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Interest in the deep Arctic Ocean is rapidly increasing from governments, policy makers, industry, researchers, and conservation groups, accentuated by the growing accessibility of this remote region by surface vessel traffic. In this review, our goal is to provide an updated taxonomic inventory of benthic taxa known to occur in the deep Arctic Ocean and relate this inventory to habitat diversity. To achieve this goal, we collected data for Arctic metazoan deep-sea taxa from open-access databases, information facilities, and non-digitised scientific literature, limiting the collection to the area north of 66°N and below 500 m depth (excluding all shelf seas). Although notable progress has been made in understanding the deep Arctic using novel technologies and infrastructure, this data gathering shows that knowledge of deep-sea benthic Arctic communities remains very limited. Yet, through our compilation of habitat maps, we show that the Arctic contains a high diversity of geomorphological features, including slopes, deep basins, submarine canyons, ridges, and seamounts, as well as chemosynthesis-based and biogenic (biologically engineered) ecosystems. To analyse taxon richness and density, using both morphological and molecular data, we compiled 75,404 faunal records with 2,637 taxa. Phyla with the most records were the Arthropoda (21,405), Annelida (13,763) and Porifera (12,591); phyla with the most documented taxa were the Arthropoda (956), Annelida (566) and Mollusca (351). An overview of the dominant groups inhabiting the different geomorphological features highlights regions in the deep Arctic where data are particularly scarce and increased research efforts are needed, particularly the deep basins of the central Arctic Ocean. This scarcity of deep benthic Arctic biodiversity data creates a bottleneck for developing robust management and conservation measures in a rapidly changing region, leading to a call for international collaboration and shared data to ensure understanding and preservation of these fragile Arctic ecosystems. 

The ocean plays a crucial role in the functioning of the Earth System and in the provision of vital goods and services. The United Nations (UN) declared 2021–2030 as the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. The Roadmap for the Ocean Decade aims to achieve six critical societal outcomes (SOs) by 2030, through the pursuit of four objectives (Os). It specifically recognizes the scarcity of biological data for deep-sea biomes, and challenges the global scientific community to conduct research to advance understanding of deep-sea ecosystems to inform sustainable management. In this paper, we map four key scientific questions identified by the academic community to the Ocean Decade SOs: (i) What is the diversity of life in the deep ocean? (ii) How are populations and habitats connected? (iii) What is the role of living organisms in ecosystem function and service provision? and (iv) How do species, communities, and ecosystems respond to disturbance? We then consider the design of a global-scale program to address these questions by reviewing key drivers of ecological pattern and process. We recommend using the following criteria to stratify a global survey design: biogeographic region, depth, horizontal distance, substrate type, high and low climate hazard, fished/unfished, near/far from sources of pollution, licensed/protected from industry activities. We consider both spatial and temporal surveys, and emphasize new biological data collection that prioritizes southern and polar latitudes, deeper (> 2000 m) depths, and midwater environments. We provide guidance on observational, experimental, and monitoring needs for different benthic and pelagic ecosystems. We then review recent efforts to standardize biological data and specimen collection and archiving, making “sampling design to knowledge application” recommendations in the context of a new global program. We also review and comment on needs, and recommend actions, to develop capacity in deep-sea research; and the role of inclusivity - from accessing indigenous and local knowledge to the sharing of technologies - as part of such a global program. We discuss the concept of a new global deep-sea biological research program ‘ Challenger 150 ,’ highlighting what it could deliver for the Ocean Decade and UN Sustainable Development Goal 14. 

Abstract MotivationTraits are increasingly being used to quantify global biodiversity patterns, with trait databases growing in size and number, across diverse taxa. Despite growing interest in a trait‐based approach to the biodiversity of the deep sea, where the impacts of human activities (including seabed mining) accelerate, there is no single repository for species traits for deep‐sea chemosynthesis‐based ecosystems, including hydrothermal vents. Using an international, collaborative approach, we have compiled the first global‐scale trait database for deep‐sea hydrothermal‐vent fauna – sFDvent (sDiv‐funded trait database for theFunctionalDiversity ofvents). We formed a funded working group to select traits appropriate to: (a) capture the performance of vent species and their influence on ecosystem processes, and (b) compare trait‐based diversity in different ecosystems. Forty contributors, representing expertise across most known hydrothermal‐vent systems and taxa, scored species traits using online collaborative tools and shared workspaces. Here, we characterise the sFDvent database, describe our approach, and evaluate its scope. Finally, we compare the sFDvent database to similar databases from shallow‐marine and terrestrial ecosystems to highlight how the sFDvent database can inform cross‐ecosystem comparisons. We also make the sFDvent database publicly available online by assigning a persistent, unique DOI. Main types of variable containedSix hundred and forty‐six vent species names, associated location information (33 regions), and scores for 13 traits (in categories: community structure, generalist/specialist, geographic distribution, habitat use, life history, mobility, species associations, symbiont, and trophic structure). Contributor IDs, certainty scores, and references are also provided. Spatial location and grainGlobal coverage (grain size: ocean basin), spanning eight ocean basins, including vents on 12 mid‐ocean ridges and 6 back‐arc spreading centres. Time period and grainsFDvent includes information on deep‐sea vent species, and associated taxonomic updates, since they were first discovered in 1977. Time is not recorded. The database will be updated every 5 years. Major taxa and level of measurementDeep‐sea hydrothermal‐vent fauna with species‐level identification present or in progress. Software format.csv and MS Excel (.xlsx).