National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research, Wellington, New Zealand.
PLoS One. 2012;7(1):e29232. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0029232. Epub 2012 Jan 18.
Seamounts shape the topography of all ocean basins and can be hotspots of biological activity in the deep sea. The Census of Marine Life on Seamounts (CenSeam) was a field program that examined seamounts as part of the global Census of Marine Life (CoML) initiative from 2005 to 2010. CenSeam progressed seamount science by collating historical data, collecting new data, undertaking regional and global analyses of seamount biodiversity, mapping species and habitat distributions, challenging established paradigms of seamount ecology, developing new hypotheses, and documenting the impacts of human activities on seamounts. However, because of the large number of seamounts globally, much about the structure, function and connectivity of seamount ecosystems remains unexplored and unknown. Continual, and potentially increasing, threats to seamount resources from fishing and seabed mining are creating a pressing demand for research to inform conservation and management strategies. To meet this need, intensive science effort in the following areas will be needed: 1) Improved physical and biological data; of particular importance is information on seamount location, physical characteristics (e.g. habitat heterogeneity and complexity), more complete and intensive biodiversity inventories, and increased understanding of seamount connectivity and faunal dispersal; 2) New human impact data; these shall encompass better studies on the effects of human activities on seamount ecosystems, as well as monitoring long-term changes in seamount assemblages following impacts (e.g. recovery); 3) Global data repositories; there is a pressing need for more comprehensive fisheries catch and effort data, especially on the high seas, and compilation or maintenance of geological and biodiversity databases that underpin regional and global analyses; 4) Application of support tools in a data-poor environment; conservation and management will have to increasingly rely on predictive modelling techniques, critical evaluation of environmental surrogates as faunal "proxies", and ecological risk assessment.
海山塑造了所有海洋盆地的地形，并且可能是深海生物活动的热点。海山生物普查（CenSeam）是一个实地项目，作为全球海洋生物普查（CoML）倡议的一部分，从 2005 年到 2010 年对海山进行了研究。CenSeam 通过整理历史数据、收集新数据、对海山生物多样性进行区域和全球分析、绘制物种和栖息地分布地图、挑战已建立的海山生态学范式、提出新假说以及记录人类活动对海山的影响，推动了海山科学的发展。然而，由于全球海山数量众多，海山生态系统的结构、功能和连通性仍有许多有待探索和了解。不断增加的捕捞和海底采矿对海山资源的威胁，迫切需要开展研究，为保护和管理战略提供信息。为了满足这一需求，需要在以下领域开展密集的科学工作：1）改进物理和生物数据；特别是关于海山位置、物理特征（例如生境异质性和复杂性）、更完整和密集的生物多样性清单，以及增加对海山连通性和动物扩散的了解；2）新的人为影响数据；这些数据应包括更好地研究人类活动对海山生态系统的影响，以及监测海山群落在受到影响（例如恢复）后长期变化的情况；3）全球数据存储库；迫切需要更全面的渔业捕捞和努力数据，特别是在公海上，并且需要编译或维护支持区域和全球分析的地质和生物多样性数据库；4）在数据匮乏的环境中应用支持工具；保护和管理将不得不越来越依赖预测建模技术，对环境替代物作为动物“代理”进行严格评估，以及进行生态风险评估。
