Coral reefs are iconic ecosystems that support biodiverse, productive biological communities in both shallow and deep waters. Like their warm, shallow counterparts, cold-water coral (CWC) reefs and mounds come in many forms, but unlike shallow water reefs, we have an incomplete knowledge of cold-water coral niche space. This limits scientific understanding of their distribution and the ecosystem services they provide. We present recent surveys of the CWC mound province on the Blake Plateau beneath the Gulf Stream. At one site (Richardson Reef Complex, 700–900-m water depth), the CWC mounds are arranged in lines that total over 150 km in length, making this one of the largest reef complexes ever documented in the deep ocean. This site experiences rapid shifts in temperature values between 4.3 and 10.7°C, with bottom current speeds approaching 1 m/s. This reef community cycles and sequesters carbon and nitrogen derived from interactions with mesopelagic species as well as sinking and resuspended particulate organic matter. Through these processes, the reef provides a previously unrecognized nitrate source that contributes to primary productivity in the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic gyre. Our new predictive models based on these recent surveys indicate broad geographic areas of highly suitable CWC habitat in the region. This study improved understanding of suitable habitat distribution and of deep coral reef carbon and nitrogen cycling and enables new analyses, including potential re-evaluation of the ecosystem services that CWCs provide to the global ocean and confirms the importance of appropriate conservation management of these systems.

USD: $3,924,000

2017-10-01 → 2022-01-31