Promote data sharing and long-term preservation SeamountsOnline created and made available the first and largest global collection of seamount data, fed in part by mini- grants funding the rescue of select high-value datasets that would not otherwise be available to the scientific community. However, the original goal of having wide sharing of seamount data was never reached. Very few seamount researchers not directly supported by CenSeam shared their data, even after publication. The impediments to data access (see section on SeamountsOnline, above) are limiting the progress of seamount ecology, and deep-sea biology in general. This is particularly true as the field moves from describing patterns and processes on a local scale, which can be studied by a single expedition, to evaluating commonalities and differences across regional and global scales, which requires the integration of many studies. Considering the enormous expense of launching new deep-sea expeditions, the loss of the majority of data after the initial publication of results represents a major inefficiency. As a largely voluntary organization, CenSeam had limited ability to provide incentives for data sharing beyond mini-grants; programs funding the collection of data might more effectively create requirements for contributing data to publicly-accessible repositories. Creating and expressing consensus in a research community can powerfully influence science and management CenSeam proved effective at identifying and methodically addressing research themes on spatial scales that exceeded any national project’s. This led to a re-evaluation of some of the previously dominant seamount ecology paradigms [18]. Similarly, by developing community-agreed research priorities, CenSeam gave researchers compelling, citable justifications for new field research proposals, influencing the direction of national-scale research priorities. References 1. Schlacher TA, Rowden AA, Dower JF, Consalvey M (2010) Seamount science scales undersea mountains: new research and outlook. Marine Ecology 31: 1–13. doi: 10.1111/j.1439-0485.2010.00396.x. 2. Staudigel H, Clague DA (2011) The geological history of deep-sea volcanoes: Biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere interactions. Oceanography 23: 58–71. 3. Staudigel H, Koppers AAP, Lavelle JW, Shank TM, Pitcher TJ (2010) Seamount sciences: Quo vadis? Oceanography 23: 212–213. 4. Clark MR, Schlacher TA, Rowden AA, Stocks KI, Consalvey M (2011) Science priorities for seamounts: research links to conservation and management. PLoS ONE (this collection). 5. Lavelle JW, Mohn C (2010) Motion, commotion, and biophysical connections at deep ocean seamounts. Oceanography 23: 90–103. 6. Worm B, Lotze HK, Myers RA (2003) Predator diversity hotspots in the blue ocean. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100: 9884–9888. 7. Morato T, Varkey DA, Damasco C, Machete M, Santos M, et al. (2008) Evidence of a seamount effect on aggregating visitors. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 357: 23–32. 8. Morato T, Hoyle SD, Allain V, Nicol SJ (2010) Seamounts are hotspots of pelagic biodiversity in the open ocean. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 107: 9707–9711. 9. Louzao M, Pinaud D, Pe´ron C, Delord K, Wiegand T, et al. (2011) Conserving pelagic habitats: Seascape modelling of an oceanic top predator. Journal of Applied Ecology 48: 121–132. 10. Samadi S, Schlacher TA, Richer de Forges B (2007) Seamount benthos. In: Pitcher T, Morato T, Hart PJB, Clark MR, Haggan N, et al., eds. Seamounts: Ecology, Fisheries and Conservation Blackwell Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Series. pp 119–140. 11. Rowden AA, Schlacher TA, Williams A, Clark MR, Stewart R, et al. (2010) A test of the seamount oasis hypothesis: seamounts support higher epibenthic megafaunal biomass than adjacent slopes. Marine Ecology 31: 95–106. 