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PRESS KIT
Planktonic world: the new frontier First scientific results from the Tara Oceans expedition
Contact information Tara Expéditions - Eloïse Fontaine - [email protected] / +33 1 42 01 38 57 CNRS - Lucie Debroux - [email protected] / +33 1 44 96 43 09 EMBL - Isabelle Kling - [email protected] / +49 6221 387 8355
Press invitation Embargoed until Thursday, 21 May 2015 at 8:00pm, Paris time
Press conference
Tara Oceans: first scientific findings
Thursday 21 May 2015 at 9:00am
At the CNRS headquarters - 3 rue Michel-Ange - 75016 Paris
Métro: Michel-Ange Auteuil (lines 9 and 10)
After three years gathering samples in the world's oceans and at least as many analyzing the data, the researchers who took part in the Tara Oceans expedition will present the work carried out on the thousands of samples collected. The first results from these international and interdisciplinary teams provide a detailed map of plankton biodiversity, explore the interactions between the microorganisms observed, and focus on the impact of environmental conditions on this microscopic ecosystem. They also confirm that the collected data represents an unprecedented resource for studying and understanding the oceans. This work will be the subject of five articles published in a special issue of the journal Science dated 22 May 2015.
We invite you to meet the researchers involved in the project at a press conference to be held on 21 May 2015 at 9:00 am at the CNRS headquarters. They will present the work published in the five articles, together with an overview of the first findings from the Tara Oceans expedition.
Speakers:
> Romain Troublé, Secretary General of Tara Expeditions
> Eric Karsenti, CNRS and EMBL senior researcher, co-director of Tara Oceans
> Chris Bowler, CNRS senior researcher at the Institut de Biologie, École Normale Supérieure (CNRS/ENS/Inserm)
> Patrick Wincker, CEA senior researcher at the Genoscope (CNRS/CEA/Université d’Evry-Val-d’Essonne)
> Colomban de Vargas, CNRS senior researcher at the Laboratoire Adaptation et Diversité en Milieu Marin (CNRS/UPMC)
> Samuel Chaffron, researcher at VIB
> Daniele Iudicone, researcher at the Anton Dohrn Zoological Station (Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn - Napoli)
Other researchers and members of the Tara Oceans team will also be on hand to answer questions at the end of the press conference: Shinichi Sunagawa (EMBL), Gipsi Lima-Mendez (VIB), Emilie Villar (CNRS) and Stefanie Kandels-Lewis (EMBL).
Information and registration: Lucie Debroux ([email protected]) and Eloïse Fontaine ([email protected])
If you wish to attend the press conference, please confirm your presence by 19 May 2015
NB! Due to the Vigipirate security alert system in force in the Paris region, you will be asked to show an identity document (identity card, passport or driving license) upon entering the CNRS. Press cards will not be accepted as proof of identity.
Press contacts CNRS : Lucie Debroux T +33 1 44 96 43 09 / [email protected]
Tara Oceans : Eloïse Fontaine T +33 1 42 01 38 57 / [email protected]
18 May 2015
Press release Embargoed until 21 May 2015, 2:00pm US EDT
Planktonic world: the new frontier First scientific results from the Tara Oceans expedition
On May 22, in a special issue of Science, an international, interdisciplinary, team of scientists maps the biodiversity of a wide range of planktonic organisms, exploring their interactions - mainly parasitic, and how they impact and are affected by their environment, primarily the temperature. Based on a portion of the 35000 samples collected from all the world’s oceans during the 2009-2013 expedition on board the schooner TARA, this data provides the scientific community with unprecedented resources, including a catalogue of several million new genes, that will transform how we study the oceans and assess climate change. When you mention rich ecosystems that are vital for life on Earth, people tend to think of rainforests, but ocean plankton are actually just as crucial. The microscopic beings that drift on the upper layer of the oceans are globally referred to as “plankton”; together they produce half of our oxygen, act as carbon sinks, influence our weather, and serve as the base of the ocean food web that sustains the larger fish and marine mammals that we depend upon or draw delight from. “Beyond the cutting-edge science that was developed thanks to our collaborative work with the Tara Expéditions Foundation, this adventure is also about showing people all over the world how important the ocean is for our own well-being,” says Eric Karsenti, director of Tara Oceans, from EMBL and CNRS. What’s in the plankton? The scientists captured viruses, microbes and microscopic eukaryotes – organisms with complex cells, from single-cell algae to fish larvae – from major oceanic regions. They compiled their genetic material into comprehensive resources that are now available to the scientific community for further studies. “This is the largest DNA sequencing effort ever done for ocean science: analyses revealed around 40 million genes, the vast majority of which are new to science, thus hinting towards