Kerry Louise Howell

University of Plymouth | UoP · School of Marine Science and Engineering

After more than a century of global research in the deep ocean, many international collaborations and rapid expansion in deep-sea research outputs, the deep sea in South Africa remains poorly studied with insufficient information, funding, infrastructure, specialists, capacity, and expertise to support deep-sea research and management. This situati...

Imaging is increasingly used to capture information on the marine environment thanks to the improvements in imaging equipment, devices for carrying cameras and data storage in recent years. In that context, biologists, geologists, computer specialists and end-users must gather to discuss the methods and procedures for optimising the quality and qua...

Degradation of the natural world and associated ecosystem services is attributed to a historical failure to include its ‘value’ in decision-making. Uncertainty in the quantification of the relationship between natural capital ‘assets’ that give rise to critical societal benefits and people is one reason for the omission of these values from natural...

As global temperatures continue to rise, shallow coral reef bleaching has become more intense and widespread. Mesophotic coral ecosystems reside in deeper (30–150 m), cooler water and were thought to offer a refuge to shallow-water reefs. Studies now show that mesophotic coral ecosystems instead have limited connectivity with shallow corals but hos...

Management of deep-sea fisheries in areas beyond national jurisdiction by Regional Fisheries Management Organizations/Arrangements (RFMO/As) requires identification of areas with Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs). Currently, fisheries data, including trawl and longline bycatch data, are used by many RFMO/As to inform the identification of VMEs. H...

Aim Research on mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) has increased exponentially in recent decades, and the significance of this ecosystem has been recognised both in terms of biodiversity and distribution. However, this research has mostly focussed on corals and is globally sporadic, with the Indian Ocean remaining largely unexplored and overall MCE...

This chapter concerns estuaries. Estuaries represent the great transition between freshwater and marine biomes, and as such they are influenced by both aquatic realms while having a distinct and exceptionally variable environment and ecology of their own. The chapter asserts that the perception of estuaries as low-diversity, muddy, and inhospitable...

This chapter highlights the development and drivers of marine conservation; the ways in which conservation issues are identified and prioritized; and some of the ways in which marine conservation has sought to find a way to accommodate the short-term needs, aspirations, and expectations of humans. It also describes how conservation policy is develo...

This chapter explores rocky and sandy shores. The biodiversity of the shore is exceptionally high compared to that of land, with all major taxonomic groups represented. Ecological research on shores has underpinned much of present-day marine ecology and has strongly influenced mainstream ecology. In addition, shores are of increasing concern to gov...

This chapter explores the deep sea, which represents the largest, yet least-known, biome on earth. The environment is remarkably constant across the ocean floor: cold, dark water overlying soft, deep mud. While the high hydrostatic pressure is the most obvious physical feature of the deep, it is food supply from the surface that is the limiting fac...

This chapter explores how oceanic microbes play a dominant role in cycling of matter and energy in the ocean and introduces the key organism groups in marine microbial food webs. The viruses, bacteria, and archaea that comprise the microbial community are introduced, together with a discussion of their relative abundances and interactions with othe...

Marine Ecology introduces key processes and systems that form the marine environment and considers the issues and challenges that surround its future. After providing a general overview of marine ecology, it delves into the diverse systems that compose the marine environment, such as seabeds and the polar regions, and case studies. The book starts...

This chapter examines major patterns in marine organisms and their biology. Doing so gives a strong insight into the processes that determine success and evolution of life on Earth. The chapter shows how the wide expanse of the oceanscape changes dramatically, from undersea mountain ranges to sediment plains and coral reefs to forests of kelp. Patt...

This chapter introduces techniques used to measure secondary production and the major factors that control it. Secondary production is the production of biomass by heterotrophic organisms and is measured as the increase in biomass over time. In food webs, secondary production can be defined as the total amount of biomass that becomes available to b...

This chapter explores coral reefs. Coral reefs support some of the most diverse and productive communities in the marine environment. Living corals are animals that create limestone formations that may be thousands of kilometres long and hundreds of metres deep. Species' diversity on reefs can equal that in rainforests, but reefs are generally more...

