The main aim of the ACE-MERTZ DIVA project is to shed light on the exceptional biodiversity and the ecosystem functioning of a key Antarctic region: Adélie land shelf. In addition to describing them in great details (from bacteria to higher trophic levels), we will also determine the parameters that are either maintaining or promoting the evolution of these populations. Our data will then be incorporated into both descriptive and predictive models in order to understand how environmental parameters are forcing ecosystems and predict future changes. Indeed, recent studies show that, although subtle, changes have been observed in the area during the last few decades. In particular, a slow but regular decrease in the salinity the deep water masses at the bottom of the Australo-Antarctic basin under the Mertz polynya. The benthic communities from this area could therefore be amongst the the first to be impacted by these changes. In addition to these relatively slow modifications, the area is also under the strong influence of the Mertz glacier which periodically induce abrupt and catastrophic changes of the surface oceanic conditions:

Despite large-scale international research initiatives (e.g. CAMLR, CEAMARC), these ecosystems remain understudied and largely unknown from the public. The deployment of state-of-the-art instrumentation combined to more traditional methods will allow for obtaining data that are necessary to answer