PI's:
US Scientists: |
NZ Scientists: |
Amy Baco-Taylor, WHOI |
Ashley Rowden, NIWA |
Craig Smith, University of Hawaii |
Bruce Marshall, Nat'l. Mus. of NZ |
Timothy Shank, WHOI |
Phil Barnes, NIWA |
Lisa Levin, Scripps Inst. of Oceanography |
Ian Wright, NIWA |
Keith Probert, University of Otago |
Peter Smith, NIWA |
Project Summary
Unexplored regions of the world offer unique opportunities to provide leaps in our scientific understanding of deep-sea communities. New Zealand has been identified as one such high priority region for advancing our global understanding of chemosynthetic ecosystems (hydrothermal vents, cold seeps, whale falls and sunken wood). To explore these regions, large-scale collaborative, multinational and interdisciplinary efforts are required. While some species overlap has been found between whale fall/wood habitats and vent/seep habitats, sampling artifacts exist because whale falls and sunken wood have not been adequately studied in close proximity to vents or seeps. To gain an understanding of how the biota of these four types of chemosynthetic habitats interact, and to evaluate the extent to which they share fauna and evolutionary histories, a comparative study of communities in these habitats must be undertaken in a region where all four habitat are known. New Zealand (NZ) is one such region. We plan to explore the faunas of known (but unsampled) vent and seep sites north and east of NZ and of naturally and experimentally implanted sunken wood and whale falls in the Kaikoura Canyon (eastern NZ) to address three main goals:
- To explore for new deep-sea chemosynthetic habitat sites, including whale falls, sunken wood, hydrothermal vents and cold seeps.
- To explore how community composition and diversity levels change across depth gradients in each of the four habitat types.
- To reveal the physiographic, geologic and chemical setting of hydrothermal vents, cold seep sites, whale fall and wood habitats and the relationship of these habitat parameters to community structure.
Phase one of this program has been funded. A 21 day cruise aboard the RV Tangaroa in November 2006 has involved mapping, seabed photography, trawling and multicoring to explore methane seeps and search for whale bones off New Zealand. Sampling has documented seep and non-seep continental margin fauna at bathyal depths. Photos and videos of the voyage in the Public Area.
Location of studied area along the New-Zealand margin (click to enlarge)
