using Isis at the vents immediately prior to or after the funded Endurance/Mearns program. The UK Ministry of Defense (Royal Navy) is contributing the HMS Endurance at no cost, the NERC is providing Isis for 40 days at no cost, National Geographic is committing $1.5 million, HRH The Princess Royal has agreed to be Patron of the Expedition, the Hon. Alexandra Shackleton, granddaughter of Sir Ernest an! d owner of the Endurance, - has given legal permission to film and make scientific and archaeological recoveries from the wreck, the James Caird Society, which counts in its membership 40 descendents from 17 of the 28 Endurance crew, firmly supports the project.The project is currently under consideration at NOAA Ocean Exploration, who requested that this expression of interest be submitted.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND STRUCTURE

Is the project a short-term expansion (over the IPY 2007-2008 timeframe) of an existing plan, programme or initiative or is it a new autonomous proposal?
New

How will the project be organised and managed?
The management of this project is currently being organized.

What are the initial plans of the project for addressing the education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework document?
The PIs plan to continue to be involved in a myriad of educational and public outreach activities over the years that have reached literally millions of individuals. Shank co-developed a high school and undergraduate educational CD on hydrothermal vents, as well as the web-based learning portal, DiveandDiscover.com. He has worked together with the Museum of Natural History to develop their new Ocean Life Exhibit and operates a high school and undergraduate training program in his laboratory. Results of his research efforts have been featured in Science, Discover Magazine, National Public Radio’s weekend edition, National Geographic, as well as on several nationally broadcast television documentaries (e.g. the Discovery Channel, BBC, National Geographic Television, PBS). Education and public outreach activities will continue to be an integral part of all of our ongoing studies, particularly those which we are herein proposing and we believe that our past records attest to our deep commitment to continue these activities. Given the focus of the our studies, we plan to involve museums and aquaria (e.g., in public education institutions throughout the US, Britain, and Germany) together with science educators and the network of NSF COSEE Centers (Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence) directly through “real time” satellite networking tied directly to the websites below, providing daily data logs, images, streaming video, etc. In addition, a marine evolution and biogeographic web-based education module will be constructed prior to the expedition(s) for incorporation into these curricula as well as the RIDGE, Deutsche Ridge, InterRidge, and Dive and Discover web portals. These web portals bring oceanographic research to classrooms and the general public and already contain considerable material that is pertinent to exploration of mid-ocean ridges, and hence provide an excellent template for this cruise. In addition, at no cost to the present proposal, we will launch a new seagoing educational web page through the Census of Marine Life (http://www.soc.soton.ac.uk/chess/) targeted at middle school, college students, and the general public. We will present our results at national and international meetings, and publish our results in respected peer-reviewed journals.

What are the initial plans of the project to address data management issues (as outlined in the Framework document?
This is currently under development.

How is it proposed to fund the project?
Through Blue Water Recoveries, NERC, NSF, NOAA OE, and Royal Navy

Is there additional information you wish to provide?
This project is unique in many ways and expressing the full promise, funding sources, and logistical hurdles already overcome would be best served by submission of the full proposal to you.

PROPOSER DETAILS

Dr Timothy Shank
MS33 Redfield
Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, MA
02543
USA

Tel: 508-564-6481
Mobile: 508-654-0447
Fax: 508 456-2134
Email:

Other project members and their affiliation