12. Samadi S, Bottan L, Macpherson E, De Forges BR, Boisselier MC (2006) Seamount endemism questioned by the geographic distribution and population genetic structure of marine invertebrates. Mar Biol 149: 1463–1475. CenSeam, an International Program on Seamounts One of the most successful outcomes of CenSeam was advice to management bodies (Table 3). We attribute CenSeam’s success in this area to a combination of the need within the management community–seamount issues became important on several nation- al and international fronts during the tenure of CenSeam–and the value of having a credible, respected, centralized contact point. Organizations were able to ask CenSeam to provide a general scientific consensus on a topic, when one existed, or references to an appropriate expert. CenSeam decided early on to provide scientific input into decision making, but not to lobby for particular management actions or approaches, which allowed it to be recognized as an objective source by conservation and government organizations. The ability to provide a community consensus for seamount scientists was highly valued by conserva- tion and management, as indicated by the number of requests for input, but was labor intensive: creating a consensus position required that all participants have the opportunity to express their views, and multiple iterations were often required before discussions reached a point of agreement. Acknowledgments The authors comprise the Secretariat of CenSeam, but strongly acknowledge the valuable input of the Steering Committee (Table 1) throughout the period of the programme, and the willing cooperation of many seamount researchers and managers around the world. The support of the CoML Secretariat, was instrumental. Author Contributions Conceived and designed the experiments: KIS MRC AAR TAS. Performed the experiments: KIS MRC AAR MC TAS. Analyzed the data: KIS MRC AAR MC TAS. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: KIS MRC AAR TAS. Wrote the paper: KIS MRC AAR MC TAS. The Principal Investigators on the grant that funded the program described in this manuscript are: KIS MRC AAR. The secretariat members of the program described were: KIS MRC AAR MC. 13. Newman WA, Jones WJ (2011) Two northeast pacific deep-water barnacle populations (cirripedia: Calanticidae and pachylasmatidae) from seamounts of the juan de fuca ridge; ‘‘insular’’ endemics stemming from tethys, or by subsequent dispersal from the western pacific center of distribution? Zootaxa 2789: 49–68. 14. Bowden DA, Schiaparelli S, Clark MR, Rickard GL (2011) A lost world? Archaic crinoid-dominated assemblages on an Antarctic Seamount. Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 58: 119–127. 15. Tittensor DP, Baco AR, Hall-Spencer JM, Orr JC, Rogers AD (2010) Seamounts as refugia from ocean acidification for cold-water stony corals. Marine Ecology 31: 212–225. 16. Miller K, Rowden AA, Williams A, Ha¨ussermann V (2011) Out of their depth? isolated deep populations of the cosmopolitan coral desmophyllum dianthus may be highly vulnerable to environmental change. PLoS ONE 6. 17. Rowden AA, Schnabel KE, Schlacher TA, Macpherson E, Ahyong ST, et al. (2010) Squat lobster assemblages on seamounts differ from some, but not all, deep-sea habitats of comparable depth. Marine Ecology 31: 63–83. 18. Rowden AA, Dower JF, Schlacher TA, Consalvey M, Clark MR (2010) Paradigms in seamount ecology: fact, fiction and future. Marine Ecology 31: 226–241. 19. Shank TM (2010) Seamounts: Deep-ocean laboratories of faunal connectivity, evolution, and endemism. Oceanography 23: 122. 20. McClain CR, Lundsten L, Ream M, Barry J, DeVogelaere A (2009) Endemicity, biogeograhy, composition, and community structure on a Northeast Pacific seamount. PLoS ONE 4: e4141. 21. Koslow JA, Gowlett-Holmes K, Lowry JK, Poore GCB, Williams A (2001) The seamount benthic macrofauna off southern Tasmania: community structure and impacts of trawling. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 213: 111–125. 22. Clark MR, Rowden AA, Schlacher TA, Williams A, Consalvey M, et al. (2010) The Ecology of Seamounts: Structure, Function, and Human Impacts. Annual Review of Marine Science 2: 253–278. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-marine-120308- 081109. 23. Clark MR, Vinnichenko VI, Gordon JDM, Beck-Bulat GZ, Kukharev NN, et al. (2007) Large-scale distant-water trawl fisheries on seamounts. In: Pitcher T, Morato T, Hart PJB, Clark MR, Haggan N, et al., eds. Seamounts: Ecology, PLoS ONE | www.plosone.org 8 February 2012 | Volume 7 | Issue 2 |