a much broader biodiversity of plankton than previously known,“ explains Patrick Wincker, from Genoscope, CEA. EMBL's high performance computing was essential in compiling this comprehensive catalogue, which is estimated to be derived from more than 35 000 different species whose genomic content had been mostly unknown to mankind until now. “In terms of eukaryotes, we sequenced nearly a billion genetic barcodes, and found that there is a greater variety of single-cell eukaryotes in plankton than was thought,” says Colomban de Vargas, from CNRS. “They appear to be much more diverse than bacteria or animals, and most belong to little-known groups.” How do planktonic organisms interact? Thanks to novel computer models, the researchers were able to predict how these diverse planktonic organisms interact. Predictions were confirmed via selective microscopy observations. “When we mapped how planktonic organisms – from viruses to small animal larvae – interact with each other, we discovered that most of those interactions are parasitic, recycling nutrients back down the food chain,” says Jeroen Raes from VIB, KU Leuven, and Vrije Universiteit Brussel. This map is a first step towards a better understanding of the dynamics and structure of the global marine ecosystem.
Are planktonic organisms distributed evenly in the oceans? In addition to biotic interactions, the scientists studied how environmental factors – such as temperature, pH, and nutrients (amongst others) – influence the microscopic organisms floating in the ocean. “We found that, at depths still reached by sunlight, temperature was the main factor that influences the composition of prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) communities,” says Peer Bork from EMBL. “Different sets of organisms come together depending on the water temperature.” The scientists also showed that the Agulhas “rings” - a natural barrier that draws the line between the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic - separate plankton communities. “It’s like plankton goes through a cold wash cycle at the tip of South Africa,” says Daniele Iudicone from the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn. “The current forms huge swirls that drastically mix and cool the plankton riding it, thus limiting the number of species that manage to cross.” “In addition, we now also have a global picture of marine virus communities, which allows us to confirm an idea that had been proposed a decade ago, but never proven,” explains Matthew Sullivan from the University of Arizona. “Viruses are produced in local ‘seed banks’ and then ride the ocean currents, so you end up with different cocktails of viruses in different places, even though the overall diversity of viruses in the oceans appears quite limited.” Understanding the distribution and the interactions of the plankton across the oceans will be very useful for predictive models necessary to study climate change. Is plankton affected by climate change? The uniqueness of the Tara Oceans ‘eco-systems biology’ approach is to have sampled the world’s oceans systematically across all domains of life, from viruses to animals, and including a rich variety of environmental data. The data generated sets a baseline, on a global scale, to evaluate the impact of climate changes on oceanic ecosystems in the future. “The finding that temperature shapes which species are present, for instance, is especially relevant in the context of climate change, but to some extent this is just the beginning,” says Chris Bowler, from CNRS. “The resources we’ve generated will allow us and others to delve even deeper, and finally begin to really understand the workings of this invisible world.” References Sunagawa, Coelho, Chaffron, et al. Structure and function of the global ocean microbiome. DOI: 10.1126/science.1261359 De Vargas, Audic, Henry, et al. Eukaryotic plankton diversity in the sunlit ocean. DOI: 10.1126/science.1261605 Lima-Mendez, Faust, Henry et al. Determinants of community structure in the global plankton interactome. DOI: 10.1126/science.1262073 Villar, Farrant, Follows et al. Environmental characteristics of Agulhas rings affect inter-ocean plankton transport. DOI: 10.1126/science.1261447 Brum, Ignacio-Espinosa, Roux et al. Patterns and ecological drivers of ocean viral communities. DOI: 10.1126/science.1261498 Contact information Tara Expéditions – Eloïse Fontaine - [email protected] / +33 1 42 01 38 57 CNRS - Lucie Debroux - [email protected] / +33 1 44 96 43 09 EMBL - Isabelle Kling - [email protected] / +49 6221 387 8355
Contact List
