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Home , Acorn worm, Anoplogaster cornuta, Argyropelecus affinis, Bryozoa, Fangtooth, Giant oarfish

BENEATH THEWAVES Planet II filmed them for the first time first eating . the for them filmed II Planet They feed mainly on but Blue grow to have a disc width of 3 metres. ray in the Pacific . Mobula rays can This picture shows aMobula ray ordevil RAYMOBULA for the'boilingsea'. looking while Rica, Costa off Pacific Ocean the in filmed were yellowfin These speeds ofupto 40miles perhour. ocean. They can pursue their prey at These predators solely inhabit the open YELLOWFIN TUNA uses to move through thewater. it fins forthe so-named octopus, Dumbo of a is It California. off waters deep the in octopus flapjack This the deepestlivingofallknow octopuses. of 3000m to 7000m making this group Dumbo Octopus live at extreme depths DUMBO OCTOPUS protective shell. tough its apart break to able is tuskfish either side of the outcropping, the tool. By forcefully smashingthe clam on use that fish outcroppings a as coral few the of one are tuskfish These FISH TUSK danger to young calves. risk of being crushed in these pose a walrus colonies causing stampedes. The polarHungry bears can trigger alarm in smell. communication andtheirstrong sense of calf is very strong, reinforced by vocal The bond between walrus and her WALRUS tissue to beejected. to cause the -like cells in a coral's for justafew weeks, thatcan beenough just 1or2degrees Celsiusabove normal, When sea temperatures are elevated by anemones. and jellyfish to related closely are which are not but in fact REEF CORAL with life. the structure they create is crowded incredibly productive ecosystems and creating towering forests. These are ofbullkelp rise upto thesurface, rich waters dueto upwelling. fuelled by the sun and fed by nutrient- has a phenomenal growth rate, KELP fronds ofkelp for better stability. their backs, frequently wrappingon themselves in floating by rest they hunting, body weight every day when but, not Sea otters musteataround 30%oftheir of Gorgonian -abush-like octocoral. particular repeatedly a against rub Some bottlenose dolphins are known to social andcognitive skills. developing in important is which dolphins, maySurfing bea form of play in bottlenose DOLPHIN BOTTLENOSE SEA OTTER SEA 1000 m 6000 m 4000 m 200 m Bottlenose dolphin HADOPELAGIC ABYSSOPELAGIC BATHYPELAGIC MESOPELAGIC EPIPELAGIC Tursiops truncatus

For datesscreening and show times or to TWILIGHT HADAL ABYSS MIDNIGHT PHOTIC Exocoetus volitans heteropsis Cock-eyed Flying fish

Giant amphipod Common Alicella gigantea Colossendeis megalonyx Regalecus glesne Giant Sea

Grimpoteuthis bathynectes

Cetorhinus maximus Longbill spearfish Tetrapturus pfluegeri Basking

Dumbo octopus Deep-sea spidercrab Platymaia wyvillethomsoni Platymaia Thunnus albacares Melanocetus johnstonii Yellowfin tuna : Our Blue Planet is now playing at museums and giant screen theatres. Angler fish Pseudoliparis amblystomopsis Vampyroteuthis infernalis

Acorn worm Enteropneusta Physeter macrocephalus Vampire squid Snailfish

Sperm whale

Megaptera novaeangliae

Humpback whale

Leatherback sea turtle

Dermochelys coriacea Atlantic wolffish Anarhichas lupus Dana Chauliodus danae Black swallower Spotted eagleray Chiasmodon niger eucnemis Aetobatus narinari find out more about Oceans: OurBluePlanet, visit Basket

Sea pig Sea Coryphaenoides yaquinae Coryphaenoides Mitsukurina owstoni

Goblin shark

Rattail fish

#OurBluePlanet

Eurypharynx pelecanoides Eurypharynx Lampris guttatus Lampris

Moonfish Common cuttlefish Latimeria chalumnae Latimeria Gulper eel Aristaeomorpha foliacea

