Marine Ecosystems Research Department - jamstec japan agency ...
Marine Ecosystems Research Department - jamstec japan agency ...
Marine Ecosystems Research Department - jamstec japan agency ...
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Japan <strong>Marine</strong> Science and Technology Center<br />
<strong>Marine</strong> <strong>Ecosystems</strong> <strong>Research</strong> <strong>Department</strong><br />
Biological sampling equipment such as slurp gun systems<br />
have been redesigned and adapted for use on the<br />
JAMSTEC submersibles and other forms of biological<br />
sampling equipment, such as the gate sampler, have<br />
been newly developed in-house in conjunction with<br />
overseas colleagues from UCLA, UNE and MBARI.<br />
Working databases of the midwater fauna of Sagami<br />
Bay, the Japan Sea, and the waters above the Japan<br />
Trench have been developed.<br />
Limited midwater research has been carried out inhouse<br />
at JAMSTEC since . Sagami Bay has been<br />
the principle target area for midwater studies at JAM-<br />
STEC during this period. Dives made during and<br />
in Sagami Bay yielded a working database and<br />
taxonomic list. This database resulted in three manuscripts<br />
(Hunt and Lindsay, ; Hunt and Lindsay,<br />
; Lindsay et al., ). In -, limited<br />
dives were also carried out in other areas around Japan<br />
and comparison was made with the Sagami Bay database.<br />
This allowed basic characterization of the<br />
Japanese fauna and has helped target oceanographic<br />
areas of scientific interest for future in-depth surveys.<br />
Dives in Sagami Bay were also made during -<br />
and these yielded greater insights into the species<br />
diversity, vertical distributions and overall ecology of<br />
the bay. A large amount of effort during these first six<br />
years has gone into developing or otherwise acquiring<br />
biological (slurp guns, gate samplers, D-sampler<br />
hydraulic systems) and physico-chemical (CTD-DO,<br />
turbidity and chlorophyll a sensors) sampling gear,<br />
facilities to maintain midwater animals (on-board and<br />
lab-based planktonkreisels, coolers), lab equipment<br />
(night vision scopes, video-recordable microscopes,<br />
camera equipment, a DNA-sequencer), and otherwise<br />
laying the groundwork for a world-class mesopelagic<br />
biology program.<br />
In fiscal we conducted surveys in Sagami Bay<br />
(SHINKAI ), Suruga Bay (SHINKAI ) and<br />
offshore Sanriku (ROV HYPER-DOLPHIN). We surveyed<br />
several water masses with different environmental<br />
parameters to clarify the relationship between the<br />
Fig. 5 Tiburonia granrojo, of the new sub-family Tiburoniinae<br />
habitat environment (water temperature, salinity and<br />
dissolved oxygen) and the composition of fauna communities<br />
off the Sanriku coast. From this series of<br />
dives we discovered that the faunal composition of the<br />
Oyashio system, Kuroshio system and the transition<br />
region are significantly different. Comparing the composition<br />
of mesopelagic and benthopelagic communities<br />
in Sagami Bay and Suruga Bay has revealed significant<br />
differences in community composition, even<br />
though the bays are geographically close. These results<br />
were presented in scientific journals, and at conferences<br />
and symposiums both in Japan and overseas.<br />
We described Tiburonia granrojo, filmed and collected<br />
by the ROV HYPER-DOLPHIN, as a new subfamily,<br />
new genus and new species, in the journal<br />
<strong>Marine</strong> Biology in collaboration with colleagues at the<br />
Monterey Bay Aquarium <strong>Research</strong> Institute. This was<br />
also introduced by the journal Nature and reported on<br />
TV and in newspapers in Japan and overseas.<br />
Studies on Deep-sea <strong>Ecosystems</strong><br />
Period : FY-<br />
Apart from photosynthesis-based ecosystems,<br />
ocean ecosystems include chemosynthesis-based<br />
ecosystems, which are formed on the ocean floor<br />
through the ejection of hydrothermal fluid and cold<br />
seeps. Of particularly large scales are the hydrothermal<br />
vent populations and cold seep populations in<br />
deep-sea areas. Maintaining a large biomass, these<br />
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