Speakers (Press conference in Paris) Romain Troublé - Secretary General of Tara Expeditions [email protected] Eric Karsenti - CNRS and EMBL senior researcher, co-director of Tara Oceans [email protected] Chris Bowler - CNRS senior researcher at the Institut de Biologie, École Normale Supérieure (CNRS/ENS/Inserm) [email protected] / +33 1 44 32 35 25 Patrick Wincker - CEA senior researcher at the Genoscope (CNRS/CEA/Université d’Evry-Val-d’Essonne) [email protected] / +33 1 60 87 25 66 Colomban de Vargas - CNRS senior researcher at the Laboratoire Adaptation et Diversité en Milieu Marin (CNRS/UPMC) [email protected] / [email protected] / +33 2 98 29 25 28 Samuel Chaffron - Researcher at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven) and at VIB [email protected] - 0032 163 725 41 Daniele Iudicone - Researcher at the Anton Dohrn Zoological Station (Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn - Napoli) [email protected] - 0039 081 58 33 23 Other researchers and members of Tara Oceans team Stefanie Kandels-Lewis - Project Manager of Tara Oceans (EMBL) [email protected] / +49 6221 387 323 Gipsi Lima-Mendez - Researcher at VIB First author of the paper “Determinants of community structure in the global plankton interactome” [email protected] / 00321 637 2222 Shinichi Sunagawa - Researcher at EMBL First author of the paper “Structure and function of the global ocean microbiome” [email protected] / +49 6221 387 84 56 Petra Ten Hoopen - Scientific Database Curator at EMBL-EBI [email protected] / + 44 (0) 1223 492 565 Emilie Villar - Researcher at the laboratoire Information Génomique et Structurale (CNRS/AMU) First author of the paper “Environmental characteristics of Agulhas rings affect inter-ocean plankton transport” [email protected]
Eukaryotic plankton diversity in the sunlit ocean C. de Vargas, S. Audic, N. Henry et al., Science, May 22, 2015 Discovery of more than 100,000 types of protists in the world plankton greatly expands understanding of ocean life After three years of sailing and studying the sunlit areas of the world oceans, scientists from the Tara Oceans consortium unveiled a hidden diversity of unicellular organisms, known as protists. Sequencing of nearly a billion genetic barcodes shows that this group of organisms is vastly more diverse than bacteria or animals, and most belong to little-known groups of parasites, symbionts, and predators of various types. These results, published in the journal Science, radically alter our vision of the biological and functional diversity of the world ocean plankton, a key ecosystem for the functioning of our biosphere. The marine planktonic realm is the largest ecosystem on Earth. Marine plankton generated atmospheric oxygen long before the appearance of land plants and still produces as much oxygen as forests, while also being key actors in the major biogeochemical cycles and climatic equilibrium of the planet. Sequencing of nearly a billion ribosomal DNA sequences (genetic barcodes) from 334 sunlit zone1 samples from the Tara Oceans circum-global expedition allowed the first extensive characterization of the biodiversity of planktonic eukaryotes2, from the smallest unicellular organisms (<1 micron) to animals measuring a few millimeters. The enormous quantity of genetic barcodes generated allowed assessment of eukaryotic plankton genetic diversity close to saturation3, both locally in each community and globally across the world oceans. Analyses revealed ~150,000 genetic types4 of eukaryotic plankton, a far greater diversity than the ~11,000 species that have previously been described. The vast majority of genetic types discovered in this study did not have a close match in existing reference databases, demonstrating that most of these organisms have never been cultured or characterized. About one third of the genetic diversity discovered could not even be associated to any of the currently known eukaryotic super-groups! Amongst the genetic types that could be classified within the reference eukaryotic tree-of-life, most corresponded to unicellular eukaryotes (also known as protists), with a phenomenal diversity of parasites, symbiotic species, and predators of various types. Photosynthetic organisms, which transform solar energy into living matter, were found to be much less diverse and smaller, and would represent significantly less overall biomass. The most diverse and abundant groups corresponded to lineages of organisms that interact amongst themselves (interactions ranging from parasitism to mutualism) and together form super-organisms and complex ecosystems likely regulated mainly by relationships between species rather than competition for resources or space. Now that the biological and ecological basis of photic-zone marine plankton is becoming established, the next step is to understand how planktonic communities, with diversity covering the totality of the tree-of-life in each liter of seawater, react to the physical and chemical environment of seawater, and acclimatize or adapt to rapid environmental change. This is essential to predict future changes in the productivity of the oceans, and the effects of changes in plankton communities on the biogeoclimatic equilibriums of our biosphere. 1 The layer of oceans into which light penetrates, from the surface to several tens of meters depth, at most ±200m in the centre of the
main ocean basins. 2 All organisms, uni- or multi-cellular, that have genetic material contained in a nucleus (as opposed to bacteria and archeae)
3 Meaning that less and less new barcodes are observed, because they have been sequenced previously
4 Each of these genetic types can contain several biological species, so that the total number of eukaryotic species in the world sunlit
plankton could well be above 1 million.