Coelacanth Giant red shrimp Sepia officinalis Galeocerdo cuvier Tiger shark Bathycrinus carpenterii Munidopsis profunda Stalked Squat lobsterSquat Giant Pacific octopus

Pacific sea nettlejellyfish Enteroctopus dofleini

Chambered nautilus

Chrysaora pacifica Chrysaora Giant tubeworms Nautilus pompilius Riftia

Gymnothorax moringa Spotted moray Atlantic Myxine glutinosa Myxine

Pterois volitans Red lionfish Common seahorse

Hippocampus kuda Pacific hatchetfish affinis

Yellow tube

Aplysina fistularis Grooved brain coral Diploria labyrinthiformis

Our

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Pseudoceros susanae

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PLASTIC OCEANS

The demand for plastic continues to grow but its durability – the key characteristic that makes plastic so popular – is also the reason why it is so widespread in the oceans. Plastic debris in our oceans is emerging as a new, truly global challenge and one that requires a response at local, regional and international levels.

THE CHALLENGE wide array of organic and inorganic pollutants from the surrounding environment. Their Global production of plastics is rising – in large surface-area-to-volume ratio means 2015 global plastic production exceeded 320 they concentrate organic pollutants and million metric tons. A 2015 study estimated can be up to six orders of magnitude more that 275 million metric tons of plastic waste contaminated than sea water. Ingestion was generated in 192 coastal countries of microplastics by marine at in 2010, and between 4.8 and 12.7 million the bottom of the chain is magnified tons of it ended up in the ocean as a result in organisms higher up the food chain, of poor waste management. The study also where toxins accumulate and concentration predicted that, without waste management is increased. improvements, the quantity of plastic waste entering the ocean from land will increase by an of magnitude by 2025, resulting in 1 ton of plastic for every 3 tons of fish.

Although there is substantial concern about rust from buildings, cars, ships and aircraft; macroplastic debris (comprising, among fibres from synthetic fabrics (more than 1900 OCEAN FACTS other things, fishing nets, plastic bags, and microplastic fibres are released from a single drinks containers), recent research highlights synthetic garment in just one wash); and the Why do seabirds eat plastic? the growing presence and abundance of mechanical abrasion of car tyres on roads. Seabirds such as , shear- microplastics in marine environments. These waters and petrels are known as tube- plastic particles can be as small as a virus, and So why should we care? nosed seabirds. They fly vast distances are now found worldwide, from the Arctic to to find their food and mainly use smell the Antarctic, on beaches, in surface waters Plastics adversely affect terrestrial and to locate it. They feed on squid, fish and in deep-sea sediments. It is estimated marine ecosystems at both the macro and and . Dimethyl sulphide (DMS) is a that, on average, every square kilometre of micro scales. Nearly 700 marine species have chemical that is released from the cells the world’s oceans has 63,320 microplastic been reported to either ingest and/or become of marine alga when krill eat it. DMS particles floating on the surface and in some entangled by plastic. This includes almost 50 therefore serves as an olfactory cue places concentrations can be 27 times higher. per cent of all seabirds, sea snakes, sea turtles, alerting the birds to the presence of krill. penguins, seals, sea lions, manatees, sea otters, A new study has shown that tube-nosed Wher e do microplastics come from? fish and . The effects can be fatal seabirds swallow large amounts of but may also have sub-lethal consequences, plastic compared to other birds because Some microplastics in the ocean result from compromising their ability to catch and digest plastic debris coated with algae has a the incomplete degradation of larger plastic food, escape from predators, maintain body high level of DMS associated with it and pieces. However there are several other condition and migrate. Plastics contain so smells like food to the birds. sources. These include microbeads found in chemicals (added to increase their durability) skin cleansers, toothpaste and shaving cream; that, when eaten, leach out and disrupt normal abrasives used to strip paint and/or remove hormonal function. Microplastics also absorb a CLIMATE WARMING & OCEAN CIRCULATION

One of the most worrying and widely anticipated impacts of ongoing global warming is a weakening or collapse of the oceans’ overturning circulation. This vast system of oceanic currents plays a major role in maintaining our regional climates and our oceans’ biological productivity by transporting enormous volumes of heat, salt, nutrients and carbon around the planet.

