A scientific program by the 1 OCEAN Foundation to understand and preserve
animal forests.
August 2022. After a particularly hot summer, amateur divers alerted authorities to significant mortality
among sea fans in the Mediterranean. In some places, populations were completely decimated between 0 and 30 meters
deep. In response to this event, the 1 OCEAN Foundation and UNESCO decided to launch a major
scientific exploration program. The goal: to understand how, in the depths, gorgonians and
their ecosystem could survive.
Red sea fans (Paramuricea clavata) are endemic and emblematic animals of the Mediterranean
. They are close relatives of reef corals but, unlike them, they can live at great depths.
Like underwater trees, gorgonians form veritable animal forests.
Their three-dimensional structure gives these sessile organisms the role of a pantry, a nursery, and
a protective habitat on which many species depend.
An alarming observation
During the summer of 2022, gorgonians in the western Mediterranean basin experienced a massive mortality event
linked to abnormally high temperatures. At some sites, the findings are alarming: between 0 and 30,
-meter depths, almost all gorgonians died in just a few days. If climate projections are to be believed, these thermal disturbances are likely to become increasingly frequent. In the short term, Mediterranean gorgonian populations could be seriously threatened, and with them, the entire associated ecosystem.
“The mortality of gorgonians is probably the last warning sign concerning the ecological crisis we are experiencing.” – Lorenzo BRAMANTI, Head of the Marine Ecology Unit at the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (IFREMER) "The mortality of gorgonians is probably the latest warning sign of the ecological crisis we are experiencing" – Lorenzo BRAMANTI, CNRS Research Fellow – LECOB.
"The situation of gorgonians in the Mediterranean reflects what is happening across our entire planet.
, like the Amazon rainforest, underwater animal forests are gradually disappearing, with equally dramatic consequences
. For thousands of living beings, these forests are both a protective habitat
and a food source, and their disappearance inevitably leads to a loss of biodiversity." – Alexis
ROSENFELD, Explorer and photographer for 1 OCEAN missions.
Faced with the ecological emergency, a scientific exploration program
Faced with the ecological emergency, UNESCO and the 1 OCEAN Foundation have launched a scientific exploration program
in partnership with the CNRS and the LECOB research unit of the Oceanographic Observatory of
Banyuls-sur-Mer: "Noah's Ark of the Deep, a future for biodiversity?"
Indeed, beyond a certain depth, gorgonians seem to be preserved, as if they had been
protected in a thermal capsule. For scientists, this observation is a real source of hope: less
impacted by temperature anomalies, the depths could become real climatic refuges
for animal forests.
Launched in October 2022, this two-year program involves four European countries (France, Italy,
Monaco, and Spain) and is led by scientific director Lorenzo BRAMANTI, a specialist in animal forests. This
program will focus in particular on shipwrecks in the Mediterranean, which are formidable natural laboratories for the study
of animal forests.
To assist the researchers, Lily, the 1 OCEAN Foundation's underwater drone, is tasked with collecting in-depth data
and taking samples for genetic analysis. The aim will be to determine whether
deep-sea habitats can support demographically self-sufficient animal forests and thus become
the ultimate biological safe haven.
