An underwater imagery identification guide for shallow, mesophotic and deep-sea benthos in Maldives.

Background: During the 2022 Nekton Maldives Mission, we deployed a variety of platforms (snorkelling, remotely-operated vehicles and manned submersibles) to conduct video surveys of the biodiversity and composition of shallow (< 30 m), mesophotic (30-150 m) and deep-sea (> 150 m) benthos found in the Maldives' central and southern atolls. In total, ~ 80 hrs of stereo-video footage were collected during the benthic transect surveys, which were subsequently processed using annotation software in order to evaluate benthic biodiversity and community composition. Here, we present a photographic guide for the visual, identification of reef benthos encountered, including corals, sponges and other invertebrates that inhabit Maldives' nearshore habitats.

Plastic pollution on the world's coral reefs.

Coral reefs are losing the capacity to sustain their biological functions. In addition to other well-known stressors, such as climatic change and overfishing, plastic pollution is an emerging threat to coral reefs, spreading throughout reef food webs, and increasing disease transmission and structural damage to reef organisms. Although recognized as a global concern, the distribution and quantity of plastics trapped in the world's coral reefs remains uncertain.

Trait-based approaches reveal that deep reef ecosystems in the Western Indian Ocean are functionally distinct.

Tropical deep reefs (>30 m) are biologically and ecologically unique ecosystems with a higher geographic reach to shallow (<30 m) reefs. Yet they are poorly understood and rarely considered in conservation practices. Here, we characterise benthic and fish communities across a depth gradient (10-350 m) in remote coral atolls in Seychelles, Western Indian Ocean.

Moving conferences online: lessons learned from an international virtual meeting.

We consider the opportunities and challenges associated with organizing a conference online, using a case study of a medium-sized (approx. 400 participants) international conference held virtually in August 2020. In addition, we present quantifiable evidence of the participants' experience using the results from an online post-conference questionnaire.

Reef benthos of Seychelles - A field guide.

Background: During the 2019 First Descent: Seychelles Expedition, shallow and deep reef ecosystems of the Seychelles Outer Islands were studied by deploying a variety of underwater technologies to survey their benthic flora and fauna. Submersibles, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and SCUBA diving teams used stereo-video camera systems to record benthic communities during transect surveys conducted at 10 m, 30 m, 60 m, 120 m, 250 m and 350 m depths. In total, ~ 45 h of video footage was collected during benthic transect surveys, which was subsequently processed using annotation software in order to assess reef biodiversity and community composition.

Global COVID-19 lockdown highlights humans as both threats and custodians of the environment.

The global lockdown to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic health risks has altered human interactions with nature. Here, we report immediate impacts of changes in human activities on wildlife and environmental threats during the early lockdown months of 2020, based on 877 qualitative reports and 332 quantitative assessments from 89 different studies. Hundreds of reports of unusual species observations from around the world suggest that animals quickly responded to the reductions in human presence.

Co-development, co-production and co-dissemination of scientific research: a case study to demonstrate mutual benefits.

Inadequate and inequitable distribution of research capacity and resources limits both the opportunity for leadership and participation in science. It also results in biases of effort, poor and misinterpretation of global patterns and the availability of limited usable knowledge for current challenges. Increased participation in ocean research and decision-making is needed to account for many stressors and challenges.

Turning the tide of parachute science.

Parachute science is the practice whereby international scientists, typically from higher-income countries, conduct field studies in another country, typically of lower income, and then complete the research in their home country without any further effective communication and engagement with others from that nation. It creates dependency on external expertise, does not address local research needs, and hinders local research efforts. As global hotspots of marine biodiversity, lower-income nations in the tropics have for too long been the subject of inequitable and unfair research practices.

A framework for the development of a global standardised marine taxon reference image database (SMarTaR-ID) to support image-based analyses.

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 led to the development of personal, group, or institution level reference image catalogues of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) or morphospecies.

Low connectivity between shallow, mesophotic and rariphotic zone benthos.

Worldwide coral reefs face catastrophic damage due to a series of anthropogenic stressors. Investigating how coral reefs ecosystems are connected, in particular across depth, will help us understand if deeper reefs harbour distinct communities. Here, we explore changes in benthic community structure across 15-300 m depths using technical divers and submersibles around Bermuda.

Changes in zooplankton communities from epipelagic to lower mesopelagic waters.

Zooplankton form a trophic link between primary producers and higher trophic levels, and exert significant influence on the vertical transport of carbon through the water column ('biological carbon pump'). Using a MultiNet we sampled and studied mesozooplankton communities (i.e.

Plastic in the Thames: a river runs through it.

Although contamination of the marine ecosystems by plastics is becoming recognised as a serious pollution problem, there are few studies that demonstrate the contribution made by freshwater catchments. Over a three month period from September to December 2012, at seven localities in the upper Thames estuary, 8490 submerged plastic items were intercepted in eel fyke nets anchored to the river bed. Whilst there were significant differences in the numbers of items at these locations, the majority were some type of plastic.