P OLAR SINKING response to ongoing global warming? We don’t yet know. But if circulation does slow The between and or change flow direction, it would have , and the around major consequences for regional climates Antarctica, are both areas where cooling and ocean ecosystems. The past offers us and higher salinity make the seawater at insights into what Earth would look like should the surface dense enough to sink into the the oceans’ circulation change. Data from the abyss to form the descending currents geological past and computer models both of the oceans’ global circulation system. show that if the North Atlantic circulation Predictions are that global warming will slows or shuts down, the entire Northern cause surface ocean waters in these Hemisphere cools, Indian and Asian monsoon polar regions to become warmer and less areas dry up, and less ocean mixing results in dense (more ‘buoyant’) and thus less less plankton and other life in the ocean. likely to sink. A stronger hydrological cycle, coupled with ice sheet melting, will lower the salinity of polar surface waters, which will also increase the becoming more buoyant because of climate buoyancy of surface waters. All these warming and a stronger hydrological OCEAN FACTS factors could weaken the oceans’ overturning cycle delivering more as rain. circulation or even make it collapse. The hydrological cycle Has ocean circulation already started The hydrological cycle describes the Ice sheet melting to change? large-scale movement of water between

Earth’s major reservoirs: atmospheric Global warming is melting Earth’s ice. Ocean circulation in the North Atlantic water vapour (e.g. clouds), rain water, Arctic sea ice is thinning dramatically and seems to have slowed in recent decades, fresh water, ice sheets, sea ice and saline its geographic extent is shrinking too. but it is currently unclear whether this ocean water. The broad pattern on Earth The Greenland ice sheet is also shrinking, slowdown has been triggered by climate is that ocean water is evaporated from shedding nearly 300 billion tons of water change or is just part of a normal cycle of the warm ocean surface in the tropics, a year into the North Atlantic. The West faster and slower currents. It is also unclear is carried polewards by the major wind Antarctic ice sheet is also melting and whether circulation in the Southern Ocean, systems, and finally falls as rain (or snow) showing signs of becoming increasingly which circles the Antarctic continent, in polar regions. A warmer climate will unstable. As well as raising global sea has started to change yet, although its strengthen this water cycle, causing levels, this melting will weaken deep ocean surface waters have warmed substantially. more rainfall nearer the poles, and thus circulation by adding huge volumes of fresh greater buoyancy in polar surface waters, water into the polar ocean surface, thus The past as a guide to the future reducing their sinking capability and increasing its buoyancy and reducing its potentially slowing down the deep ocean capacity to sink. While the Antarctic ice sheet The big question is: when (or) will ocean conveyor circulation. is not experiencing as much net melting as circulation in the North Atlantic and Southern Greenland, its surface waters are nevertheless Ocean switch to new circulation patterns in OCEAN ACIDIFICATION

Our oceans are currently absorbing half of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by burning fuels. This absorption is increasing ocean acidity, threatening the survival of marine organisms and their habitats, and affecting our oceans’ health. If the continuing rise in emissions are not controlled, ocean acidity will reach 150 per cent by the next century.

