Climate-driven long-term development of North Atlantic cold-water coral ecosystems - growth and migration patterns on a trans-Atlantic perspective

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Cold‐water corals (CWCs) along the NE Atlantic margin show a temporally and spatially structured occurrence over the last glacial‐interglacial cycle that indicates a close coupling between these ecosystems and climate (i.e. environmental) change. Off NW Africa corals have been widespread during the last glacial and largely demised at the end of this cold period. In contrast, corals off northern Europe started to develop to the most vivid CWC sites worldwide during the recent interglacial. This pattern points to a climate induced northward shift of areas with optimum coral growth conditions with the onset of the Holocene likely caused by dramatic environmental changes that occurred during this time in the North Atlantic realm. However, the main factors controlling the prosperity and demise of CWCs are only partly understood. Moreover, a potential connectivity between the NE and NW Atlantic coral occurrences has not been considered so far, which is mainly attributed to a lack of appropriate data from NW Atlantic coral sites. Therefore, the proposed project will be based on sample material to be collected from CWC sites along the NW Atlantic margin during a cruise with RV MARIA S. MERIAN in spring 2012 and will be correlated with existing data already obtained for the NE Atlantic. The overall aim is to study the development of CWC ecosystems under changing environmental conditions during the last glacial‐interglacial cycle on a trans‐Atlantic perspective and to identify the underlying controlling factors.