This chapter examines systems pertaining to the continental shelf seabed. Continental shelves are the most heavily exploited and utilized areas of the world's oceans and support the greatest level of biological production. The ecology of the shallow shelf areas is strongly influenced by physical processes such as waves, tides, currents, erosion, an...

This chapter deals with how humans function within marine ecosystems. Humans harvest a wide range of marine renewable and non-renewable resources, and the ocean is a recipient of the products of human activities on land. Understanding the value of marine ecosystems to mankind both in pure economic terms and in terms of the services provided is impo...

This chapter considers the role of human activities in causing ecological disturbance. The significance of human activities is gauged against the scale and frequency of natural sources of disturbance. Human activities modify the marine environment, both through the removal of biomass and habitats and via the addition of contaminants and physical st...

This chapter introduces the historical development of aquaculture, insight into the variety of techniques used to rear a range of different organisms, the technology employed to increase productivity, and the environmental and biological consequences of aquaculture in marine ecosystems. As in any food production system, aquaculture creates its own...

This chapter turns to the pelagic realm. The pelagic environment encompasses the entire water column of the world's seas and oceans. It extends from the sea surface to the abyssal depths and from the tropics to the polar regions, and is a highly heterogeneous and dynamic three-dimensional habitat. It is, in fact, the most voluminous habitat on Eart...

This chapter discusses mangrove forests and seagrass meadows. These represent two of the most valuable marine habitats in the world, important for providing a high level of productivity and physical structure that support a considerable biodiversity of associated animals. However, both systems are remarkable in that they are based on higher plants...

This chapter takes a look at the polar oceans and seas. Organisms living in Arctic and Antarctic waters are adapted to low temperatures, long periods in the year of poor or entirely absent light, and an ecosystem dominated by the seasonal formation, consolidation, and subsequent melt of frozen seawater. These areas are now receiving much attention...

This chapter introduces the major factors that control primary production and how to measure it. Primary production is the starting point of all life in marine systems. Primary producers in the oceans span many orders of magnitude. Production is measured using bottled incubations or, increasingly, from space, using (satellite-borne) ocean colour se...

This chapter reviews the mechanisms that have resulted in climate change and looks at the evidence for this change, with a focus on the oceans. This is then followed by examples of how the marine environment has responded to these changes. In particular, the chapter focuses on the impacts of temperature change, ocean acidification, and sea-level ri...

This chapter deals with fishing. Fisheries are a key contributor to global food security and economic activity, but without good management fisheries may be subsidized, unproductive, wasteful, cause excessive environmental damage, and ignite conflicts between otherwise friendly nations. The chapter contends that scientific understanding of fish pop...

After drawing attention to the crucial role of marine biodiversity, including that of deep-sea ecosystems, in current scientific understanding of the ocean-climate nexus, this article highlights the limited extent to which the international climate change regime has so far addressed the ocean. The focus then shifts to how the international climate...

Spatial management of the deep sea is challenging due to limited available data on the distribution of species and habitats to support decision making. In the well-studied North Atlantic, predictive models of species distribution and habitat suitability have been used to fill data gaps and support sustainable management. In the South Atlantic and o...

The Agreement on Marine Biodiversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement) opens a new path in international law towards addressing issues at the ocean-climate nexus, as well as considering implications for the protection of human rights and achieving equity among States in the context of ocean knowledge production and environmenta...

Invertebrate animals living at the seafloor make up a prominent component of life globally, spanning 10 orders of magnitude in body size over 71% of Earth's surface. However, integrating information across sizes and sampling methodologies has limited our understanding of the influence of natural variation, climate change and human activity. Here, w...

Despite its remoteness, human activity has impacted the deep sea and changes to the structure and function of deep-sea ecosystems are already noticeable. In terrestrial and shallow water marine environments, demonstrating how ecosystems support human well-being has been instrumental in setting policy and management objectives for sustainable resour...

Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) has become a priority for many states wanting to develop national blue economy plans and meet international obligations in response to the increasing cumulative impacts of human activities and climate change. In areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ), MSP is proposed as part of a package of solutions for multi-secto...

