Deep-sea biodiversity under climate change: a frank or fabricated future?
The planet faces both climate change and biodiversity loss. These crises are intertwined and must be addressed together. In doing so, the deep ocean must be considered. The adaptations and life histories of deep-sea species make them vulnerable to changing environments and disruption. We have already discovered just how dependent we are on the deep ocean for a stable climate. Ocean-based geoenginee-ring measures and deep-seabed mining pose looming but invisible threats to the deep ocean.
A growing imperative to conserve both deep-sea biodiversity and the carbon services requires input into the many international negotiations, frameworks, and treaties currently deciding the fate of the deep sea.
About the lecturer
Lisa A. Levin - winner of the Senckenberg Prize for Nature Research 2024 - is a Distinguished Professor Emerita at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. She currently researches biodiversity, climate change, and human impacts on the deep ocean. She works to bring deep-sea science to policy makers via science networks, global assessments, and UN negotiations.