Structure and function of the global ocean microbiome S. Sunagawa, L.P. Coelho, S. Chaffron, et al., Science, May 22, 2015 Structure and function of the global ocean microbiome Microorganisms and viruses (<3 micron) dominate the marine environment with 104 to 106 cells in each milliliter of seawater. They are well recognized for their role in driving major global biogeochemical processes and given their importance, it is of fundamental interest to answer basic questions, such as: who are they? What do they do? and how are they affected by their environment? The researchers tackled such questions for the first time at planetary scale by metagenomics, which is the large-scale sequencing of the genetic material of marine microorganisms of various sizes at several depth layers in all major oceans in the context of many physicochemical parameters. Tara Ocean’s broad sampling coverage of the marine environment facilitated the analysis of vast amounts of DNA sequencing data in the order of 2,000 human or 2 million bacterial genomes. The derived ocean microbial reference gene catalog comprising 40 million, mostly novel genes from viruses, prokaryotes and picoeukaryotes, is a blueprint for the diverse functionality of these organisms and represents a rich resource for various follow-up studies. In an initial analysis, the scientists could, for example, disentangle partly co-correlated, and thus confounding environmental parameters that influence the formation of microbial communities and identified temperature as the main driving force in the sunlit ocean. This implies that global warming will also have a large impact on microbial communities that are invisible to the naked eye, but forming the basis for photosynthesis and marine food webs. Furthermore, a comparison between gene families that are core to the functioning of ocean microbial communities and those in the human gut revealed that more than half of them are shared, indicating common principles of microbial life in these very distinct ecosystems. Taken together the establishment of the ocean microbial reference gene catalog and the demonstration of its utility represent important steps towards capturing microbial biodiversity and their function on the planet in the context of climate change.
Patterns and ecological drivers of ocean viral communities J.R. Brum, J.C. Ignacio-Espinosa, S. Roux et al., Science, May 22, 2015 Global patterns and ecological drivers of ocean viral communities Viruses have major impacts on Earth’s ecosystem processes through their modulation of population size, diversity, metabolic outputs, and gene flow of the most dominant organisms on Earth – microbes. In this study, the researchers establish the first global, quantitative dataset of marine viral community genomics and morphology from 43 Tara Oceans expedition samples to investigate upper-ocean marine viral community patterns and structure. Analysis of global viral gene content through the use of protein cluster (PC) cataloging suggested that pelagic upper-ocean viral community sequence space is now well-sampled and approaches a limit of ca. 1 million PCs. Furthermore the most abundant and widespread viral populations observed in the samples lack cultured representatives, which suggests that most upper ocean viruses remain to be characterized. This global-scale analysis of multiple parameters of marine viral communities (PCs, populations, and morphology) revealed biogeographic patterns that support a long-posited ‘seed-bank’ hypothesis whereby viral communities are passively transported on oceanic currents and structured by local environmental conditions such as temperature and oxygen concentration. Together these investigations explain how oceanic viral communities maintain high local diversity that is consistent with limited global diversity. This study provides a picture of global upper-ocean viral communities. Improving sequencing and experimental methods are transforming the investigation of viruses in nature. Those progresses, coupled to sampling opportunities from the Tara Oceans voyage, are advancing viral ecology towards the quantitative science needed to model the nano- (viruses) and micro- (microbes) scale entities driving Earth’s ecosystems.
