Introduction

R/V Pelagia Cruise BIOFUN

INTRODUCTION
The deep-sea is the largest habitat on Earth but one of the least explored. It is considered one of the largest reservoirs of biodiversity with important natural resources, which are being exploited increasingly by fisheries and oil and gas industries.
We know little of the effects of anthropogenic and climate change in deep-sea ecosystems, of special concern because they affect an unknown habitat where many species display long lifespans and delayed maturity, resulting in long recovery times of the damaged populations. Understanding deep-sea biodiversity and functioning in relation with environmental conditions is essential to understand the role of the deep sea in the global biosphere and its vulnerability to change, providing the necessary scientific data from which to develop management and conservation options. Because of technological and resource challenges, deep-sea investigations require important coordination of efforts only possible through multidisciplinary and international research initiatives such as EUROCORES. In this framework, the overall aim of BIOFUN is to characterise, under an ecosystem approach, two deep-sea habitats - the mid-slope and abyssal plain - to understand the linkages between biodiversity patterns and ecosystem functioning in relation to environmental conditions along a gradient of increasing oligotrophy, from Eastern Atlantic to the Western, Central and Eastern Mediterranean. A major innovative aspect in this proposal is the investigation of the entire food web, from viruses and microbes to megafauna, including commercial species. In particular, BIOFUN is structured in 4 major work-packages: 1) physical and geochemical characteristics of habitats; 2) community structure: biodiversity and biogeography; 3) ecosystem functioning: food web processes and life-history patterns; and 4) linkages between ecosystem functioning and biodiversity: tools for disturbance evaluation. BIOFUN is a consortium of 10 European partners leading deep-sea research at the international level and with wide expertise in the use of large platforms and state-of-the art technology and analytical methods. During this BIOFUN2009 expedition with the RV Pelagia the biodiversity from Bacteria to megafauna and its functioning will be investigated in the deepsea of the West Mediterranean with a suite of sampling and measuring equipment, namely multibeam, CTD, multicorer, boxcorer, Agassiz trawl, hopper camera, lander, mooring and MOVE.