2007, Oceanography 20(4):130–139, http://dx.doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2007.13

Unique Deep-Water Ecosystems Off the
Southeastern United States

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Author

Steve W. Ross | Center for Marine Science, University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW), North Carolina, USA, and is currently assigned (through the Intergovernmental Personnel Act) to the US Geological Survey, Saint Petersburg, FL, USA

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First Paragraph

If nothing else, research in deep-sea environments teaches us how little we know about such important and productive habitats. The relatively recent discovery of hydrothermal-vent and cold-seep ecosystems illustrates this paucity of knowledge, and the subsequent explosion of research on these systems is a good example of the impact such concentrated efforts can have on marine sciences (see the March 2007 special issue of Oceanography on InterRidge, and Levin et al., 2007). The recent surge of interest in deep-sea corals is another example of how focused research on a particular subject can result in new perspectives on continental slope biotopes. Although deep-sea corals have been known for over 200 years, they were viewed as somewhat of a novelty, and research on them was sporadic, typically geologic, and usually only documented their occurrences (e.g., Stetson et al., 1962; Neumann et al., 1977; Paull et al., 2000).

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Full Article

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Citation

Ross, S.W. 2007. Unique deep-water ecosystems off the southeastern United States. Oceanography 20(4):130–139, http://dx.doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2007.13.

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