13, 2000, Gazette)
University and Texas A & M University are collaborating on
what researchers are calling a milestone in deep ocean biological
oceanography. The four-year study of deep benthic ecology of
the Gulf of Mexico is one of the biggest deep sea research projects
of its kind ever launched.
will provide a framework to determine the ecological effects
current and future oil and gas exploration could have on the
deep continental slope at depths of 300 to 3,000 metres. It will
cost $ 4.2 million US.
Haedrich, Biology, is Memorials leading researcher on the
MUN was responsible for deep ocean collecting with large nets
and classical faunal analyses of biodiversity, distribution,
and community structure on existing data sets.
sets primarily involved a retrospective monitoring of polychaete
worms collected years earlier. Dr. Haedrich said the worms are
important because they are the most abundant animals living in
the sediments and would be greatly affected by disturbances caused
by the exploration for fossil fuel reserves.
The oil industry wants to know what happens to bottom dwellers,
said Dr. Haedrich, how such disturbances might impact on
the fishery, and whether they could possibly affect the food
chain for commercial fish.
analyzed a lot of those data and put them in a particular perspective
and produced a lot of graphs and maps ... so weve been
mapping things like diversity and abundance and a lot of community
parameters to help the research team plan its cruises.
results were so well-received, Memorial has been asked to do
further analyses on larger groups, including small and large
crustaceans, fish, star fish and others.
Management Services of the U.S solicited the project which may
expand its scope beyond the potential oil and gas exploration
fields in order to gain a clear understanding of the structure
and function of the deep-sea communities in the Gulf environment.
pointed out that this study is particularly necessary.
The ecology of that portion of the deep sea is quite different
from the conditions where most marine oil fields are now. It
is a more tropical region than the North Sea and other sorts
researchers will receive approximately $150,000 through the project
and will assist on three research cruises in the Gulf of Mexico.