THE OTHER CO2 PROBLEM Neutr alising acidity

Oceans are absorbing additional CO2 emitted The current rise of atmospheric CO2 and to the atmosphere from the burning of fossil its impact on ocean acidity does not allow fuels. The absorption of CO2 increases the sufficient time for organisms and ecosystems oceans’ acidity through a series of chemical to adapt. To alleviate this pressure, reduction changes and reduces the availability of in global CO2 emissions and ocean acidity are molecules essential for required. Ideas being explored include addition shell formation. Also, oceans’ ability to hold of neutralisers to the oceans, and the capturing CO2 is affected by temperature. Cold water and safe storage of atmospheric CO2. These holds more CO2 than warm water, and because positive steps are essential for saving our the oceans are warming rapidly, their ability to oceans, upon which we depend for food, natural absorb CO2 in the future is going to be severely resources and recreation. hampered. As a result more CO2 will remain in the atmosphere, further increasing Earth’s temperature. In short, ocean acidification is caused by rising atmospheric CO2, which increases oceans’ acidity and reduction in two potential threats from ocean acidification: OCEAN FACTS essential ions required for shell formation, they are unable to build robust shells and with potentially devastating consequences their shells dissolve more readily as the Unprecedented change for marine ecosystems and our planet ocean acidifies and becomes more corrosive. Fifty-six million years ago the oceans became so acidic that many marine Diss olving shells A cidity and ecology organisms died out, in particular organisms with carbonate shells. When carbon dioxide dissolves in the ocean it Continued ocean acidification will result in However, some surface-dwelling produces carbonic acid, which, in addition to coral reefs corroding faster than they can be plankton species and other animals survived and the oceans slowly recovered making the ocean more acidic, also binds up rebuilt, threatening their long-term viability over hundreds of thousands of years. with carbonate ions, essential building blocks and that of the estimated one million species So why should we be so concerned for shell formation. The reduced availability of that rely on them for survival. Other ecological about the ocean acidification that is essential shell-forming ions means investment impacts of acidification on marine organisms happening today? One big difference is of more energy in shell formation at the include reductions in the spawning and larval that, back then, acidification of the ocean expense of other essential activities, overall growth of fish, the oxygen-carrying capacity happened over a period of thousands to hampering growth in organisms such as corals, of blood in squid and predator-avoidance tens of thousands of years. This gave oysters, clams and . Many species behaviour in sea urchins and fish. In contrast, some organisms a chance to adapt and of plankton are making thinner carbonate plants and many algae (including seaweeds and allowed ocean sediments to neutralise shells and their fate is particularly important sea grasses) may flourish in a high CO2 world. the extra acidity. Today’s acidification rate is at least 10 times faster than because they form the base of marine food However, future increases in coastal pollution 56 million years ago. webs. Shell-forming marine creatures face may counteract this potential benefit. INVISIBLE PLANKTON

Marine are the foundation of oceanic biological productivity, supporting complex marine food webs, and are a vital component of life on Earth. Using energy from the sun, they absorb as much carbon as all the trees and other plants on land, through . They also produce half of all the oxygen that we breathe.

THE ‘INVISIBLE PLANTS’ in the polar regions and less diverse in the OF THE OCEAN tropics. Phytoplankton are also changing in abundance and hence productivity. As surface Marine plankton consist of microscopic waters warm, there is less vertical mixing to algae and (phytoplankton) and recycle stored nutrients from deep waters animals (zooplankton). Phytoplankton back to the surface. The complex effects form the base of marine food webs. They of these changes on marine food webs, are eaten by zooplankton – thousands carbon capture and oxygen production is not of species of tiny animals, some of which yet clear, but they could result in a cascade are the larval forms of larger animals. of negative consequences throughout Zooplankton, in turn, become meals for the marine ecosystem that may ultimately larger predators, ranging from small fish threaten the abundance and diversity of all life to enormous whales. Like land plants, in the ocean. phytoplankton have chlorophyll and, through photosynthesis, they use sunlight, nutrients and carbon dioxide to produce organic carbon compounds in the form of soft About three-quarters of the deep ocean tissues, releasing oxygen as a by-product. floor is covered by sediment that can reach thicknesses of over a kilometre. In this way, OCEAN FACTS A biological pump marine snow transports carbon captured at A vital role the ocean surface into the deep and is part Phytoplankton form the foundation of Organic matter and shells of calcifying plankton of a biological ‘carbon pump’. If the pumped marine ecosystems and carry out half of settle to the ocean floor when phytoplankton carbon dissolves in deep waters, it is locked all photosynthesis on Earth. Half of all the and calcifying plankton die. Organic matter is away for hundreds or thousands of years, oxygen in our atmosphere comes from lighter than seawater so its vertical transport whereas if this carbon becomes buried in the oceanic photosynthesis. In addition to is through adsorption at the surface of other sediment, it is locked away for millions of years. providing us with oxygen, oceans remove falling particles such as shell fragments, dust, a substantial amount of carbon dioxide sand and faecal matter. These falling particles Plank ton in future oceans created by human industrial activity, of dead plankton and other organic materials making them a crucial component in are called marine snow because they resemble Hundreds and thousands of species of the battle to slow human-engineered snowflakes falling from the upper ocean. The phytoplankton live in Earth’s oceans, each . Future warming of majority of marine snow disintegrates during adapted to particular seawater conditions. the oceans will not only threaten the journey to the ocean floor, with only 1 per Changes in water temperature, clarity, phytoplankton growth (due to limited cent making it to the deep ocean where it nutrient content and salinity affect both the availability of nutrients), but also risk the provides food for many deep-sea creatures diversity and abundance of phytoplankton health of marine ecosystems, including that filter it from the water or scavenge it communities. In response to trends in our . from the ocean floor. The small percentage increasing ocean temperatures and acidity, not consumed is incorporated into ocean the diversity of phytoplankton communities floor sediments. is also changing, becoming more diverse MARINE CONSERVATION

