MORI Cruise: NSERC, Coral and Water Column Paleoceanography

Deep-water coral, sponge, and seep habitats along Northwest Atlantic shelf and slope: geology, ecology, and conservation.

Scientific objectives:

(1) Field-test novel tools for fine-scale (<3 cm) 3D biodiversity mapping of complex deep-water and vertical habitats.

(2) Extend knowledge on the abundance, distribution, and diversity of deep-water corals, sponges, and associated fauna in relation to depth and substrate in previously unexplored areas.

(3) Explore and develop new methods for unambiguous age determinations and quantify population age distributions in corals and sponges in relation to environmental factors.

(4) Assess environmental drivers of life-history strategies and trophic ecology in benthic invertebrates and associated epibionts across environmental gradients.

5) Assess effectiveness of marine conservation efforts for protecting benthic biodiversity and ecological functioning.

(6) Collect samples for use in paleoceanographic proxy development and reconstructions. Methods:

(7) Assess long-term coral and sponge recruitment patterns and recovery from trawling impacts.

(8) Investigate age, origins, and bio-geological evolution of the Stone Fence Lophelia reef – Canada’s only known deep-water coral reef.

(9) Investigate the geology and microbiology of deep-water cold seeps and characterize chemosynthetic foodwebs.

(10) Investigate how continental margin habitats influence benthic response to surface production, specifically how infaunal and microbial biodiversity drive organic matter remineralization and nutrient recycling in changing oceans.

Cruise Chart