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RRS James Clark Ross JR15005 Cruise Report

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RRS James Clark Ross JR15005 Cruise Report SO-AntEco South Orkneys - State of the Antarctic Ecosystem RRS James Clark Ross JR15005 Cruise Report South Orkneys - State of the Antarctic Ecosystem Huw Griffiths & the scientists of SO-AntEco British Antarctic Survey Cruise Report Falkland Islands – Signy – King Edward Point – Falkland Islands Report of RRS James Clark Ross cruise JR15005, February-March 2016 BAS Archive Reference Number: ES*/*/2015/* This report contains initial observations and conclusions. It is not to be cited without the written permission of the Director, British Antarctic Survey. March 2016 Contents Summary ........................................................................................................................................... 5 Objectives .......................................................................................................................................... 5 Summary narrative for JR15005 ................................................................................................ 6 Cruise Track .................................................................................................................................. 8 Personnel .......................................................................................................................................... 9 Officers and crew for JR15005 ................................................................................................... 9 Scientific Party .............................................................................................................................. 9 Project Reports: .............................................................................................................................. 11 1. Agassiz Trawl (AGT) ............................................................................................................. 11 2. Rauschert dredge .................................................................................................................. 15 3. Epi-benthic Sledge (EBS) ..................................................................................................... 18 4. Shallow underwater camera system (SUCS) .................................................................... 23 5. Polychaete diversity ............................................................................................................... 32 6. Holothuroids ............................................................................................................................ 37 7. Biodiversity of Asteroidea ..................................................................................................... 43 8. Crinoidea ................................................................................................................................. 47 9. Crustacea (Malacostraca) sampled with the Agassiz trawl during the expedition SO- AntEco .......................................................................................................................................... 53 10. Studies on distribution and biology of decapod crustaceans ........................................ 59 11. South Orkney Island Porifera ............................................................................................. 65 12. Sea anemones sensu lato (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Actiniaria, Ceriantharia and Corallimorpharia) ........................................................................................................................ 67 13. Cephalopods ........................................................................................................................ 69 14. Coral VMEs ........................................................................................................................... 72 15. VME scleractinian and stylasterid corals ......................................................................... 75 16. Acid-Base physiology in two classes of echinoderms (Asteroidea and Holothuroidea) ...................................................................................................................................................... 76 17. Dead carbonate material .................................................................................................... 78 18. Kelp - CGS103 ..................................................................................................................... 79 19. South Orkney Islands Southern Shelf Marine Protected Area (MPA) ......................... 84 20. Broader Impact ..................................................................................................................... 89 21. Multibeam bathymetry (Kongsberg EM122) equipment report ..................................... 92 22. Antarctic & Marine Engineering ....................................................................................... 101 23. Laboratory report ............................................................................................................... 105 24. IT Report ............................................................................................................................. 106 25. Data management ............................................................................................................. 107 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... 115 Appendices: .................................................................................................................................. 116 Appendix 1: Bridge Event Log ................................................................................................ 116 Appendix 2: Rauschert data ................................................................................................... 143 Appendix 3: Carbonate samples ............................................................................................ 144 Appendix 4: Scientific staff contact list .................................................................................. 149 Summary The South Orkney Islands is a small archipelago located in the Southern Ocean, 375 miles north-east of the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. The seafloor around the South Orkney Islands has been shown to be an area with exceptionally high biodiversity. The marine animals there represent approximately one fifth of all species recorded for the entire Southern Ocean. The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) closed all finfish fisheries around the South Orkney Islands in 1989, and in 2009 they established the South Orkney Islands Southern Shelf Marine Protected Area (SOISS MPA), the first MPA located entirely within the High Seas anywhere on the planet. SO-AntEco (JR15005) is a British Antarctic Survey (BAS) led expedition undertaken in conjunction with an international team of scientists from the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR) AntEco research programme. The team includes participants from nine different countries and 16 institutes. The expedition took place on board the BAS research ship RRS James Clark Ross in early 2016. The SO-AntEco expedition investigated the diversity of life both inside and outside the SOISS MPA region in order to better understand the distribution and composition of the seafloor communities around the islands. We undertook a research cruise that explored the different seafloor habitats to investigate whether different environments supported different communities of animals. Improving our understanding of the distribution of animals, such as corals and sponges, which are vulnerable to fishing and other human impacts, will help us to manage the region’s natural resources in the future. Objectives • To find and identify seafloor animals from around the South Orkney Islands and to name and describe any species new to science. • To detect any significant differences between the types of species and numbers of animals in different habitats. • To identify species that are indicative of specific habitat types to help with future habitat mapping. • To map all vulnerable species found and to report their presence and distribution to relevant stakeholders such as CCAMLR. Funding Cruise JR15005 was part of the Biodiversity, Evolution and Adaptation team of the Environmental Change and Evolution Programme (BAS). Two NERC Collaborative Gearing Scheme (CGS) proposals funded the attendance of Cath Waller, Laura Robinson, Helena Wiklund, Madeline Brasier and Michelle Taylor. Individual invited scientists from the SCAR AntEco Programme were externally funded for travel and preparation costs and then supported by BAS whilst on board the ship. Summary narrative for JR15005 The following calendar view gives a simplified overview of JR15005 splitting the days into one of four groups. Of the 20 days originally allocated to science, 16.6 days were used for science with 26.3 hours lost to bad weather and the rest lost to logistics. Mobilisation/ Passage plus Bathymetric survey Benthic biology Demobilisation logistics Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Feb 2016 29 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 March 2016 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 The following is a more detailed day-to-day narrative of cruise events. To avoid confusion with event logs that form the most detailed narrative, times are given in UTC. On cruise JR15005, local time was always UTC -3. Day Date Narrative
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