Experimental Work

Characterising cold water coral metabolism

Unlike tropical coral species, very little is known about the baseline metabolism and biology of cold water coral species such as Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata. Until now, the acclimation of these species across environmental gradients has not been considered, but with JAGO’s ability to collect precise colonies from across the reef, scientists onboard the POSEIDON conducted comparative experiments on Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata from a variety of habitats. Experiments were designed to contrast and compare metabolism, carbon budgets and calcification rates of Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata from numerous locations.  

 

You can see examples of how the different environments such as exposed and sheltered areas on a reef look like on our video page.