As per reports issued in the online publication of Current Biology, which is a publication of Cell Press, the future of the oceans stand endangered due to the loss of deep-sea species. As per a study, done globally the health of a deep sea in directly proportional to the diversity and number of the species living there. A team of researchers led by Roberto Danovaro examined nematode worms and several other individual indicators of ecosystem functioning and efficiency at about 116 deep-sea sites. Nematodes which account for more than 90% of life at the bottom of the sea, as per the earlier studies serve as a good proxy for the establishing diversity of other deep-sea species. The processes that combine ecosystem functioning can be summed up as the production, consumption, the movement of organic matter to upper strata of the food chain, the decomposition and of last the regeneration of nutrients.
But the issue is the lack of data which which is needed to support the analysis in spite of the fact that the deep sea covers 65% of the Earth. The bottom of the oceans isn’t only significant as far as the ocean life is concerned but also important from the as far as the cycling of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus are concerned. As per the research, “a higher biodiversity can enhance the ability of deep-sea benthic systems to perform the key biological and biogeochemical processes that are crucial for their sustainable functioning.” Roberto Danovaro of the Polytechnic University of Marche, Italy said,
For the first time, we have demonstrated that deep-sea ecosystem functioning is closely dependent upon the number of species inhabiting the ocean floor. This shows that we need to preserve biodiversity, and especially deep-sea biodiversity, because otherwise the negative consequences could be unprecedented. We must care about species that are far from us and [essentially] invisible.
Thus, overall deep sea ecosystems which provide mankind not only with products like biomass, bioactive molecules, oil, gas, and minerals but also help in the regulation of climate, nutrients and food are inevitable for the proper and stable functioning of biosphere and life on earth. Thus, conservation of these must be taken care and given their due.
Source: Biologynews
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