Today the oceans face many challenges from extensive human impacts. We have used the oceans for fishing, trade, communication and warfare and, as the Earth’s population has increased from ~1 billion in 1800 to more than 7.5 billion today, so the pressures have increased – particularly on fishing.

FISHE RIES work? Studies of MPA effectiveness have shown they consistently improve biodiversity Fishing is often described as ‘harvesting (the number of species present), and fish the oceans’, but it is different from farming. numbers within them are higher too. How much What farmer would knowingly deplete his human activity can be restricted depends on stock without ensuring there was a reliable whether the MPA is in international waters, the supply of replacement animals? Fishing in the exclusive economic zone or territorial sea. The recent past has resembled the large-scale largest MPA is currently an area of 1.5 million unsustainable slaughter of the herds of buffalo square kilometres of the Ross Sea in Antarctica on the North American plains, and marine (about 6 times the area of the United Kingdom). ecosystems worldwide are paying the price. About 2 per cent of the oceans are protected by MPAs, and there are plans to expand this. Human impacts on marine environments

As human population has increased, so has the pressure on fish stocks. Unfortunately, ‘stocks’ implies there are large supplies of available such as the USA. Fish are mobile and at different fish, and this is often not the case. Pressure points in their life cycles they can pass through OCEAN FACTS on fish stocks has increased as humans have the legal responsibility of many states. This moved from fish traps thousands of years makes managing marine stocks challenging. The United Nations Convention on ago to factory ships today, which catch and Many states claim exclusive fishing rights to the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) process large quantities of fish while still at the full 200 nautical miles of their exclusive Coastal states have a territorial sea out to sea. The result has been significant overfishing economic zone (or a line between them where 12 nautical miles (1 nautical mile = 1.852 of some species over the last century. For states are closer than 200 nautical miles apart). km) where they set and enforce laws and example cod, once abundant in the North Good management limits the amount of fish can use any resource. The measurement Atlantic, has been so depleted that current caught so that no species is over-exploited is from a notional base line. For a further fishing is heavily restricted. Another issue and the overall ecosystem does not decline. 12 nautical miles, states can enforce is so-called ‘’, when trawlers catch a Today, many experts believe that in many a contiguous zone, which is important species that they do not want. Historically, cases we must aim to allow fish for immigration, pollution, customs and this bycatch was discarded and, because the populations to rise, even if that means taxation. For 200 nautical miles from fish were killed, there is an additional impact reducing our current exploitation rates. the baseline, states have an exclusive on the ecosystem. This impact includes the economic zone (EEZ) where they have fish not being a food source for other species. Marine protected areas rights over natural resources. Outside this are international waters (or high seas) Managing fisheries We can restrict human activities, such as where no state is in control. Where states commercial fishing and mineral development, by are closer than 200 nautical miles apart, The UN Law of the Sea treaty determines where using the laws. We can create marine protected boundaries lie at the mid-point between states can fish, but the treaty is not binding on areas (MPAs) to limit shipping and reduce both them. This is called the median line. states that have not ratified or acceded to it, local pollution and acoustic noise. But do they OCEANS: OUR BLUE PLANET THE OPEN UNIVERSITY PHOTO SYNOPSIS ACADEMIC AUTHORS CREDITS

