ancestral state reconstruction; character evolution; classification; Hexactinellida; integrative systematics; phylogeny; Porifera; total evidence
The Mountains in the Deep Expedition (EX1705), conducted from April 27, 2017, to May 19, 2017, onboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, collected valuable new information to support management and science needs throughout the Central Pacific Basin.
A new species of Crypthelia, C. kelleyi, is described from a seamount in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, making it the fifth species of stylasterid known from the Hawaiian Islands. Collected at 2,116 m, it is the fourth-deepest stylasterid species known.
NOAA and its partners initiated CAPSTONE expeditions aboard Okeanos Explorer in July 2015. In addition to providing valuable information on the habitats and species in these MPAs, CAPSTONE also aims to contribute publicly accessible baseline data and critical information needed to respond to emerging regional issues such as deep-sea mining, sustainable deep-sea fisheries, and potential US ECS designation.
The relationships between tectonic processes, magmatism, and hydrothermal venting along ∼600 km of the slow-spreading Mariana back-arc between 12.7°N and 18.3°N reveal a number of similarities and differences compared to slow-spreading mid-ocean ridges. Analysis of the volcanic geomorphology and structure highlights the complexity of the back-arc spreading center. Here, ridge segmentation is controlled by large-scale basement structures that appear to predate back-arc rifting.
Coelenterata; Antipathidae; Aphanipathidae; deep-sea coral; mesophotic coral ecosystem; Myriopathidae
Colonies of the holaxonian Calcigorgia spiculifera were tagged beginning in 1999 at three sites in Chatham Strait, Southeast Alaska, using scuba and their growth measured annually for up to 5 years. Colonies were video recorded, and computer image analysis tools provided calibration of video images for measuring the length of several branches.
deep-sea corals; paleoclimate; oxygen isotope; clumped isotope; boron isotope; SIMS; vital effect
Recent work demonstrates that bamboo coral growth temperature, averaged over its entire lifespan, can be derived from linear correlations in its carbon and oxygen isotope composition (δ13C, δ18O) when the apparent equilibrium fractionations for a coral's growth rate and calcifying pH are used. Building on this method, this study applies it to coeval coral skeleton to assess the possibility of extracting paleoceanographic timeseries from bamboo coral skeletons.
Deep-sea coral and sponge ecosystems are widespread throughout most of Alaska's marine waters, and are associated with many different species of fishes and invertebrates. These ecosystems are vulnerable to the effects of commercial fishing activities and climate change. We compared four commonly used species distribution models (general linear models, generalized additive models, boosted regression trees and random forest models) and an ensemble model to predict the presence or absence and abundance of six groups of benthic invertebrate taxa in the Gulf of Alaska.
Spatial management of vulnerable benthic ecosystem components such as deep-sea corals and sponges requires adequate maps of their distribution. These maps are often based on statistical models of survey data. The objective of this project was to validate the predictions of existing presence or absence and abundance models of deep-sea corals and sponges in the Aleutian Islands that were based on bottom trawl survey data.
The effort has greatly improved our understanding of deep-sea corals and sponges off the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington, particularly within na
In 2023, a series of expeditions will help NOAA and partners to better understand the diversity and extent of ecologically important seafloor communities in
A multiyear, international study is using innovative technology to shed light on what red corals need to reproduce and sustain their populations, and how the