PROTEKER: a near-shore submarine observatory in the Kerguelen Islands for the long-term monitoring of benthic habitats

PROTEKER is a pilot program that aims at establishing a baseline for assessing the impact of climate change on near-shore marine ecosystems of the Kerguelen Islands by implementing an ecological and genetic monitoring at reference sites. The high diversity of coastal marine ecosystems is usually strongly impacted by environmental changes over the planet. In the Kerguelen Islands, such environments have been little investigated compared to open sea areas, and are still poorly known. The present project should provide stake holders and decision makers with scientific criteria for protection and conservation of Kerguelen coastal marine ecosystems. The PROTEKER first phase (2011-2014) aimed at assembling together and merging all available data from previous programs, selecting, and setting up monitoring stations for completion of the second phase of the program (2015-2018). During this second, operational phase, scientific investigations will integrate all levels of marine biodiversity, from species to community levels and will consist in a pluri-disciplinary approach including monitoring of abiotic parameters, habitat mapping, population genetics, genomics, functional ecology (physiological/trophic analyses), and macroecological analyses. Expected results should provide with integrative models of Kerguelen coastal marine life distribution and sensitivity to environmental changes.