Science To Impact Area
Biodiversity
Our vision is for the restoration of diverse and productive ecosystems that are maintained and managed sustainably.
Social and economic advances cannot be sustained unless the health of the environment is maintained. The cumulative and rapidly increasing activities of billions of people have accelerating impacts affecting the entire planet. These include emissions of gases and the consequences of their presence in both the sea and the atmosphere, non-sustainable use of resources, pollution and habitat degradation. One consequence is that the planet is losing biological diversity, both on land and over the 71% covered by oceans, coastal waters and estuaries.
Biodiversity loss rarely occurs on its own, but it is usually a consequence of drivers acting either alone or in synergy. Combatting this loss is critical for sustainability, well-being and, ultimately, survival. The sea is rich in genetic, species and ecosystem diversity but, compared to biodiversity conservation on land, the conservation of marine biodiversity has received far less attention. This is reflected in the UN sustainability goals, where SDG 14 Life below water is about conserving and using resources for development, while halting biodiversity loss only appears in SDG 15 Life on land.
Understanding and combatting marine biodiversity loss is about far more than conservation, however. Biodiversity loss can affect the ways in which ecosystems function, their ability to support goods and services on which people depend, and the state of the planet on which our descendants will have to live. Efforts to protect the seas, to measure and improve their condition, to regulate and reduce extractive activities, pollutants and waste, to understand and monitor changes driven by both natural variability and human pressures, to manage use of seas and coasts and inputs from the land to the sea, will all be of relevance to the challenge of combatting marine biodiversity loss.
PML is unique in our capability to link laboratory and field studies, satellite observations, physical and ecosystem modelling and socio-economics. We study marine biodiversity at all scales, from genes to the largest ecosystems. This enables us to understand why biodiversity is changing and to predict changes that are likely to happen in the future. It also enables us to understand the consequences of biodiversity loss both for marine life and for people and to use this knowledge to inform policy.
Methods developed at PML for linking empirical and socio-economic research, and valuing marine ecosystem benefits, currently inform policy and management approaches in the UK and provide evidence for the designation of marine protected areas. Novel statistical approaches from PML, which link empirical and modelled data and ecosystem-services mapping, are being used to include biodiversity conservation objectives in climate-ready Marine Spatial Plans in Ireland and Vietnam.
PML Project pages
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A multidisciplinary study of DMSP production and lysis - from enzymes to organisms to process modelling
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APICS
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Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT)
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Biodiversity in the Open Ocean: Mapping, Monitoring and Modelling (BOOMS)
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Biodiversity of the Coastal Ocean: Monitoring with Earth Observation (BiCOME)
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DREAMS - Decommissioning - Relative Effects of Alternative Management Strategies
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HyperBOOST - Hyperspectral Bio-Optical Observations Sailing on Tara
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NERC Earth Observation and Data Acquisition and Analysis Service (NEODAAS)
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Ocean color and biogeochemistry (CBIOMES)
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Optical data modelling and assimilation (OPTIMA)
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Processes Influencing Carbon Cycling: Observations of the Lower limb of the Antarctic Overturning (PICCOLO)
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Quantifying the contribution of sympagic versus pelagic diatoms to Arctic food webs and biogeochemical fluxes (MOSAiC SYM-PEL)
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S-3 EUROHAB - Sentinel products for detecting EUtROphication and Harmful Algal Bloom events
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The Changing Arctic Ocean Seafloor (ChAOS) - how changing sea ice conditions impact biological communities, biogeochemical processes and ecosystems
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Western Channel Observatory (WCO)
Other projects
People who work in this area of research
Dr Angus Atkinson
Marine Ecologist
aat
@pml.ac.uk
Professor Nicola Beaumont
Head of Science - Sea and Society
nijb
@pml.ac.uk
Amanda Beesley
Zooplankton analyst
abee
@pml.ac.uk
Dr Stefanie Broszeit
Senior marine ecosystem services scientist
stbr
@pml.ac.uk
Dr James Clark
Marine Ecosystem Modeller
jcl
@pml.ac.uk
Dr Matthew Cole
Senior Marine Ecologist and Ecotoxicologist
mcol
@pml.ac.uk
Elaine Fileman
Plankton Ecologist
ese
@pml.ac.uk
Professor Kevin Flynn
Plankton ecophysiology modeller
kjf
@pml.ac.uk
Professor Steve Groom
Head of Science - Earth Observation
sbg
@pml.ac.uk
Dr Andrey Kurekin
Marine Earth Observation Scientist
anku
@pml.ac.uk
Professor Pennie Lindeque
Head of Science: Marine Ecology and Biodiversity
pkw
@pml.ac.uk
Dr Océane Marcone
Social Science Researcher
ocm
@pml.ac.uk
Andrea McEvoy
Plankton Ecologist
ajmc
@pml.ac.uk
Louise McNeill
Benthic Ecologist and Faunal Taxonomist
clmc
@pml.ac.uk
Dr Peter Miller
Marine Earth Observation Scientist
pim
@pml.ac.uk
Joana Nunes
Benthic Ecologist
jonu
@pml.ac.uk
Dr Helen Parry
Molecular Biologist and Physiologist
hech
@pml.ac.uk
Professor Ana M Queirós
Senior Marine and Climate Change Ecologist
anqu
@pml.ac.uk
Dr Sevrine Sailley
Ecosystem modeller
sesa
@pml.ac.uk
Dr Shubha Sathyendranath
Merit Remote Sensing Scientist
ssat
@pml.ac.uk
Professor Tim Smyth
Head of Science - Marine Biogeochemistry and Observations
tjsm
@pml.ac.uk
Prof. Paul J. Somerfield
Ecologist
Emma Sullivan
Earth Observation Scientist
emsu
@pml.ac.uk
Dr Karen Tait
Microbial Ecologist
ktait
@pml.ac.uk
Dr Glen Tarran
Marine microbial ecologist
gat
@pml.ac.uk
Dr Gavin H Tilstone
Bio-optical oceanographer
ghti
@pml.ac.uk
Dr Tom Vance
Chief Operating Officer - PML Applications Ltd
thva
@pml.ac.uk
Claire Widdicombe
Plankton Ecologist
clst
@pml.ac.uk
Professor Steve Widdicombe
Director of Science and Deputy Chief Executive