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ARMS panels deployed at Fairweather Banks.
ARMS (Artificial Reef Monitoring Structure) panels deployed at Fairweather Banks, Alaska.
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Alaskan Deep Water Corals and Sponges - Recruitment, Reproduction and Larval Supply

Research project
Active research
Project period
2022 - 2025
Project owner
Department of Marine Sciences

Short description

Cold-water corals and sponges are found globally, at depths of just a few meters in temperate and polar ecosystems, to well beyond the photic zone and into the abyssal plains of every ocean. The Alaska region has some of the highest biodiversity and widespread distributions of deep-water corals and sponges in the Pacific region, yet despite their importance to benthic ecosystems ecological knowledge is poor for the majority of species.

The goals of this project is 1) to investigate recruitment processes in Primnoa pacifica, utilizing ARMS settlement plates; 2) to investigate fertilization and larval kinetics in Primnoa pacifica; and 3) to investigate a suite of other Alaskan deep sea corals and sponges for basic reproductive ecology.

Cold-water corals and sponges are found globally, at depths of just a few meters in temperate and polar ecosystems, to well beyond the photic zone and into the abyssal plains of every ocean. Many species are classed ecosystem engineers, their morphology creating varied habitats that attract a myriad of associated species. As such the diversity of life around these cold corals and sponges can rival many tropical ecosystems.

The general life history characteristics of deep corals and sponges (slow growth, late maturity, infrequent reproduction and recruitment) make them particularly susceptible to damage from anthropogenic impacts such as commercial bottom fishing. Understanding reproduction and recruitment processes is vital to understanding resilience and recovery from damage in these ecosystem engineers (and thus their associated fauna).

The Alaska region has some of the highest biodiversity and widespread distributions of deep-water corals and sponges in the Pacific region, yet despite their importance to benthic ecosystems ecological knowledge is poor for the majority of species.

Goals of the project

The goals of this project are three-fold; 1) to investigate recruitment processes in the dominant deep water coral species in the Alaska region, Primnoa pacifica, utilizing settlement plates that were dropped in two locations in 2013; 2) to investigate fertilization and larval kinetics in Primnoa pacifica collected from the populations around the settlement plates; and 3) to investigate a suite of other Alaskan deep sea corals and sponges for basic reproductive ecology, utilizing collections in museums and from the annual Alaska Fisheries Science Center bottom trawl groundfish surveys .

With all of our goals combined, we plan to produce a comprehensive overview of cold-water coral and sponge reproductive ecology within the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea region, providing information vital to the management and protection of these important benthic organisms.

Related publications

Shallow-emerged coral may warn of deep-sea coral response to thermal stress

Johnstone et al 2022 (pdf)

Phenotypic Plasticity or a Reproductive Dead End? Primnoa pacifica (Cnidaria: Alcyonacea) in the Southeastern Alaska Region

Waller_etal_2019 (pdf)

Sexual Reproduction and Seasonality of the Alaskan Red Tree Coral, Primnoa pacifica

Waller_etal_2014 (pdf)

Researchers in the project

Rhian G. Waller, senior lecturer at Department of Marine Sciences, Gothenburg University

Lara Beckmann, PhD student at Department of Marine Sciences, Gothenburg University

Gerald Hoff, Fishery Biologist at Alaska Fisheries Science Center, US