Deep-water Coral Reefs: Unique Biodiversity Hot-SpotsDeep-water coral reefs are found along large sections of the outer continental shelves and slopes of Europe, from North Cape to the Gulf of Cadiz, and because they also occur along the Atlantic seaboard of USA, the Gulf of Mexico, off Brazil, in the Mediterranean, and off New Zealand, they are currently being targeted by international groups of marine scientists. They have become popular and opportune deep-water research targets because they offer exciting frontier exploration, combined with a whole plethora of modern scientific methods, such as deep-sea drilling, sampling, remote control surveying and documentation. Furthermore they represent timely opportunities for further developments within the application of geochemistry, stable isotope research, bacterial sciences, including DNA-sequestering, and medical research (search for bioactive compounds). The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) has arranged a deep-sea scientific drilling campaign on giant carbonate banks off Ireland. Because the reefs currently defy traditional marine-ecological theories, they represent future research opportunities and will enjoy scientific scrutiny for many years to come. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 42
... Lophelia colonies on man - made structures The Brent Spar Buoy Statfjord 4.8.3 UK Block 22/4 , blowout site Swedish / Norwegian reefs . 4.9.1 Kosterfjord reefs 4.10 Danish " bubbling reefs " 4.11 Reefs off the Faroe Islands 4.12 Summary ...
... Lophelia is the coral that breaks all the rules . It is a true hard coral produced by a colony of individual polyps but it is found in deep cold water . Unlike its tropical counterparts , Lophelia does not contain zooxanthellae and so ...
... Lophelia reef off mid - Norway , at a water depth of 300 m . This mature Lophelia pertusa colony is about 2 m in diameter . ( pipelines , platforms , and well - templates , at the engineering department of Statoil , now Statoil Hydro ) ...
... Lophelia reefs on the Agdenes morainic ridge 42 4.3 Photograph of resting Sebastes sp . 43 4.4 Bright - spots ... colonies . . . . 553 52 54 4.14 Drawing illustrating where dead Lophelia skeleton pieces were found inside a 10 cm wide ...
... Lophelia colony in the Breisunddjupet area Lophelia colonies and a sponge in the Breisunddjupet area A pink version of the Lophelia sp . at Breisunddjupet . 83 84 84 4.40 A perspective view of the Floholman reefs , based on swath ...
Contents
Introduction | 13 |
1 | 39 |
5 | 80 |
6 | 89 |
5 | 103 |
3 | 129 |
6 | 140 |
7 | 163 |
5 | 186 |
13 | 198 |
9 | 202 |
Corals inside a pockmark Troll field | 208 |
An unintended extinction? | 210 |
Conclusions | 216 |
14 | 230 |
B Epilogue | 232 |