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Poster presented at the UK Ocean Acidification Research Programme Annual Meeting 2012.
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Changing OceansRRS James Cook 073
UK Ocean AcidificationResearch Programme
What is the Changing Oceans Expedition?
On the 17th May 2012, the RRS James Cook will set sail from Glasgow headed to the shallow cold-water coral reefs of Mingulay, a deeper coral carbonate mound province, and a series of coral reefs on Rockall Bank. The international scientific crew aim to develop their understanding of the functional ecology of cold-water coral ecosystems, now, in the past, and into the future.
Activities at Sea• Cold-water coral, sponge, invertebrate and microbial sampling.
• Benthic time-series sampling by box core
• Sediment profile imaging of adjacent communities
• Examine temporal variation in O2 exchange using eddy correlation system
• Feeding experiments with Lophelia pertusa
• Carbonate flux measurements of water column using stand-alone pumps
• Acoustic survey, CTD profiles and moving-vessel profiler transects to collect 3D profile data of the water column
• Multibeam echosounder to characterise benthic habitats and small-scale habitat variability
• Gravity core samples from Lophelia reef and coral carbonate mound sites
We will conduct short-term ocean acidification experiments on corals (L. pertusa & Desmophyllum dianthus), sponges, sediment and other invertebrates. The synergistic effect of warming and food availability on corals will also be examined.
Responses measured include: • Respiration • Growth and calcification • Proteins expressed • Dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMS/P) emission • Microbial communities
Ship-board experiments
Ship-board experiments
Outreach ActivitiesThe Changing Oceans cruise will be featured on the new BBC Scotland ‘Hebrides’ series and the ‘One Show’, with a team of journalists visiting the ship at Mingulay. At the same time, schoolchildren from the isle of Benbecula will see the Mingulay coral reefs with their own eyes, and become ambassadors for their environment to children across Scotland, via Our Dynamic Earth (ODE) in Edinburgh.
UK institutions involved: Heriot-Watt University, University of Aberdeen, University of Glasgow, Plymouth Marine Lab., CEFAS, University of Hull, National Oceanography Centre (Southampton). International collaborators: University of Southern Denmark, USFWS, IFM Geomar, Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Irish Marine Institute.For further information, contact PI, Murray Roberts, [email protected], and see www.changingoceans2012.blogspot.com
