Bhavani E Narayanaswamy

• PhD
• Professor at Scottish Association For Marine Science

Plastic pollution has become increasingly apparent in sandy beach zones and aquatic environments, creating more than just visual pollution. Impacts are observed in many environmental and social levels, including the fishing communities that depend on the coastal environment for their livelihoods. Plastic pollution was assessed on the sandy beaches...

The European Marine Board Future Science Brief n°12 “Deep Sea Research and Management Needs” explores the complexity of the deep sea and its role in Ocean health today, highlights the critical ecosystem services and functions it provides, and underscores the risks to Ocean health in the face of climate change, direct human impacts, and future indus...

Anthropogenic debris on ocean beaches results from a complex interplay of human behaviours where pro-environmental attitudes and norms are juxtaposed against egotistical value frameworks underlying littering. Evidence from the literature demonstrates that concentrations of tourists concord with peaks in debris loads, particularly on urban beaches....

Accurate knowledge of geographic ranges of species is essential for effective conservation management. Species with large distributions and good connectivity are presumed to be resilient to adverse localized/regional conditions, whereas those with small ranges and, thus, smaller population sizes are more likely to be vulnerable. The rich benthic as...

On Arctic shelves, benthic food-webs are tightly linked to overlying primary production. In the seasonal ice zone, sympagic (ice-associated) primary production can be a major source of carbon for the benthos on productive inflow shelves. However, the role of sympagic organic matter is less well-understood in food webs of heavily ice-covered, less-...

The Southern Ocean benthos is remarkably rich and diverse, and managed under a complexity of treaties and conventions, further complicated by geopolitical boundaries. Traditionally, conservation management is largely informed by species lists augmented, when data are available, by known vulnerability of the taxa. Species presence absence database r...

This paper uses a particle tracking model to simulate the distribution of fishing-related marine-sourced plastic litter from demersal trawling activities along the Atlantic coast of Scotland. The modelled fishing litter dispersed widely across the region, with ~50% of the particles beaching along the northwestern Scottish coast after a year-long si...

Beach clean data collected from 27 locations on the west coast of Scotland. In total there were 49 surveys.

Beach-cleans conducted on the west coast of Scotland investigated the distribution of land- and marine-sourced litter and compared these with a particle tracking model representing the presumed principal land-based source. Modelled particles dispersed widely, even reaching the remote northwest coast, with ‘hotspots’ and ‘coldspots’ on windward and...

The deep ocean comprises complex ecosystems made up of numerous community and habitat types that provide multiple services that benefit humans. As the industrialization of the deep sea proceeds, a standardized and robust set of methods and metrics need to be developed to monitor the baseline conditions and any anthropogenic and climate change-relat...

On Arctic shelves, where primary production occurs in both the pelagic and sympagic (ice-associated) habitats, sympagic organic material (OM) can constitute a disproportionate fraction of benthic diets due to higher sinking rates and lower grazing pressure than pelagic OM. Less documented is how sympagic OM assimilation across feeding guilds varies...

Various field methods have been used globally in an attempt to understand and quantify plastic pollution. However, in regions, such as the west coast of Scotland, sparse populations, combined with complex coastlines of numerous islands, sea lochs and headlands, has resulted in limited field data. The Clyde Sea is the most populated and industrialis...

Plastic pollution in the marine environment is a pervasive, global problem that threatens wildlife and human health. Routine monitoring is required to determine pollution hotspots, focus clean-up efforts, and assess the efficacy of legislation implemented to reduce environmental contamination. The shoreline represents an accessible area, relative t...

Plastic debris is the most common and exponentially increasing human pollutant in the world's ocean. The distribution and impact of plastic in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans have been the subject of many publications but not so the Indian Ocean (IO). Some of the IO rim countries have the highest population densities globally and mismanagement of p...

High-quality quantitative maps of seabed sedimentary physical and geochemical properties have numerous research and conservation applications, including habitat and ecosystem modelling, marine spatial planning, and ecosystem service mapping. However, such maps are lacking for many ecologically and economically important marine areas. Using legacy d...

The quantity of floating plastic debris (FPD) is continuously being increased in the oceans. To assess their size, structure, and composition along the eastern Arabian Sea (EAS), FPD samples were collected by using a surface plankton net. The microplastic size fraction (0.5–5mm) was the most prevalent accounting for >50% of the total, followed by m...

Microplastics (plastic particles ≤ 5 mm) have been studied extensively in coastal areas around the world in several habitats. Nevertheless, understanding and explaining the temporal and spatial occurrence and dynamics of microplastics is challenging. For the first time, three environmental variables were studied at six locations at the same time fo...

