New dataset reveals biological 'treasure trove' in the Arctic Ocean

A major new project will help benchmark biodiversity change in the Arctic Ocean and guide conservation efforts by identifying unique species and assessing their extinction risk.

Developed by an international team of scientists under the joint leadership of the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the U.K. and the Alfred-Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI) in Germany, the EcoOmics dataset will also support bioprospecting to tackle the shortage of antibiotics and antiviral medication, as well as reveal evidence of novel biology that might influence our understanding of the evolution of life on Earth. The team—which includes researchers from the German Helmholtz Association, the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Joint Genome Institute (JGI, U.S.) and Earlham Institute (U.K.), as well as several other institutions—discuss the initiative and preliminary findings in the journal PLOS Biology, published today.

EcoOmics—the first large "omics," or genome sequence dataset for any polar ecosystem—reveals a year in the biological life of the central Arctic Ocean with emphasis on microbiomes, communities of micro-organisms living together in a habitat. Arctic ecosystems are among the most impacted by global warming and the Arctic Ocean serves as an indicator for the consequences of climate change, as well as the persistence of biodiversity on our planet. Yet, due to logistical and accessibility challenges, the Arctic—especially the central Arctic Ocean—remains one of the most poorly understood environments.

Scientists working on the MOSAiC ice floe in the Arctic Ocean. Credit: Marcel Nicolaus / Alfred-Wegener-Institute (AWI) Read more

Red light used during sea-ice coring. Allison Fong conducts ice coring on the MOSAiC ice floe. Credit: Alfred-Wegener-Institute / Esther Horvath CC BY 4.0 Read more

With winds gusting faster than 15 m/s and ambient air temperatures well below freezing, Lei Wang (l) and Michael Angelopoulos (r) examine a sea-ice core. Using a small cordless drill, they insert tiny holes into the centre of the ice core at regularly spaced intervals for measuring the temperature of sea ice with a digital sensor. Temperature is one of the variables needed to estimate the sea ice's permeability for gas exchange between the atmosphere and the ocean. Under such harsh conditions, even reporting the temperature data in a book is a challenging task. Credit: Alfred-Wegener-Institute / Esther Horvath CC BY 4.0 Read more

Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. Credit: Martin Radenz (Leibniz-Institut für Troposphärenforschung) Read more