Scientists from the University of East Anglia have discovered a unique oil eating bacteria in the deepest part of the Earth's oceans - the Mariana Trench.

Together with researchers from the China and Russia, they undertook the most comprehensive analysis of microbial populations in the trench.

The Mariana Trench is located in the Western Pacific Ocean and reaches a depth of approximately 11,000 metres. By comparison, Mount Everest is 8,848 metres high.

"We know more about Mars than the deepest part of the ocean," said Prof Xiao-Hua Zhang of the Ocean University in China, who led the study.

To date, only a few expeditions have investigated the organisms inhabiting this ecosystem.

One of these expeditions was organized and led by noted marine explorer and Academy Award-winning film director James Cameron, who built a specialised submersible to collect samples in the trench.

Dr Jonathan Todd, from UEA's School of Biological Sciences, said: "Our research team went down to collect samples of the microbial population at the deepest part of the Mariana Trench - some 11,000 metres down. We studied the samples that were brought back and identified a new group of hydrocarbon degrading bacteria.

"Hydrocarbons are organic compounds that are made of only hydrogen and carbon atoms, and they are found in many places, including crude oil and natural gas.

"So these types of microorganisms essentially eat compounds similar to those in oil and then use it for fuel. Similar microorganisms play a role in degrading oil spills in natural disasters such as BP's 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico."

"We also found that this bacteria is really abundant at the bottom of the Mariana Trench."

In fact, the team found that the proportion of hydrocarbon degrading bacteria in the Trench is the highest on Earth.

The scientists isolated some of these microbes and demonstrated that they consume hydrocarbons in the laboratory under environmental conditions that simulate those in the Mariana Trench.

In order to understand the source of the hydrocarbons 'feeding' this bacteria, the team analysed samples of sea water taken at the surface, and all the way down a column of water to the sediment at the bottom of the trench.

Dr Nikolai Pedentchouk, from UEA's School of Environmental Sciences, said: "We found that hydrocarbons exist as deep as 6,000 meters below the surface of the ocean and probably even deeper. A significant proportion of them probably derived from ocean surface pollution.

"To our surprise, we also identified biologically produced hydrocarbons in the ocean sediment at the bottom of the trench. This suggests that a unique microbial population is producing hydrocarbons in this environment."

"These hydrocarbons, similar to the compounds that constitute diesel fuel, have been found in algae at the ocean surface but never in microbes at these depths."

Dr David Lea-Smith, from UEA's School of Biological Sciences, said: "These hydrocarbons may help microbes survive the crushing pressure at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, which is equal to 1,091 kilograms pressed against a fingernail.

"They may also be acting as a food source for other microbes, which may also consume any pollutant hydrocarbons that happen to sink to the ocean floor. But more research is needed to fully understand this unique environment."

"Identifying the microbes that produce these hydrocarbons is one of our top priorities, as is understanding the quantity of hydrocarbons released by human activity into this isolated environment," added Prof Xiao-Hua Zhang.

'Proliferation of hydrocarbon degrading microbes at the bottom of the Mariana Trench' is published in the journal Microbiome on April 12, 2019.

- SPACE STORY - forest hg 255 23-DEC-49 Scientists say world's protected areas need a re-boot Scientists say world's protected areas need a re-boot global-shrinking-wilderness-maps-hg.jpg global-shrinking-wilderness-maps-lg.jpg global-shrinking-wilderness-maps-bg.jpg global-shrinking-wilderness-maps-sm.jpg Map showing the world's ever shrinking wilderness areas. Wildlife Conservation Society
by Staff Writers New York NY (SPX) Apr 17, 2019 An international study published in the journal Science argues that the current international target for the protected area estate, accepted by over 190 nations, is failing. They propose a new measurable target based on the best scientific evidence that they say will galvanize greater and more effective conservation efforts.

The study identifies four major problems with the United Nation's Aichi Target 11 - which calls for protection of at least 17 percent of terrestrial and inland water areas and 10 percent of coastal and marine areas.

The authors say the target has led to perverse outcomes and has not fostered effective conservation efforts. The use of simple percentage targets for protected areas means that there is an incentive to create large protected areas of little conservation value.

Other problems with Aichi Target 11 design and implementation include the lack of incentives in the target and resources dedicated to adequately manage or fund protected areas, inadequate representation of natural communities and species within protected area borders, and the impossibility to define national responsibilities towards the global target in a meaningful way.

Lead author Dr. Piero Visconti of the International Institute for Applied Synthesis Analysis, said: "While there has been a significant increase in the overall extent of the global protected area estate over the past 10 years, many of the new protected areas are being placed in sites that are not as important for biodiversity.

Other, more important sites are left unprotected and are vanishing before our eyes. There is also clear evidence that the vast majority of protected areas are not being funded and managed in ways that stop damaging human activities."

The study's authors argue that outcome-based targets for protected areas are needed to achieve biodiversity goals. They propose the following new target: "The value of all sites of global significance for biodiversity including key biodiversity areas is documented, retained and restored through protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures."

The proposed target puts the emphasis on measuring and achieving the end-goal of conservation: reaching and maintaining long-term positive biodiversity status and trends. This is a critical step forward from all previous protected area commitments, which measured progress based on the amount of area protected, not the biodiversity outcomes resulting from it.

Despite the calls for a new protected area target, a co-author in the study Dr. James Watson of University of Queensland and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), emphasized the critical importance of existing protected areas for safeguarding imperiled biodiversity.

Said Watson: "We know protected areas work - when well-funded, well-managed and well placed, they are extremely effective in halting the threats that cause biodiversity loss and ensure species return from the brink of extinction. There are also many protected areas that are still in good condition and are now the last strongholds for endangered species worldwide. The challenge is to improve the management of those protected areas that are most valuable for nature conservation to ensure they safeguard it."

Added Watson: "We need all nations to be honest when accounting for how much land and water they have set aside for biodiversity conservation. As we approach the 2020 deadline for the Convention for Biological Diversity's current targets, it is time for the global conservation community to stand up and hold governments to account so that they take the conservation of their protected areas seriously. This means setting a target that will achieve the outcome that is best for biodiversity."

Research paper

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Seeking innovative ideas: space for the oceans
Paris (ESA) Apr 16, 2019
ESA seeks your ideas for applying space technology to Earth-based problems. Through the Open Space Innovation Platform, a new challenge-based website, the Agency is hunting out bright ideas to monitor plastic waste polluting the oceans, and to improve the self-steering abilities of ships. With about ten million tonnes of plastic entering the ocean each year, wildlife and ecosystems are suffering, and the economic impact on coastal communities, tourism and fisheries is huge. Monitoring this plastic ... read more