21 Sep (Fri): The Wallace Lectures "Marine Biodiversity: Known and Unknown"

Dr. Bertrand Richer de Forges will share about what lives in the deep sea. Using deep sea vessels of all kinds, Dr Bertrand has explored places thousands of meters from the surface! He was recently in Singapore for the Mega Marine Survey's mini-expedition at Pulau Ubin where he directed the sampling of our seabed.

Dr Bertrand (in hat) with Prof Peter Ng and key expedition leaders
working out dredging locations for the expedition.

During the expedition, Dr Betrand also patiently taught volunteers and shared fascinating stories about his many adventures. Come for his talk to find out more!

Dr Bertrand at the sorting station with volunteers.

This is the second talk in the resurrected Wallace Lecture Series, originally a series of important lectures delivered in the 1960s by well-known biologists in the then University of Malaya.


The Wallace Lectures -  "Marine Biodiversity: Known and Unknown"
By Dr. Bertrand Richer de Forges

About the talk
The deep-sea is one of the largest yet most poorly known ecosystems on Earth. The major part of the abyssal plains (2500-6000m) is covered by fine mud. The habitat conditions here are extreme: no light, high pressures, cold temperatures and with only a small quantity of food. While the overall biomass is small, surprisingly, the species-richness is high. Some parts of the ocean tend to concentrate life: margins of continents and slopes of the islands, seamounts, thermal vents and cold seeps, as well as numerous ecosystems based on organic substrates like skeletons or sunken wood. Most of these are situated in bathyal depths (200-2500m). In the context of these insights; a panorama of discoveries is presented. It represents an enlightened vision of life in the deep; that it is in fact, everywhere, light is not essential and chemosynthetic systems that start new food webs are widespread, and species diversity is very high in the bathyal zone. The era for deep sea exploration is far from over — there remains much to do.

About the speaker

Dr Bertrand Richer de Forges is a remarkable marine biologist and has often spent his career in remote places sampling biodiversity, discovering new ecosystems and a cornucopia of new species. Since 1984, he has been with the French Institute of Research for Development in New Caledonia. This period corresponds with his substantial involvement in the French MUSORSTOM program to study deep-sea biodiversity. Using different research vessels, he developed new methods to explore the lagoons and deep-sea fauna in New Caledonia. During the same period, he worked in collaboration with Professor Danièle Guinot in Paris (one of the most influential carcinologists of the last 100 years) on deep-sea crabs that resulted in many key papers. The exploration of New Caledonia was so successful that it was necessary to sample Vanuatu, Fiji, Solomons, Marquesas, Philippines and Taiwan to understand the biogeography of the Pacific. In charge of research programs on marine biodiversity, he had collaborations with colleagues from New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and Taiwan, publishing many papers and books in the process. In a career that has spanned 30 years, he has described over 120 new genera and species, mostly from deep-sea. He has been on the steering committee of the Census of Marine Life on Seamounts, contributing to its success. Among his many discoveries are the discovery of a number of ‘living fossils’, including what has been called the Jurassic Shrimp, Laurentaeglyphea neocaledonia in 2006.

Wallace Lecture Series
The Wallace Lecture Series was a series of important lectures delivered in the 1960s by well-known biologists in the then University of Malaya. These lectures stimulated discussion and encouraged the exploration of new ideas in systematics, ecology and natural heritage. It seemed especially appropriate and timely that this lecture series, named after one of the two discoverers of the modern theory of evolution, should be “resurrected” to further research interest and activity in Singapore’s rich biodiversity. This is the second of the Wallace Lecture Series, delivered by an invited Research Scientist brought in by the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research of the National University of Singapore, in conjunction with the National Biodiversity Centre (National Parks Board); and supported by Shell Singapore.

Date: 21 Sep (Fri)
Time: 7-9 pm. Light refreshments will be served before the talk at 6.30 pm
Venue: Level 1, Function Hall, Botany Centre, Singapore Botanic Gardens map on the SBG website

The talk is free but pre-registration is required. Please register at bit.ly/Pa5RN0 by 19 Sep (Wed)

For more information, please contact Koh Kwan Siong at KOH_Kwan_Siong@nparks.gov.sg

Organised by National Biodiversity Centre, National Parks Board and Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore Supported by Shell Singapore