Sneha Sunny

Exploring the effects of anthropogenic changes on deep-sea abyssal plain and seamount benthic ecosystems in the North Atlantic using in-situ experimentation and modelling.  

OSPAR’s most recent MPA is the North Atlantic Current and Evlanov Sea basin (NACES) MPA, situated in the North-East Atlantic covering nearly 595,000 km2. Based on available tracking data, this site exhibits significant geodiversity, including approximately 47 seamounts, abyssal plains and fracture zones. These features in turn host a vast number of species, including midwater fauna, highly mobile pelagic species and benthic communities. While the NACES MPA encompasses protection from the surface to the seafloor, our understanding of the NACES deep-sea ecosystems is extremely poor.

The project’s focus is on understanding how oceanic food webs fuelled by the biological carbon pump (BCP) support the deep-sea food webs across abyssal plains and seamounts. This project improves our understanding of benthic-pelagic coupling in terms of how carbon flows from the surface to the seafloor, how it is processed by benthic communities, and how these processes support benthic biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Using linear inverse models (LIMs) of carbon flows this project explores future scenarios of climate change and fisheries pressure to assess how benthic ecosystem functions are adapted by an anthropogenically stressed ocean. Results from this research will assess how effective the NACES MPA is with regards to preserving deep-sea biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in the North-East Atlantic. 

Supervisors

Prof. Andrew K. Sweetman (SAMS)

Prof. Bhavani Narayanswamy (SAMS)

Dr Emma Cavan (Imperial College London)

Dr Henk Jan Hoving (Geomar) 

Start date:

01 October 2026