Determinants of community structure in the global plankton interactome G. Lima-Mendez, K. Faust, N. Henry et al., Science, May 22, 2015 Plankton interactome determined – major role for parasites The oceans are full of microscopic life influencing the structure and dynamics of the oceanic ecosystem. These ocean communities form the basis of all ocean life and present a bewildering diversity but the functioning of this ecosystem is poorly known. It is still a black box, despite its importance. The planktonic microbes (bacteria, viruses, and other plankton) interact with each other in different ways – they compete, collaborate, infect and eat each other; they form huge food webs that are also influenced by the environment and affect major processes such as carbon sequestration and photosynthesis. But all these interactions were mostly unknown - until now. The researchers studied biotic (interactions between species: grazing, pathogenicity and parasitism) and abiotic (environmental conditions and nutrient availability) factors shaping ocean plankton communities, and constructed an interactome that described the network of interactions among plankton groups in the photic zone. They developed and applied novel computer programs to predict interactions between the planktonic microbes (symbiosis leading to mutual advantages, competition, parasitism…). Through advanced microscopy on the samples they confirmed that the computer-predicted interactions were actually occurring in nature. Analysis of the network showed that the interactions between species were non-randomly distributed and suggested that abiotic factors have a more limited effect on community structure than previously assumed. The results emphasize the role of top-down biotic interactions in the epipelagic zone and especially of parasitism. Parasitic interactions are the most abundant pattern present in the network, which is also eminent by repeated microscopic observation of parasitic interactions from the Tara samples. The high prevalence of parasitism in the ocean was one of the most important observations of this study and seems to indicate that parasites play a major role in marine plankton ecology. By unraveling the global ocean plankton interactome this study provides a rich first resource towards understanding the dynamics and structure of the oceanic ecosystem. The interactome reported here spans all three organismal domains and viruses. This data will inform future research to understand how symbionts, pathogens, predators and parasites interact with their target organisms, and ultimately help elucidate the structure of the global food webs that drive nutrient and energy flow in the ocean.
Environmental characteristics of Agulhas rings affect inter-ocean plankton transport E. Villar, G. Farrant, M. Follows et al., Science, May 22, 2015 An oceanic "cold wash cycle” impacts plankton at a key choke point of global ocean circulation Oceanic currents continuously transport vast quantities of seawater which distributes heat and salt around the world, thus regulating the Earth’s climate. These massive water displacements also influence marine life, especially plankton which drifts in currents against which they cannot swim. Indeed, such planetary wide stirring mixes plankton, favoring its diversity and ultimately the planet’s health (atmospheric carbon and oxygen, food, water quality). One of the mightiest is the Agulhas current in the Southwestern Indian Ocean, roughly equivalent to 500 Amazon Rivers. At the tip of South Africa, this current occasionally buds off as monumental anticlockwise swirls (up to 300 km across), called Agulhas rings, which slowly drift across the entire South Atlantic towards the coast of Brazil. Surprisingly steady, these marine Whirling Dervishes or ocean Black Holes can even be seen from space as sea water height anomalies that keep rotating for years. The fate of the entrapped Indian Ocean water they transport is the Atlantic and the Southern Ocean. Because of this so called Agulhas leakage, plankton communities across these well-connected systems was expected to be relatively similar. An international interdisciplinary team of scientists (lead by CNRS and SZN) gathered around the Tara Oceans expedition to compare the physical and plankton properties of the three oceanic basins which converge at the Agulhas choke point. Using classical optical marine ecology tools, plankton looked very similar between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, suggesting like other expeditions before it, that the Agulhas choke point was not a barrier to plankton dispersal. However, using high resolution genetic tools to zoom deeper into plankton cells, the Tara Oceans team discovered that plankton diversity had in fact shifted between the two oceans. They also directly observed the inside of an Agulhas ring, finding that the harsh environmental conditions created by the Roaring Forties induced a strong unexpected modification of the plankton payload during its travel from the Indian Ocean to the Brazilian coast. Indeed, the metabolism of the ecosystem as a whole was found to be altered as a result of unusually high concentrations of nitrates, the ocean’s fertilizer. This phenomenon, supported by MIT computer simulations, is likely explained by the exceptional cooling and deep mixing that take place inside Agulhas rings, dubbed the plankton “cold wash cycle” by the study authors. These results provide the first genomics-enabled comprehensive plankton description of Agulhas rings at a sensitive choke point central to predictive models necessary to anticipate global change.
