Deep-water Coral Reefs: Unique Biodiversity Hot-Spots

Front Cover
Springer Science & Business Media, Aug 24, 2008 - Science - 278 pages

Deep-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

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

10
176
Competing theories
178
16
245
Copyright

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