Oceans: Our Blue Planet takes us on a The information in this poster was developed Bottle Nose Dolphins global odyssey to discover the largest and by a passionate team of academics and Photograph by Jonathan Smith least explored habitat on earth. New ocean experts from The Open University. Additional © BBC NHU 2017 science and technology has allowed us to supplementary text written by BBC Earth. go further into the unknown than we ever Methane Mud Volcano thought possible. From the coastal shallows to Find out more about the OU academics who Photograph © BBC 2017 deeper, more mysterious worlds, we reveal the have worked on this poster: Octopus © BBC 2017 untold stories of the oceans’ most astonishing Dr Pallavi Anand Mobula Ray © BBC 2017 creatures. Dolphins leap for joy through the Lecturer in Ocean Biogeochemistry Yellowfin Tuna © BBC 2017 waves, as we begin our journey into the blue. www.open.ac.uk/people/pa2398 Our first stop is the coral reefs, where we meet Hard Gardens © BBC 2017 fascinating characters like the ingenious tusk Dr Mark Brandon fish that uses a tool to open its food. In the Reader in Polar Oceanography Coral Reefs great forests of the sea, we find a cunning www.open.ac.uk/people/mab49 Photograph © Jason Isley octopus who shields herself in an armoury of Kelp Green Seas shells to hide from predators. Dr Miranda Dyson Senior Lecturer in Behavioural Ecology Photograph © Justin Hofman As we journey through our oceans, we share and Evolutionary Biology Mobula Ray these extraordinary discoveries and uncover www.open.ac.uk/people/mld5 Photograph © Franco Banfi a spectacular world of life beneath the waves. Dr Philip Sexton Surfing Bottle Nose Dolphins © BBC 2017 Senior Lecturer in Ocean Science Flapjack Octopus Photograph © BBC 2017 PRODUCER CREDITS www.open.ac.uk/people/pfs67 Sea Otter Feeding © BBC 2017 For more information visit www.open.edu/openlearn/blueplanet Tuskfish Holding a Clam Mark Brownlow Photograph © Alex Vail 2017 Director Illustrations by Glen Darby Tuna Pacific Ocean Broadcast Project Manager: Photograph by David Valencia Julia Burrows Walrus Mother and Calf on Iceberg Photograph Rachel Butler Copyright © The Open University 2017 by Rachel Butler © BBC NHU 2016 Director All rights reserved. No part of this publication Coral Bleaching may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval Photograph © Alexander Mustard system, or transmitted in any form or by any Walrus and Calf Swimming means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, Photograph by Jonathan Smith James Honeyborne recording or otherwise without the prior © BBC NHU 2017 Producer permission of the copyright holders. Curious Octopus © BBC 2017 Enquiries regarding extracts or the re-use of Lonely Plastic Bag © BBC 2017 any information in this publication email: [email protected] Plastic Flotsam © BBC 2017 Neil Nightingale Submarine Photograph © Luis Lamar 2017 Producer The Open University is incorporated by Royal Charter (RC 000391), an exempt charity in Surfing Indo-Pacific Bottle Nose Dolphins England & Wales, and a charity registered in Photograph © Steve Benjamin 2017 Scotland Monterey Bay Sea Otters Myles Connolly (SC 038302). The Open University is Photograph © Espen Rekdal 2017 Supervising Producer authorised and regulated by the Financial Tuskfish Swimming © BBC 2017 Conduct Authority. Plankton © PawelG Photo / Shutterstock