The topics
In its effort to better understand the marine environment and the impact human beings are having on it, the Changing Oceans Expedition offers scientists a floating research platform aboard Fleur de Passion. Thanks to its infrastructure and the crew's logistical support, researchers will be able to access remote locations otherwise out of bounds for financial reasons.
The Changing Oceans Expedition also gives scientists an opportunity to greatly expand their scope thanks to the distances and locations covered.
What projects get done and on which species will be decided based on the different themes the expedition will focus on in its communications. These include the natural sciences as well as human sciences. The expedition's support will be targeted at projects of specified durations and locations on route or at longer lasting, more comprehensive research carried out through partnerships.
List of topics
Biodiversity
Simply put, biodiversity is what fills the sea with beauty, wonder and the life we find so inspiring, as well as the food billions of us could not live without. Delphis is ancient Greek for "spirit of the sea", and Delphis has given us the word dolphin, a creature we all recognize as intelligent and graceful, and one that nobody wants to see disappear. And yet through what we do as human beings, [...]
Marine biology
Coral reefs are 500 million years old and harbour 25 per cent of marine life. Manta rays have common ancestors with sharks and can live up to 100 years old. Their home, the sea, covers 72 per cent of our planet. Who knows how many more amazing creatures live there and have yet to reveal themselves to us. Even among those we already know, we have a lot to learn, about how they feed, where they go, [...]
Climate change
Climate change poses different problems in the sea than it does on land. One of the main concerns among scientists is that, as more and more of the excessive carbon we produce dissolves into the sea, the water will become more acidic. This, of course, changes the parameters of life for countless sea creatures, many of which will simply not be able to adapt. Coral reefs are a prime example, as they [...]
Invasive species
Mixing and interbreeding different life forms can yield happy results, but it can also have drastic consequences. Through our commercial and recreational activities we have introduced many species into areas they would otherwise never have reached. Some of these have settled in nicely and developed alongside local flora and fauna. Some have died off. But too many others have become invasive specie [...]
Ethnology
Within the framework of Antinea, ethnology is the discipline that links human beings to the oceans and underlines their current interdependence. Antinea will focus on assessing the risks involved in costal communities and their environments, including cyclones, tsunamis or other extreme phenomenons. Antinea will study ways to improve the security of coastal communities against such natural pheno [...]
Ethology or the study of animal behaviour
The modern discipline of ethology, or animal behaviour, is considered to have arisen with the study of primates in the 1960s. The desire to understand the animal world and their behavioural processes, such as animal communication or emotions, has turned ethology into a rapidly growing field of research. From sardines to sperm whales, the study of ethology allows a better knowledge of a number of b [...]
Great Depths
We know more about the moon than about the great depths of our oceans, and yet they are thought to harbour more biodiversity than anywhere else on earth. Some creatures down there are nearly 10,000 years old. But as far out of reach as it is, this part of our world is also suffering the consequences of human activity. Bottom trawling is a fishing technique that uses enormous nets dragged along the [...]
Hydrogeology
It is only since the second half of the twentieth century and thanks to new technologies that geological studies in submerged regions (which cover more than 70% of the globe) are being conducted. Studies in geology and hydrology, the main sciences relating to the oceans floors, have yet to achieve their full potential in amassing a better knowledge of our planet's dynamics. Ultimately they will [...]
Pharmacology
Today, 80% of the medicines we use are derived from terrestrial plants. However, marine organisms are far more biologically diverse than what we find in the terrestrial world, due to their age (more than 3.5 biollion years old) and the diversity of ecological systems found in the oceans. This variety of marine species constitutes a great source of exploitable resources, many of which will undoubte [...]
Pollution
Every day some 8 million pieces of junk are thought to be thrown into the world's oceans, most of them from ships, but many from rivers, beach goers, and even from airplanes. The sea has become a dump, and we are reaching critical levels of pollution. Every square mile contains over 70,000 items made of plastic. This can reach up to six times the natural plankton population. It is estimated some 1 [...]
Fish resources
Spread out in their 3.5 million boats, some 140 million people live off fishing worldwide. A billion more depend on seafood as their main source of protein, and yet overfishing is threatening just about every marine ecosystem out there. If these collapse, so do fish stocks. Tuna, cod and swordfish are already down some 90 per cent. To prevent an environmental and human disaster we must set up sust [...]
Tourism
Who doesn't love to spend time at the beach, especially if the sand is white and the water is clean? Coastlines provide spectacular locations for sports, relaxation, adventure and recreation. However, all too often, we ignore how important these regions are for other living things with which we share this environment - living things that, in many cases, were there millions of years before us. Our [...]
Maritime traffic
Compared to other tranports, shipping is one of the less damaging ways to transport goods around the planet. With huge vessels we can carry a lot at a time and more than 90 per cent of trade uses marine transport. But shipping has become a classic case of too much of a good thing. With incessant traffic over the oceans comes chemical pollution, noise pollution, garbage, ballast discharge and colli [...]