For more information on data and analysis: OCEANOMICS : http://www.oceanomics.eu Eukaryotic plankton diversity in the sunlit ocean (de Vargas et al.) http://taraoceans.sb-roscoff.fr/EukDiv Structure and Function of the Global Ocean Microbiome (Sunagawa et al.) http://ocean-microbiome.embl.de/companion.html Determinants of community structure in the global plankton interactome (Lima-Mendez et al.) http://www.raeslab.org/companion/ocean-interactome.html Environmental characteristics of Agulhas rings affect inter-ocean plankton transport (E. Villar et al.) http://www.igs.cnrs-mrs.fr/Tara_Agulhas/
Tara Oceans Expedition in numbers September 2009 – December 2013
1140 days of expedition
60 stopovers
35 visited countries
250 people and 40 different nationalities have embarked
(160 scientists, 90 sailors, artists or journalists)
60 sponsors and partners
Sailing
140 000 kilometers
5 captains: Hervé Bourmaud, Olivier Marien, Loïc Valette, Samuel Audrain and Martin Herteau
The most northern position: Franz Josef Archipelago (Russia) N 080° 48’ – E 047° 41’
Science
20 scientific coordinators and 140 contributors
200 sampling stations down to 1000 meters deep
23 scientific instruments
35 000 plankton and water samples collected and packed
Education / Communication / Art
20 000 pupils followed the adventures of Tara through Tara Junior
150 000 educational cards have been downloaded at www.tarajunior.org
10 000 children visited the boat during the stopovers
5 000 pictures and videos uploaded at www.taraexpeditions.org
3 books have been published
4 Tara Expeditions journals have been published in French and in English
5 documentaries broadcast on France 5 and Planète Thalassa
1 DVD (FR/ENG)
2 000 papers in the national press
France 3 followed Tara for 9 months on the show Thalassa
10 artists in residence
Tara Expeditions – An Engagement with the Ocean
The legendary schooner Tara – designed as a platform for high-level scientific research – has been sailing the globe since 2003, trying to understand how climate change and ecological crises are impacting the world Ocean. Our project arose from a passion for the sea, a humanist vision and the sincere commitment of Etienne Bourgois and Agnes b. who together founded Tara Expeditions. Romain Troublé is the director/coordinator.
The missions of Tara Expeditions are divided into 3 themes: Ocean and Man, Ocean and Biodiversity, Ocean and Climate. For the past 10 years, Tara has been constantly at work: the schooner made 10 expeditions, traveling 300,000 kilometers across all the oceans of the globe. Our 3 most recent missions were Tara Arctic (2006-2008), Tara Oceans (2009-2013) and Tara Mediterranean (2014) devoted to studying (respectively) the climate, biodiversity, and marine pollution. These scientific expeditions were conducted in collaboration with renowned laboratories and scientific institutions where resulting data are currently being analyzed and made available to researchers all over the world.
Tara Expeditions also works to enhance the general public and young people's environmental awareness, especially through the Tara Junior Journal. Finally, Tara Expeditions has developed a program of actions for advocacy – mobilizing people and encouraging decision-makers to take concrete steps towards the solutions we all need for the planet.
In 2015 Tara wishes especially to highlight the relationships between Ocean and Climate. In December of this year, Paris will host the major international Climate Conference, COP21. Tara Expeditions is a member of the Ocean and Climate Platform organizing team. With the support of UNESCO, this group brings together nearly 40 scientific and nonprofit organizations, universities, foundations, science centers, public institutions, and associations. Our mutual goal is to put the world Ocean at the very heart of the climate negotiations. The highlight of this year will be Tara's stopover in Paris during November and December, 2015.
Between 2016 and 2018, Tara will undertake an expedition to the Pacific coral reefs, in collaboration with Asian laboratories. Our research area will extend from Colombia, Indonesia, via Polynesia, Japan, New Caledonia, Papua, Palau and Taiwan.
Last but not least, a highly ambitious Arctic mission is being planned for the year 2019. The schooner – especially designed 25 years ago for polar missions – will return to the Arctic! The Tara team is currently designing a new concept for a polar base, and a new boat.
www.taraexpeditions.org
Photos and videos
Several pictures of Tara Oceans expedition (including the photos below, infographics and the map at the end of the press kit) as well as videos are available online: http://cloud.taraexpeditions.org ID: Taracloud Password: bKicbIi4QOtGz8V4YlPH Photos of plankton are also available here (CNRS photo library): http://bit.ly/1ySmveF Those images are copyright free. Captions and credits are specified.
