1. Deep Sea and International Waters

 A. Species Present

Wiki Markup  .5 - 1 million species estimated;
Macroscopic - mostly billfishes, cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises), seabirds, sharks, and tunas
Microscopic - mostly planktons (phytoplankton \ [photosynthesis-dependent\], zooplankton, baceteriaplakton
Deep sea coral reefs support "diverse assemblages of marine life"

 B. Fished Species

 Concentrate effort on finding effects on climate change for these:

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other Nototheniidae species
marble rockcod (Notothenia rossii, Nototheniidae)
Most dramatic increase in fish depth, occurring since the 1960's and continuing
Southern Ocean fish are highly adapted to cold water via low metabolism and the reduced use of red blood cells due to high oxygen solubility.
Isolated from usual temperature variations by Antarctic Circumpolar Current

C. Susceptibility of Deep Ocean Ecosystems to Climate Change

• Healthy ecosystems will more easily respond to climate changes.
• Reproductive cycles for deep sea organisms are generally much slower than coastal organisms, making them susceptible to overfishing. E.g. ,orange roughies as old as 240 years have been discovered.

• Hot spots (figuratively in that they contain much biodiversity and literally in that they are warmer than the surrounding ocean) are generally based on fixed oceanic features; this makes certain populations vulnerable to species.

• Mid-sea areas contain creatures dependent on delicate balances between ocean layers created by pressure changes, and are dependent on organic material from upper columns for nutrients.
  
• Seafloor diversity varies widely according to features like seamounts, and is thought to contain 98% of marine species.
  
• Several specialized species have been found dependent on specific organic matter fallout from the above ocean, such as whale bones.

• Seamounts interact with the oceans around them, trapping plankton and stimulating productivity, making them important hotspots for feeding, breeding and spawning for many open ocean as well as deep sea species. Regular visitors include tunas, swordfishes, sharks, rays, eels,whales, sea turtles, seabirds, orange roughy, black scabbardfish and oreos.
  
• The open oceans are not featureless,but have many boundaries and oases upon which large oceanic species depend.

 D. Projected Climate Change

• The overturning of the currents that stabilize climate is suspected to change in the near future.

http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=12455&tid=282&cid=17906

• The increasing melting of ice produces snowballing effects; white ice reflects the sun's rays, while bare ocean absorbs rays; this will create more freshwater in the arctic, potentially slowing Antarctic circulation.

http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=12455&tid=282&cid=10149

• Basic predictions of global warming predict the interruption of the "global conveyor" - current systems .
  
• Predictions of when major changes will occur ranges from a couple decades to a century.

http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=12455&tid=282&cid=9986

E. Effects of Projected Climate Change

Increased ultraviolet radiation due to ozone
depletion harms microscopic, photosynthetic
algae and zooplankton at the base of the oceanic
food web, potentially affecting the food supply
of the entire marine community.

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