CE16006 Submarine Canyon Ecosystem Services Survey

This survey, led by National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG), took place in May/June 2016 on board the Marine Institute's R.V. Celtic Explorer in the North East Atlantic Ocean. The survey was Submarine Canyon Ecosystem Services Survey using the remotely operated vehicle ROV Holland 1. 21 dives in total. were carried out . CTDs (conductivity-temperature-depth) sampling was also conducted. (i) ascertain potential geological controls on the morphology of the canyons and the biodiversity by sampling and analysing lithified substrates. (ii) reconstruct past surface-water properties (temperature, salinity) and sedimentological history from long (gravity corer) and short (ROV-deployed minicores) sediment cores. (iii) quantify the magnitude, quality and variability of organic matter fluxes in different canyon branches through pumped and ROV-housed water sampling systems and hydrographic measurements. (iv) determine the source (weather vs. anthropogenic trawling) of increased and extensive suspended sediment load in different canyon branches by analysing down-core sediment composition of ROV- and gravity cores. (v) explore the flux of microplastics through the system, since the deep sea has recently been shown to be a major sink for microplastic debris (Woodall et al. 2014). We will record microplastic presence in cores taken from the thalweg and upper slopes, to determine whether the unique hydrographic processes in submarine canyons act to conduct microplastics to the deep. (vi) better understand the community ecology of benthic megafauna in submarine canyon ecoystems, by collecting biological samples for identification purposes and subsequent molecular work (phylogeography and molecular ecology), collecting and deploying experiments in collaboration with other researchers, and by analysing ROV video transects. (vii) exploit the opportunity to obtain targeted samples for the Beaufort Marine Biodiscovery Programme from an area which is highly vulnerable to sampling with any other gear. (viii) synthesise the data from components (i) to (vi) above to provide an integrated view of ecosystem functioning within submarine canyons and the contstraints placed upon them by geological, recent and evolutionary history, to determine their importance in the wider ecosystem, the services that they provide, and the potential impacts future anthropogenic effects might have on these ecosystem services.