© Tara Expéditions
This apparatus contains 10 Niskin bottles to collect water from different depths, as well as instruments to measure many parameters including pressure, temperature, conductivity, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorescence, etc.
©V.Hilaire/Tara Expéditions
Tara deployed 7 different types of nets, with mesh sizes ranging from 5 to 690 microns, and towed horizontally and/or vertically between the surface and a depth of 1,000 meters.
© John Dolan/CNRS/Tara Expéditions
Antarctic Microplankton. A tintinnid (Cymatocylis convallaria), a heterotrophic dinoflagellate (Protoperidinium) and diatoms from the Tara Oceans Expedition station 84.
© S.Bollet/Tara Expéditions
©M.Ormestad/Kahikai/Tara Oceans
Hyperiid amphipod of the Phronima genus. These parasitoid crustaceans eat salps and use the empty gelatinous husks as protective shells.
PROTISTS, INCLUDINGPHYTOPLANKTON
ZOOPLANKTON
BACTERIA
VIRUSES
Lorient (port d’attache)
Tromsø Doudinka
DubrovnikNice
Djibouti
AbuDhabi
Maldives
Le Cap
Ascension
Rio deJaneiro
BuenosAiresValparaiso
Ushuaïa
Ile dePâques
GuayaquilGalapagos
Papeete
Hawaii
San DiegoSavannah
New York
Québec
Bermudes
Maurice,La Réunion
Mumbai
Beyrouth
Mayotte
WE NEED 1 000 000 LITERS OF SEA WATER. TO SAMPLE ZOOPLANKTON:FROM V IRUSE S T O F ISH L A RVA E
PORTS-OF-CALLAt stopovers every 6 to 8 weeks, the samples – conserved with liquid nitrogen, alcohol and �xatives – were sent to partner laboratories.
WORLD COURIER�is international specialist in shipping sensitive products expedited the precious samples collected aboard Tara to Heidelberg (Germany), then redistributed them to partner laboratories around the world.
VOYAGE OF T HE SA MPLE S
T HE “ TA R A N AU T E S ”PA R T NER L A BOR AT ORIE S
SCIENTIFIC RESULTS
1 TO 10,000 IN A LITER OF SEA WATER Zooplankton consists of tiny animals, for example copepods, embryos and larvae, but also huge animals like jelly�sh and siphonophores. �ey feed on living matter: bacteria, protists, or other multicellular organisms. Most zooplankton migrates to the surface, or to great depths to feed and protect themselves from predators during the night.1 TO 100 MILLION
IN A LITER OF SEA WATER�e principal ocean biodiversity consists of multitudes of species of unicellular organisms with a nucleus: the protists. Certain of them (diatoms, dino�agellates, etc.) are photosynthetic. Along with cyanobacteria, they constitute phytoplankton, and are the base of the food chain. Phytoplankton produces half of the oxygen on the planet and absorbs half of atmospheric carbon, thus acting as a major regulator of climate.
1 TO 10 BILLION IN A LITER OF SEA WATER Bacteria are prokaryotes: cells without nuclei. Certain species – the cyanobacteria – can perform photosynthesis. �ey are a food for protists and certain zooplankton. Bacteria are responsible for a wide array of metabolic functions in the ocean.
10 TO 100 BILLION IN A LITER OF WATER �e marine virosphere is immense, and includes the phages (viruses of bacteria) and giant viruses (giruses). Viruses play an essential role in recirculating living matter.
sep t ember 2009 – december 201360 S T OPOVERS, 35 COUN T RIE S
14 0,000 K ILOME T ERS A ROUND T HE WORLD
TO SAMPLEVIRUSES:
WE MUST FILTER10 LITERS OF
SEA WATER.
TARAlength: 36 meters width: 10 metersheight of mast: 27 meters
90crew members,
artists, andjournalists
160researchers
40 nationalities
23 LABS AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS TAKING TURNS ON BOARD:
8 in France
5 in the United States
2 in Germany
2 in Italy
1 in Belgium
1 in Ireland
1 in Spain 1 in Saudi Arabia 1 in Russia1 in Canada
140 researchersinvolved in
the lab work12 scienti�c
�elds
* “Oceanomics” (an Investissements d’Avenir project) aims to promote rational and sustainable use of marine plankton, one of the planet's most important ecosystems in terms of biodiversity, bio-resources, and global ecological changes.