High quality quantitative maps of seabed sedimentary physical and geochemical properties have numerous research and conservation applications, including habitat and ecosystem modelling, marine spatial planning and ecosystem service mapping. However, such maps are lacking for many ecologically and economically important marine areas. Using legacy da...

Seamounts and pinnacles are common topographic features of the global ocean. • Sampling effort has increased in recent years but only a small percentage of sea- mounts has been sampled in detail. • Limited sampling, combined with high en- vironmental variability among seamounts, constrains biodiversity knowledge. • Fishing, especially bottom trawli...

Sediment profiling imaging (SPI) is a versatile and widely used method to visually assess the quality of seafloor habitats (e.g., around fish farms and oil and gas rigs) and has been developed and used by both academics and consultancy companies over the last 50 years. Previous research has shown that inserting the flat viewport of an SPI camera in...

Plastic debris are the most common and exponentially increasing human pollutant in the world's oceans. The distribution and impact of plastics in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans have been the subject of many studies but not so for the Indian Ocean (IO). Some of the IO rim countries have the highest population densities in the world and mis-manageme...

The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development presents an exceptional opportunity to effect positive change in ocean use. We outline what is required of the deep-sea research community to achieve these ambitious objectives.

The ocean plays a crucial role in the functioning of the Earth System and in the provision of vital goods and services. The United Nations (UN) declared 2021–2030 as the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. The Roadmap for the Ocean Decade aims to achieve six critical societal outcomes (SOs) by 2030, through the pursuit of four o...

Increasing contributions of prymnesiophytes such as Phaeocystis pouchetii and Emiliania huxleyi to Barents Sea (BS) phytoplankton production have been suggested based on in situ observations of phytoplankton community composition, but the scattered and discontinuous nature of these records confounds simple inference of community change or its relat...

• The Atlantic walrus, Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus , forms a herd of nearly 4,000 heads in the Pechora Sea (south‐eastern Barents Sea). The Near Threatened status of O. rosmarus rosmarus and the relative isolation of the Pechora Sea population, as well as the potential impacts of human activities in the area, make it important to characterize key ha...

Microplastics are widely dispersed through the marine environment. Few studies have assessed the long-term or historic prevalence of microplastics, yet acquiring such data can inform their distribution, transport and the environmental risks posed. To quantify the distribution and polymer types temporally, sediment cores were collected from >2000 m...

The sediment profile imaging (SPI) camera system is widely used to evaluate the health of benthic communities particularly those impacted of anthropogenic stressors. Although it is a commercially and scientifically used tool, the influence of the SPI camera penetrating the sediment and the reliability of the data have not been studied yet. While p...

While there is now an established recognition of microplastic pollution in the oceans, and the detrimental effects this may have on marine animals, the ocean depth at which such contamination is ingested by organisms has still not been established. Here, we detect the presence of ingested microplastics in the hindguts of Lysianassoidea amphipod pop...

Although evidence suggests the ubiquity of microplastics in the marine environment, our knowledge of its occurrence within remote habitats, such as the deep sea, is scarce. Furthermore, long term investigations of microplastic abundances are even more limited. Here we present a long-term study of the ingestion of microplastics by two deep-sea benth...

Although evidence suggests the ubiquity of microplastics in the marine environment, our knowledge of its occurrence within remote habitats, such as the deep sea, is scarce. Furthermore, long term investigations of microplastic abundances are even more limited. Here we present a long-term study of the ingestion of microplastics by two deep-sea benth...

Habitat mapping is an important tool for marine spatial planning and is required for most ecosystem-based management approaches. The Firth of Lorn Special Area of Conservation (SAC), west Scotland, was originally designated for its rocky reef habitat but it is also an area of high importance for the Flapper skate (Dipturus intermedius) and Harbour...

JR17006 was the third (and final) of a series of cruises for the Arctic PRIZE project in 2018. The first was in January 2018 studying the conditions during the Polar Night. The second was in April/May 2018 studying the spring bloom and JR17006 was the summer cruise. The project aimed to investigate the relationships between the physical, optical, c...

High definition video from a towed camera system was used to describe the deep-sea benthic habitats within an elongate depression located at the western margin of Rockall Bank in the Hatton–Rockall Basin. At depths greater than 1190 m, an extensive area (10 km long by 1.5 km wide) of what appeared to be reduced sediments, bacterial mats and floccul...

Microplastics are considered to be a widespread environmental contaminant. Due to their small size microplastics have the potential to be ingested by a range of aquatic organisms which mistake them for a food source and can suffer adverse impacts as a result. Development of standardised methods is imperative to provide reliable and meaningful data...

Individual corals, coral framework and rubble are generally quite abundant on seamounts, with carbonate materials derived from an unknown source also being found. These micro-habitats are known to often harbour higher abundance of smaller sized fauna and thus potentially increases the biodiversity of that region. However, very few studies have exam...

