PROTEKER: Setting up of an underwater observatory at the Kerguelen Islands (Austral Ocean)
Jean-Pierre Féral  1, *@  , Thomas Saucède  2@  , Elie Poulin  3@  , Romain David  1@  , Christian Marschal  4@  , Gilles Marty  5@  , Jean-Claude Roca  6@  , Sébastien Motreuil  7@  , Jean-Pierre Beurier  8@  
1 : Institut méditerranéen de biodiversité et d'écologie marine et continentale  (IMBE)  -  Website
INEE, Université d'Avignon et des Pays de Vaucluse, Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] : UMR237, Aix Marseille Université, CNRS : UMR7263, INSB, INSU
Aix Marseille Université, Station Marine d'Endoume, Chemin de la Batterie des Lions, 13007 MARSEILLE -  France
2 : UMR 6282 Biogéosciences, Univ. Bourgogne Franche-Comté, CNRS  (1)  -  Website
Univ. Bourgogne Franche-Comté
6 bvd Gabriel 21000 DIJON -  France
3 : Laboratorio de Ecología Molecular  (LEM)  -  Website
Universidad de Chile Las Palmeras 3425 Santiago, Chile -  Chili
4 : Institut méditerranéen de biodiversité et d'écologie marine et continentale  (IMBE)  -  Website
INEE, Université d'Avignon et des Pays de Vaucluse, Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] : UMR237, Aix Marseille Université, CNRS : UMR7263, INSB, INSU
Aix Marseille Université, Aix Marseille Université, Station Marine d'Endoume, Chemin de la Batterie des Lions, 13007 MARSEILLE -  France
5 : Réserve Naturelle des TAF  (RN TAF)  -  Website
TAAF, Terres Australes et Antarctiqques Françaises
Rue Gabriel Dejean BP 400 97458 Saint Pierre Cedex La Réunion -  France
6 : Observatoire océanologique de Banyuls  (OOB)  -  Website
CNRS : UMS2348, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) - Paris VI
LABORATOIRE ARAGO BP 44 66651 BANYULS SUR MER CEDEX -  France
7 : Biogéosciences  -  Website
Université de Bourgogne, CNRS : UMR6282
UMR 6282 CNRS - université de Bourgogne, 21000 Dijon -  France
8 : Centre de droit maritime et océanique  (CDMO)  -  Website
Université de Nantes : EA1165
Faculté de droit de Nantes Chemin de la Censive-du-Tertre BP 81307 44313 Nantes Cedex 3 -  France
* : Corresponding author

Isolated in the southern Indian Ocean, the Kerguelen Islands emerge from the Kerguelen-Heard Plateau on the flow of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. They are located in a very dynamic oceanographic area positioned at the confluence between several water masses (Antarctic surface waters, Sub-Antarctic and Sub-Tropical waters) near the Antarctic convergence that tend to move southwards. Latitudinal shift of waters with other characteristics will result in environmental changes that may affect coastal biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. To be interpreted and to identify eventual trends, such changes must be recorded through the establishment of a long-term monitoring. The French Polar Institute (IPEV) PROTEKER program aims to implement such an underwater observatory that considers a multidisciplinary approach: oceanographic measurements, benthic mapping, genetic, eco-physiological, isotopic and environmental analyzes. In addition to the inventory and the monitoring of biodiversity, it also aims at providing with scientific criteria of managers in charge of protection and conservation policies (French Southern Lands National Nature Reserve). Eight sites (four in the Bay of Morbihan, two on the north coast and two on the south one) were chosen that match the following requirements: (i) representative of Sub-Antarctic habitats, (ii) accessibility compliance with the safety standards of scuba diving. Currently, temperature only is continuously measured. Results are posted on the web site www.proteker.net and updated after each campaign. The colonization dynamics are estimated from settlement clay plots revised each year (metagenomics analysis). All these results will produce models of biodiversity distribution and sensitivity to environmental changes.


Online user: 1 RSS Feed