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

沿着东北大西洋边缘的冷水珊瑚（CWC）在末次冰期-间冰期循环中显示出时间和空间结构，表明这些生态系统与气候（即环境）变化之间的密切耦合。非洲西北部的珊瑚在最后一次冰川期广泛分布，在这一寒冷时期结束时大部分消失。相比之下，在最近的间冰期，北方欧洲的珊瑚开始发展成为世界上最生动的CWC遗址。这一模式表明，气候引起的最佳珊瑚生长条件的地区向北移动，可能是由北大西洋地区在这段时间发生的剧烈环境变化引起的。然而，控制化学武器公约的繁荣和消亡的主要因素只有部分了解。此外，东北和西北大西洋珊瑚点之间的潜在联系迄今尚未得到考虑，这主要是由于缺乏来自西北大西洋珊瑚点的适当数据。因此，拟议的项目将以在用“玛丽亚”号考察船巡航期间从沿着西北大西洋边缘的《化学武器公约》场址收集的样本材料为基础。MERIAN将于2012年春季发布，并将与东北大西洋已经获得的现有数据相关联。总体目标是从跨大西洋的角度研究末次冰期-间冰期循环期间不断变化的环境条件下CWC生态系统的发展，并确定潜在的控制因素。

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.