World leaders and representatives of 196 contracting states are joining the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Montréal to discuss strategies to stem global biodiversity loss. Worldwide, one million species are currently threatened with extinction from increasing anthropogenic impacts. Recently...

Identifying and understanding environmental drivers of deep-sea sponge aggregations is critical for effective protection and management. Current literature suggests an association between internal wave activity, regions of enhanced currents, and the distribution of deep-sea sponge aggregations. It is hypothesised that sponges utilise particulate or...

The intensity of deep-sea fisheries on the high seas and the impacts on the marine environment call for effective measures to ensure that fishing does not compromise the commitments established for protecting biodiversity in the deep ocean by the United Nations. In order to prevent significant adverse impacts (SAIs) on vulnerable marine ecosystems...

Aim Latitudinal and bathymetric species diversity gradients in the deep sea have been identified, but studies have rarely considered these gradients across hard substratum habitats, such as seamount and oceanic island margins. This study aimed to identify whether the current understanding of latitudinal and bathymetric gradients in α‐diversity (spe...

The joint ICES/NAFO Working Group on Deep-water Ecology (WGDEC) collates new information on the distribution of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) for use in annual ICES advisory processes and the development of new methods/techniques to further our understanding of deep-sea ecosystems, and further suggests novel management tools to ensure human a...

Carbon-rich habitats can provide powerful climate mitigation if meaningful protection is put in place. We attempted to quantify this around the Tristan da Cunha archipelago Marine Protected Area. Its shallows (<1000 m depth) are varied and productive. The 5.4 km2 of kelp stores ~60 tonnes of carbon (tC) and may export ~240 tC into surrounding depth...

Seamounts and oceanic islands rise from the seafloor and provide suitable habitat for a diverse range of biological assemblages including Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs). Whilst they have been the focus of some work globally, there has been little description of the biological and physical environments of seamounts in the South Atlantic Ocean....

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...

The workshop aimed to identify coherent, collaborative, and scientifically robust solutions to addressing taxonomic knowledge gaps in various stages from collection, preservation and archiving of biological samples and taxonomic data to identification and description of species. Specifically, the workshop focused on: (i) identifying specific needs...

Larval dispersal data are increasingly sought after in ecology and marine conservation, the latter often requiring information under time limited circumstances. Basic estimates of dispersal [based on average current speeds and planktonic larval duration (PLD)] are often used in these situations, usually acknowledging their oversimplified nature, bu...

The joint ICES/NAFO Working Group on Deep-water Ecology (WGDEC) collates new information on the distribution of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) for use in annual ICES advisory processes and the development of new methods/techniques to further our understanding of deep-sea ecosystems, and further suggests novel management tools to ensure human a...

Video and image data are regularly used in the field of benthic ecology to document biodiversity. However, their use is subject to a number of challenges, principally the identification of taxa within the images without associated physical specimens. The challenge of applying traditional taxonomic keys to the identification of fauna from images has...

Habitat suitability models are being used worldwide to help map and manage marine areas of conservation importance and scientific interest. With groundtruthing, these models may be found to successfully predict patches of occurrence, but whether all patches are part of a larger interbreeding metapopulation is much harder to assert. Here we use a No...

Video and image data are regularly used in the field of benthic ecology to document biodiversity. However, their use is subject to a number of challenges, principally the identification of taxa within the images without associated physical specimens. The challenge of applying traditional taxonomic keys to the identification of fauna from images has...

The joint ICES/NAFO Working Group on Deep-water Ecology (WGDEC) collates new information on the distribution of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) for use in annual ICES advisory processes and the development of new methods/techniques to further our understanding of deep-sea ecosystems, and further suggests novel management tools to ensure human a...

Larval dispersal data are increasingly sought after in ecology and marine conservation, the latter often requiring information under time limited circumstances. Basic estimates of dispersal are often used in these situations acknowledging their oversimplified nature. Larval dispersal models (LDMs) are now becoming more popular and may be a tempting...

Commissioned by Marine Institute, Rinville, Oranmore, Co. Galway. Report of the analysis of deep water species and habitats encountered during the 2017 SEAROVER expedition.

