In the depths of the water, west of Greenland, scientists have discovered a previously unknown coral garden. They described the ecosystem in a new study Ppublished in Frontiers in Marine Sciences orn monday
The garden is 1,600 feet below sea level, where the pressure it is 50 times greater than on the surface. The researchers found it using a low-tech platform called a “benthic sled,” consisting of a GoPro camera, lights, and laser pointers, which they placed in special pressure-proof cases, mounted on a steel frame and hung from their research. vessel.
The team lowered the configuration 1,500 feet into the water and recorded video in 18 years locations. When they looked at the images again, they found a large garden full of cake soft corals, sponges, starfish, anemones, rockfish, shrimp, and snails. At approximately 190 square miles in size, the ecosystem is approximately the size of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The seabed is very dark place, hence the need for lights on the research platform. the photosynthetic algae that give corals in shallow water their bright colors can’t survive here. But deepmarine corals can, and so do many other organisms that rely on them for shelter. In approximately 1,200 still images taken from Footage, the team identified more than 44,000 individual organisms.
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The researchers platform It costs only $ 5,000, which is a bargain at a fraction of the cost of other deep sea sleds. “A deep sea commercially available [remote operated vehicle] would cost at least six figures, and many models would go into seven figures, “Stephen Long, Principal Scientist and a doctoral researcher at the University College of London and the Zoological Society London, he told Earther. “This is a huge barrier to research … it means that there are basically only a small group of researchers and institutions that can undertake this type of research, which is a shame.”
The deep sea is one of the least understood environments on the planet, only one-fifth The seabed is mapped, and the prohibitive costs of exploration are one of the main reasons. Therefore, the researchers hope their DIY system will make deepwater research more accessible to scientists around the world.
Although seafloor habitats are not well understood, are crucial to Greenland’s economy. The country’s fisheries constitute More than 90% of exports and are a crucial source of both jobs and food.
meIn the future, the biodiverse habitat could be at risk due to background trawling (a fishing method that involves dragging nets across the seabed) and deep water mining.
“Deep sea species are generally characterized by traits that include slow growth, late maturity, and longevity, which can lead to populations, communities, and habitats vulnerable to exploitation and disturbance, “Long said.” These characteristics mean that physical disturbances, such as bottom trawling, can have significant impacts on deepwater habitats and recovery can take a long time, on the order of decades or even centuries. “
So the authors ask that the garden they discovered be protected as Vulnerable marine ecosystem under the guidelines of the United Nations. They are also working with Greenland government officials and the local fishing industry, who have been receptive to putting garden guards in place. This “fragile, complex and beautiful habitat,” Long said, must be protected.
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