Programme IPEV n°1044 – Effects of global change on the marine benthos and habitats in Kerguelen Islands. Establishment of a base line for ecological and genetic monitoring, protection and conservation

In the current context of climate changes, variations of the sea level and of marine biodiversity [particularly benthic], (extinction, shifts, replacements, “exotic” and invading species) will affect the Southern Islands, particularly in coastal waters.

Sites explored during past ocean cruises or by diving around Kerguelen, having given place to collections and research tasks, are revisited during cruises of « La Curieuse ». The observations and the examination of these new collections are compared with those carried out since the Seventies. All the data, old and new, are/will be captured in existing or compatible databases associated with a GIS. Certain species of which the genetic structure is known are selected for a genetic monitoring and the determination of sensitive areas.

The whole will bring the scientific bases to the determination of zones to be protected (site, area and optimum distances between the protected zones) and managed.