High Seas Biology

What is it? The deep-sea has long been susceptible to human-caused disturbances of various identities, such as: plastic pollution, climate change, oil exploitation, and overfishing. Unfortunately, a different disturbance type is on the horizon named Deep-Sea Mining . These operations are designed to extract Manganese nodules  from the seabed, which are generally located within 4,000 – 6,000 meters depth. These nodules contain valuable minerals that are necessary for the development of lithium-ion batteries, such as: cobalt, nickel, and manganese. Historically, cobalt has been mined from the Republic of Congo where greater than 70% of the “mineable” cobalt is believed to be. However, current cobalt mining operations are surrounded by human rights issues and located in an unstable geopolitical climate . The current demand for nickel is greater than the supply, as pointed out by Tesla CEO, Elon Musk . In order to mine the deep sea in the high seas, approval must be granted by the In...

Today I’ll be discussing the process that got me hooked on the ecology of the open ocean, diel vertical migration (shortened as DVM)! DVM is the process of deep-pelagic (deeper than 200 meters [1 meter = ~3 feet]) animals ascending several hundreds of meters in the water column at night in search of food under the guise of the dark night sky. Once daylight approaches, these animals descend back into the dark, deep ocean where they are less likely to be eaten. This process occurs everywhere in the open ocean every single day. Many of the animals that practice DVM (like the lanternfish below) are no larger than the palm of your hand! It’s not just about fishes. Squids, zooplankton, siphonophores ,  pyrosomes , and many others practice DVM as well. This means that within one 24-hour cycle, migrating animals experience water temperatures greater than 10 degrees Celsius (> 20 degrees Fahrenheit) and pressure differences amounting to dozens of atmospheres of pressure. Physiologically...