Ch. 20: Coastal, Riverine, and Atmospheric Inputs from Land, 93 p. Allan Simcock et.al. 2016 (Maruf Hossain -co-author )

The polychaete family polynoid is very large and includes a high diversity of behaviours, including numerous examples of commensal species. The comparison between free-living and commensal behaviours and the evolution of the relationships between commensal species and their hosts are valuable case studies of ecological adaptations. Deep-sea species...

A range of grabs and corers have been used for sampling deep-sea sediments. Grabs are comparatively cheap and simple compared to corers. With the advent of video-guided sampling, more sophisticated grab systems are being developed. Grabs, with their scooping action, return rather disturbed samples that should be regarded as semi-quantitative in nat...

Deep-water seamounts have been described as unique features with distinct abiotic characteristics in terms of geological origins, topographic profiles and hydrographical properties. In the early 2000s, these ecosystems were considered as hot spots in terms of faunal abundance, biodiversity and endemism: however this hypothesis has been challenged b...

The comparison between free-living and commensal behaviours and the relationships between commensal species and their hosts can provide valuable examples to study ecological adaptations and commensal evolution. The polynoid polychate family is a very large family which includes highly diverse species behaviours with numerous examples of commensal s...

In 2009 the NW and SE flanks of Anton Dohrn Seamount were surveyed using multibeam echosounder and video ground-truthing to characterise megabenthic biological assemblages (biotopes) and assess those which clearly adhere to the definition of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems, for use in habitat mapping. A combination of multivariate analysis of still im...

The current Marine Habitat Classification for Britain and Ireland v04.05 (Connor et al 2004) (hereafter referred to as the JNCC classification) describes seabed habitats from the intertidal zone down to depths of c.200m. It has become a priority to develop a deep-sea section to allow deep-sea survey data acquired by JNCC and Statutory Nature Conser...

Marine litter is a global challenge that has recently received policymakers' attention, with new environmental targets in addition to changes to old legislation. There are no global estimates of benthic litter because of the scarcity of data and only patchy survey coverage. However, estimates of baseline abundance and composition of litter are vita...

Table S1: A comparison of methods using during this study at University of Barcelona (UB), Plymouth University (PU) and Natural History Museum (NHM), and used by Van Cauwenberghe et al. (2013). The table is followed by a short discussion about the methodological differences. Table S2: Raw data showing sample extraction method, volume of sediment pr...

Fig S2. The quantity and type of plastic and rayon fibres found in 50 ml of sediment (a) by sample, (b) total proportion of each microfibre type. The following are all in the same file

Marine debris, mostly consisting of plastic, is a global problem, negatively impacting wildlife, tourism and shipping. However, despite the durability of plastic, and the exponential increase in its production, monitoring data show limited evidence of concomitant increasing concentrations in marine habitats. There appears to be a considerable propo...

The deep-sea floor is increasingly subject to anthropogenic impacts. Consequently, there are increasing efforts to develop appropriate management strategies. Species-level indicators and assessments are hampered in the deep sea by the high proportion of unknown species routinely encountered. If environmental management is to keep pace with exploita...

Marine debris is one of today’s growing environmental challenges. Debris has been documented as occurring in surface water, through observations of the now infamous garbage patches (accumulations of litter in subtropical gyres) and on land, at the strand lines of beaches. However much less is known about the abundance and distribution of debris at...

The deep sea is often viewed as a vast, dark, remote, and inhospitable environment, yet the deep ocean and seafloor are crucial to our lives through the services that they provide. Our understanding of how the deep sea functions remains limited, but when treated synoptically, a diversity of supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural services...

Senghor Seamount is located in the north-east (NE) Atlantic Ocean, 550 km west of Senegal, Africa, in the Cape Verde Archipelago. Macrofaunal sampling was undertaken from the summit (~100 m depth) to the base of the seamount (~3300 m depth) during the RV Meteor cruise (November 2009). The Chrysopetalidae fauna represents the first record for the fa...

Climatic fluctuations may significantly alter the taxonomic and biochemical composition of phytoplankton blooms and subsequently phytodetritus, the food source for the majority of deep-sea communities. To examine the response of abyssal benthic communities to different food resources we simulated a food sedimentation event containing diatoms and co...

The deep sea is often viewed as a vast, dark, remote, and inhospitable environment, yet the deep ocean and seafloor are crucial to our lives through the services and provisions that they provide. Our understanding of how the deep sea functions remains limited, but when treated synoptically, a diversity of provisioning, regulating and cultural servi...

The article discusses how marine scientists need to carry out more advanced research projects to find out what lies beneath the oceans. Oceans are vast areas, with many species undiscovered and the lives of many known species still a mystery to scientists. Different marine habitats will respond differently to human impact, yet despite the work done...

