standardization of environmental data and information - International ...

nematodes, in potential mining areas, and with new scientific techniques to
aid in studying such animals in the deep ocean. He noted that these tiny
roundworms and threadworms were considered the dominant metazoans
(multicelled animals) in deep-sea communities and were used for
environmental monitoring of European coasts and estuaries.
Knowledge about the distribution of abyssal meiofauna was
extremely sparse, he observed. One scientist had estimated that only 1% of
the nematode species he had found in the Venezuelan Basin were known to
science. Yet their numbers were enormous – 100,000 individuals per
square metre on the Central Pacific abyssal plain, for example.
Speculating on the possible impact of nodule exploration and
exploitation, he said nematodes tended to resist the mechanical effects of
natural physical processes but whether this would apply to mining was
unclear. They might recover quickly from resettlement of the sediment
plume but would be sensitive to any long-term change in the physical
composition of sediment. The release of organic material when sediment
was disturbed should increase productivity and cause a short-lived rise in
local diversity.
Dr. Lambshead outlined the kinds of information needed for
baseline studies of meiofauna and laid special emphasis on the
standardization of taxonomy, in view of the technical difficulties involved in
this work. He urged the establishment of a central taxonomic facility,
preferably at a museum, where well-trained specialists could perform the
laborious and expensive tasks required to identify species. Such a facility
would also be the best repository for voucher collections of specimens
gathered during scientific cruises such as those conducted by seabed
contractors. Such collections, properly maintained by institutions with
curatorial know-how, could be used by investigators as standards for
species identification.
He held out a strong hope that the new technology of molecular
genetics, in which species can be distinguished by reading the DNA in their
chromosomes, would greatly speed taxonomic work. Analysis that had
required a full month using the old techniques could be done in two days
with the process called denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE),
using relatively inexpensive equipment. A project employing this technique
with nematodes had started in June 2001 in the United Kingdom, and tests
on bulk nematode samples from deep-sea areas affected by placement of
mining tailings would take place in late 2002 or early 2003.
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