13
2
EXPEDITION 2009-2013
THE
observes plankton during sampling.
THE UNDERWATER VISION PROFILER
A CONCEN T R AT ION OF HIGH T ECH A unique space for microscopic imagery set up aboard Tara – the dry lab – where researchers characterize the organisms collected, their functional diversity and their complexity.
THE FLOWCAM
is used to count and identify organisms as they pass through a laser beam at high speed.
WHY THIS EXPEDITION?THE OCEANS regulate the climate and atmosphere of our planet. Plankton produce half of the oxygen generated globally each year by photosynthesis, and absorb atmospheric CO2. A�ected by pollution, over-�shing, and rising temperatures, will plankton continue to e�ciently absorb carbon and regulate the climate?
PLANKTON designates all the organisms drifting with the currents. �ese microscopic organisms are the foundation of the marine food chain, ensuring the survival of �sh, marine mammals, and billions of humans beings. �ey react quickly to climate changes and to ocean acidi�cation. We must learn more about this complex, dynamic ecosystem and its role in global equilibrium.
CORAL REEFS are privileged places for aquatic biodiversity, but they are su�ering from climate change, marine pollution, and over-�shing. Tara was the ideal platform for exploring 5 rarely- studied coral sites: Djibouti, Saint-Brandon, Mayotte, and the islands of Gambier and Kiribati.
T HREE ME T HODS OF COLLEC T ION A ND OBSERVAT ION.MORE T H A N 35 ,000 SA MPLE S
1
2
3
OXYGEN
CARBON
Water is pumped from a depth of 10 to 120 meters, then passes through a series of strainers and �lters to separate organisms by size.
�is apparatus contains 10 Niskin bottles to collect water from di�erent depths, as well as instruments to characterize many parameters including pressure, temperature, conductivity, nitrogen, oxygen, �uorescence, etc. �e bottles are programmed to collect water at di�erent depths. �e UVP (Underwater Vision Pro�ler) deployed down to a depth of 2,000 meters allowed us to record about 20 physico- chemical parameters, and image particles and organisms.
Tara deployed 7 types of nets (mesh sizes from 5 to 690 microns) immersed between the surface and 1,000 meters deep. �e specialized Manta net is used for collecting plastic on the surface.
Peristaltic pump
The “rosette” CTDand the UVP
Nets
Reviving the tradition of the great expeditions of the 19th century, Tara sailed the world's oceans for three and a half years.For the first time, marine plankton in its entirety was collected and studied – from viruses and bacteria to fish larvae and jellyfish.
Size proportions of the micro-organismsare not respected in these drawings.
WWW.TARAEXPEDITIONS.ORG
FEBRUARY 2010Tara crossed the Gulf of Aden, a very dangerous region infested with pirates. Research was voluntarily interrupted for two weeks.
JANUARY 2011Scientists collected samples during one month in Antarctic waters. �is was the �rst Tara Oceans mission in a polar region.
2013Tara crossed the Northeast (Russian) and Northwest (Canadian) passages. Scientists aboard accomplished a complete sampling of marine organisms at the edge of the ice cap.OCTOBER 2011
Tara crossed the “Plastic Continent”– a calm region where marine currents concentrate �oating debris that accumulates in masses.
Ocean regions undergoing acidi�cationMinimum oxygen zones
Based on the data from Tara Oceans, many scienti�c articles detailing the planktonic ecosystem and its dynamics have been published, or are on the way to being published in international journals. Ongoing analysis of this data, thanks to the Oceanomics project* will help establish a reference for ocean ecosystems, and set up a method for predicting and following the evolution of these ecosystems in relation to climate change.
TROMSÖ
MURMANSK
PEVEK TUKTOYAKTUK RESOLUTE BAY
ILULISSAT
DOUDINKA
QUATRIÈME ANNÉE :Lorient - Lorient
Zones à minimum d’oxygène Zone d’échange océanique
FOURTH YEAR :Lorient - Lorient
Oxygen minimum zone Ocean exchange zone
MARCH2012
MARCH2011
SEPTEMBER2011
DECEMBER2013
JUNE2013
SEPTEMBER2010
MARCH2010
QUEBEC
