The so-called Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) is a large stretch of the Pacific that has already been divided up and assigned to companies for future deep-sea mining. The extraction of minerals in these funds, such as those of the CCZ, is complex but can provide great economic benefits.
Mining work in the oceans can also cause environmental damage of great proportions, as various scientific studies have warned in recent years. The most recent of these investigations points out, as an example of the losses that marine mining can entail, the discovery in the CCZ of 5,000 species of microorganisms, flora and fauna unknown until now.
To better understand the scope of the problem, a team of biologists has created the first "CC checklist" by compiling all species records from previous research expeditions to the region.
Their estimates of CCZ species diversity, published in the journal Current Biology on May 25, included a total of 5,578 different species found in the region, an estimate of 88% to 92% of which are completely new to the region. science.
"We share this planet with all this amazing biodiversity, and we have a responsibility to understand and protect it," said Muriel Rabone, a deep-sea ecologist at the Natural History Museum in London, UK.
With an extension of 6 million square kilometers, which extend from near Hawaii to the vicinity of the coast of Mexico, the CCZ is a marine region of great wealth and, at the same time, at greater risk due to problems such as pollution. . To study its resources and threats, various research teams employ sampling techniques ranging from remote-controlled vehicles that traverse the ocean floor, to the simple, such as a robust box that lands on the bottom (referred to as "sampling of box cores").
"It's a big ship, but it feels small in the middle of the ocean. You could see storms coming in; it's very dramatic," Rabone said. "And it was amazing in every case core sample, we would see new species."
By analyzing more than 100,000 records of creatures found in the CCZ taken during these deep-sea expeditions, Rabone and his co-authors found that only six of the new species found in the CCZ, which include a sea cucumber, a nematode, and a sponge carnivora have been seen in other regions. They also found that the most common types of animals in the CCZ are arthropods (invertebrates with segmented joints), worms, echinoderms (pink invertebrates like sea urchins), and sponges.
"There are some remarkable species down there. Some of the sponges look like classic bath sponges, and others look like jugs. They're just beautiful," Rabone said of the CCZ samples. "One of my favorites are glass sponges. They have these little spines, and under the microscope, they look like tiny candlesticks or little sculptures."
Looking forward, the team stresses the importance of increasing cohesive, collaborative, and multidisciplinary research efforts in the CCZ to gain a deeper understanding of the region's biodiversity. They stress the importance of learning more about newly discovered species and how they are connected to the environment around them. Furthermore, they urge researchers to delve into the region's biogeography to better understand, for example, why certain species cluster in particular geological regions.
"There are so many wonderful species in the CCZ, and with the possibility of mining looming, it's doubly important that we know more about these really understudied habitats," Rabone said.