George Bligh Bank, situated at the north-eastern end of the Rockall Plateau, forms part of an extensive system of elevated submarine topography in the UK's Exclusive Economic Zone of the northeast Atlantic. Through the UK's Strategic Environmental Assessment programme, these seamounts and offshore banks have only recently been investigated in any d...

Interest in seamount research has gathered momentum over the past five years in an effort to understand the physical, geochemical and biological characteristics as well as the interconnectedness of seamount ecosystems. The majority of biological seamount research has concentrated upon the rich and diverse suspension feeding organisms that dominate...

Spatial distribution and patchiness of deep sea macrofaunal communities were studied from samples collected in the Rockall Trough, NE Atlantic. In June 2011, two areas, located outside and within the Darwin Mound Special Area of Conservation (SAC), were sampled. Three megacores were deployed in each area at approximately 900 m depth. The two areas,...

This work aims at characterising the seamount physiography and biology in the OSPAR Convention limits (north-east Atlantic Ocean) and Mediterranean Sea. We first inferred potential abundance, location and morphological characteristics of seamounts, and secondly, summarized the existing biological, geological and oceanographic in situ research, iden...

The recently completed European Census of Marine Life, conducted within the framework of the global Census of Marine Life programme (2000-2010), markedly enhanced our understanding of marine biodiversity in European Seas, its importance within ecological systems, and the implications for human use. Here we undertake a synthesis of present knowledge...

This work aims at characterising the seamount physiography and biology in the OSPAR Convention limits (northeast Atlantic Ocean) and Mediterranean Sea. We first inferred potential abundance, location and morphological characteristics of seamounts, and secondly, summarized the existing biological, geological and oceanographic in situ research , iden...

Biodiversity and species’ ecological function are two biological factors that define ecosystems. The marine ecosystem, especially the deep sea, is poorly documented and the Southwest Indian Ocean Ridge (SWIR) is noted as a particularly data deficient region. Rich with seamounts, it is vulnerable to on-going pressure from the fishing industry and th...

This work aims at characterising the seamount physiography and biology in the OSPAR Convention limits (North-East Atlantic Ocean) and Mediterranean Sea. We first inferred potential abundance, location and morphological characteristics of seamounts, and secondly, summarized the existing biological, geological and oceanographic in-situ re-5 search, i...

Interest in seamount research has gathered momentum over the past five years in an effort to understand the physical, geochemical and biological characteristics as well as the interconnectedness of seamount ecosystems. The majority of biological seamount research has concentrated upon the rich and diverse suspension feeding organisms that dominate...

Over the past two decades, growing concerns have been raised regarding the effects of towed fishing gears, such as trawls and dredges, on deep-sea biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Trawling disturbs the benthic communities both physically and biologically, and can eliminate the most vulnerable organisms and modify habitat structure; chronical...

Abstract The response of a deep-water benthic microbial community to organic matter (OM) enrichment was studied in the unexplored region of the SW Cretan margin (E. Mediterranean). A food pulse of 0.5 g C m?2 was simulated by adding 13C-labelled diatoms to sediment cores retrieved from 1079 m depth. The diatom addition resulted in a significant inc...

Phytoplankton underpin the marine food web in shelf seas, with some species having properties that are harmful to human health and coastal aquaculture. Pressures such as climate change and anthropogenic nutrient input are hypothesized to influence phytoplankton community composition and distribution. Yet the primary environmental drivers in shelf s...

Full taxonomic data set. (XLS)

Variation in measured (uncorrected) biomass with depth. (A) Total biomass. (B) Polychaete biomass. (C) Crustacean biomass. (D) Molluskan biomass. (E) Echinoderm biomass. (F) Other taxa biomass. Solid circles indicate the wide area survey depth bands (geometric mean and 95% confidence interval), open circles indicate the depth transect stations (geo...

The Faroe-Shetland Channel, located in the NE Atlantic, ranges in depth from 0-1700 m and is an unusual deep-sea environment because of its complex and dynamic hydrographic regime, as well as having numerous different seafloor habitats. Macrofaunal samples have been collected on a 0.5 mm mesh sieve from over 300 stations in a wide area survey and o...

The response of a sub-arctic, deep-sea macrofaunal community to a simulated food sedimentation event was studied by means of a stable isotope ‘‘pulse-chase’’ experiment. A food pulse was simulated by adding 500 mg Cm-2 of 13C-labelled diatoms, Chaetoceros radicans, to sediment cores retrieved from 1080m in the Faroe-Shetland Channel. Carbon uptake...

Global seafloor abundance predictions. Predicted abundance (individual m-2) is in global 1×1 degree grids. Data fields include latitude, longitude, depth, and abundance of each size class. The abundance data are in logarithm scale (base 10). (CSV)