The Convention on Biological Diversity mandates the establishment of Marine Protected Area (MPA) networks worldwide, with recommendations stating the importance of ‘ecological coherence’ (a responsibility to support and perpetuate the existing ecosystem) implying the need to sustain population connectivity. While recommendations exist for integrati...

Larval dispersal is an important ecological process of great interest to conservation and the establishment of marine protected areas. Increasing numbers of studies are turning to biophysical models to simulate dispersal patterns, including in the deep-sea, but for many ecologists unassisted by a physical oceanographer, a model can present as a bla...

List of release location coordinates and results of ANCOVA tests of increment and depth effects. (PDF)

Boxplots accompanying timestep, horizontal separation, and vertical separation tests to provide a record of interquartile range and outliers per increment. This data may aid estimates of error if sub-optimal values must be selected. (PDF)

Modelling approaches have the potential to significantly contribute to the spatial management of the deep-sea ecosystem in a cost effective manner. However, we currently have little understanding of the accuracy of such models, developed using limited data, of varying resolution. The aim of this study was to investigate the performance of predictiv...

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...

On the 10th December 2015, WKVME, chaired by Neil Golding (UK) and attended by eleven deep-sea and database experts, met at the JNCC Headquarters, Peterborough, to consider the terms of reference (ToR) listed in Section 2. WKVME reviewed the current ICES Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem (VME) database, focusing on the current list of VME Indicators/Habi...

Measuring and understanding patterns of β-diversity remain major challenges in community ecology. Recently, β-diversity has been shown to consist of 2 distinct components: (1) spatial turnover and (2) species loss leading to nestedness. Both components structure deep-sea macrofaunal assemblages but vary in importance among taxa and ocean basins and...

Ideally, networks of marine protected areas should be designed with consideration for future changes. We examine how this could be tackled using the example of cold-water coral reefs which provide a number of ecosystem services but are vulnerable to both managed pressures (e.g. deep-water trawling) and unmanaged pressures (e.g. ocean acidification)...

New high-resolution image data obtained from the Hebrides Terrace Seamount and analysed by ourselves and Henry and Roberts (Henry, L-A., and Roberts, J. M. Recommendations for best practice in deep-sea habitat classification: Bullimore et al. as a case study. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 71: 895–898.), suggested that we may have misidentified So...

Anthropogenic litter is present in all marine habitats, from beaches to the most remote points in the oceans. On the seafloor, marine litter, particularly plastic, can accumulate in high densities with deleterious consequences for its inhabitants. Yet, because of the high cost involved with sampling the seafloor, no large-scale assessment of distri...

Species distribution models (SDMs) offer great potential for inclusion into the toolbox of today's marine environmental manager, especially with regard to marine conservation and planning. The application of SDMs in the marine environment over recent years has been varied but there are still relatively few examples in comparison with terrestrial ap...

The Celtic Margin is a complex area in terms of sedimentary dynamics and evolution, with a number of submarine canyons dissecting the continental slope and outer continental shelf. The complex terrain and diverse range of sea-bed sediments play a part in submarine canyons being described as areas of high habitat heterogeneity. This study has concen...

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...

Holt, R. E., Foggo, A., Neat, F. C., and Howell, K. L. 2013. Distribution patterns and sexual segregation in chimaeras: implications for conservation and management. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 70: 1198–1205. Chimaeras such as Chimaera monstrosa and Hydrolagus mirabilis are commonly found in commercial bycatch of deep-sea fisheries in the Nor...

On 11 February 2013, the joint ICES/NAFO WGDEC, chaired by Francis Neat (UK) and attended by ten members met at the Institute for Marine Research in Floedevi-gen, Norway to consider the terms of reference (ToR) listed in Section 2. WGDEC was requested to update all records of deep-water vulnerable marine eco-systems (VMEs) in the North Atlantic. Ne...

Genetic structure and connectivity of populations of the globally distributed and eurybathic sea star Hippasteria phrygiana (Parelius 1768) were studied in 165 individuals sampled from three oceanic regions: the North Pacific Ocean, the South Pacific Ocean (considered to include the adjacent regions of the Southern Ocean and the southern Indian Oce...