The Register of Antarctic Marine Species

Bruno Danis1, Bruno Danis2

1 ANTABIF, 29, rue Vautier, 1000, Brussels, Belgium; 2 

Corresponding author(s): Bruno Danis (bruno.danis@gmail.com)

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Abstract

The objective of RAMS is to compile and manage an authoritative taxonomic list of species occurring in the Antarctic marine environment, for establishing a standard reference for marine biodiversity research, conservation and sustainable management.

The taxonomic scope of RAMS covers Antarctic species from the three realms of the Southern Ocean: the sea floor (meio-, macro- and megazoobenthos; micro- and macrophytobenthos), the water column (phytoplankton, zooplankton, nekton) and the sea-ice.

A series of preliminary species lists of Antarctic marine invertebrates, mostly for macrobenthic groups, were compiled by Andrew Clarke and Nadine Johnston of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), with funding from the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office and British Antarctic Survey. These lists have been or are being checked and updated by taxonomic experts.

A series of preliminary species lists of Antarctic marine invertebrates, mostly for macrobenthic groups, were compiled by Andrew Clarke and Nadine Johnston of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), with funding from the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office and British Antarctic Survey. These lists have been or are being checked and updated by taxonomic experts.

RAMS is managed by an Editorial Board comprising an Executive Committee and associate Taxonomic Editors. The RAMS Executive Committee plays an advising role in the development of RAMS and proposes Taxonomic Editors. It links with the SCAR-MarBIN International Steering Committee. To allow RAMS to be as exhaustive and authoritative as possible, the role of the network of Taxonomic Editors is crucial. These Taxonomic Editors are world experts on the taxonomy of their relevant taxa and are in charge of the content and quality control of data for their specific group.

Keywords: Metadata

General description

Additional information: marine, harvested by iOBIS

Data published through GBIF: https://ipt.biodiversity.aq/resource?r=rams

Taxonomic coverage

General taxonomic coverage description: The taxonomic scope of RAMS covers Antarctic species from the three realms of the Southern Ocean: the sea floor (meio-, macro- and megazoobenthos; micro- and macrophytobenthos), the water column (phytoplankton, zooplankton, nekton) and the sea-ice.

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: The RAMS “area of interest” is the Southern Ocean in its wide sense, as used by oceanographers (e.g. Deacon 1984, Tréguer & Jacques 1992, Longhurst 1998, Rintoul 2007). 
The priority however is given to the Antarctic region (Southern Ocean s.s. or “Antarctic Ocean”), i.e. the water masses extending south of the Polar Front (formerly known as the Antarctic Convergence) to the coasts of the Antarctic continent. All taxa occurring south of the Polar Front should be included in RAMS.

The sub-Antarctic region, here defined as the expanses of water extending  from the Polar Front in the south to the Subtropical front in the north (see precisions below), is being progressively covered as well.
The location of the various hydrographic fronts of the Southern Ocean is based on Orsi et al. (1995), as modified by Moore et al. (1999) for the location of Antarctic Polar Front south of Kerguelen Islands on the Kerguelen Plateau.
See AAD Southern Ocean maps 2006 (with location of fronts according to Orsi et al. 1995), downloadable as pdf’s at: 
http://www.scarmarbin.be/documents/sthn_ocean_west_300dpi_13276.pdf
http://www.scarmarbin.be/documents/sthn_ocean_east_300dpi_13277.pdf

ANTARCTIC ZONE (Southern Ocean s.s. = Antarctic Ocean): 

- True northern limit: Antarctic Polar Front (or Antarctic Convergence, 48°S to 63°S, convenient average limit: 55°S). 

- Operational northern limits for data trawling (see map below): 
South Atlantic: - Between 60°W and 50°W: 		57°S
 - Between 50°W and 30°E:		50°S (same limits as CCAMLR)
Indian Ocean:  - Between 30°E and 80°E: 		50°S
 - Between 80°E and 150°E:		55°S (same limits as CCAMLR)
South Pacific:  - Between 150°E and 60°W:		60°S (same limits as CCAMLR)

SUB-ANTARCTIC ZONE

- True southern limit: the Antarctic Polar Front.

- True northern limit: the northernmost  limit of the Southern Ocean s.l., i.e. the northern limit of the extension of the sub-Antarctic water masses, which corresponds to the (nearly) circumpolar sub-Tropical Front (30°S to 47°S, convenient average limit: 43°S).
In addition to the open ocean zones defined by hydrographic fronts, the SCAR-MarBIN “area of interest” has also to take into account the sub-Antarctic coastal zones, in particular in southern South America (i.e. the sub-Antarctic Magellanic biogeographic province; see e.g. Boltovskoy et al. 1999; Lopez Gappa et al. 2006; De Broyer et al. 2007) and the various islands of the sub-Antarctic region (e.g. the New Zealand sub-Antarctic islands such as The Snares, Antipodes and Bounty; see e.g. Knox 1987).

- Operational northern limits for data trawling (see map below): 

South Atlantic and Indian Ocean:  	- Between 65°W and 140°E: 		43°S
Pacific Ocean: 			- Between 140°E and 176°W: 	48°S
					- Between 176°W and 80°W:		45°S
					- Between 80°W and 72°W:		41°S

Shapefiles for the Area of Interest (AoI) can be downloaded from http://share.biodiversity.aq/Atlas/Resources/Geographic_Scope/Shapefiles/
A picture of the RAMS AoI is visible at http://share.biodiversity.aq/Atlas/Resources/Geographic_Scope/Shapefiles/ATLAS-AoI.png
Coordinates: 90°0'0''S and 45°0'0''S Latitude; 180°0'0''W and 180°0'0''E Longitude 

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2012-03-21
Hierarchy level: Dataset