Abstract
Compared to shallow-water reefs, cold-water coral reefs and communities have received political and management attention only recently. These cold-water reefs are biodiversity and biomass hot spots in the deep ocean, and should also be regarded as a natural heritage of the past, due to their long lifetimes, that need safeguarding. Oil companies are expanding their search into new remote areas and this exploration releases large volumes of drilling mud (DM) into the sea that may affect these ecosystems. Little is known about deep communities sensitivity to DM and so research is desperately needed. Also, oil operators and policy makers should have at hand the means to document and predict how DM may affect these critical habitats. The general objectives are to generate specific diagnostic tools to document impairments of health with the main emphasis on Lophelia pertusa coral and to enhance our ability to predict impacts using a biological model. In WP1, we will generate new diagnostic methods based on protein signatures and coral-associated microbial fauna (mucus), and gene expression (polyps). A link between early diagnosis and actual effect parameters will allow assessing the ecological meaning and consequence of exposing L. pertusa to drill cuttings. This will be assessed by growth, oxygen consumption, structural changes, survival and reproductive traits (WP2). A Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) model existing for corals will be extended with a DM module in WP3 to infer which coral traits are affected by DM and use that to support decision-making and coral management (WP3). Finally, some of the methodological tools used for corals will be adapted to sponges (Geodia baretti) (WP4) revealing important information of these communities. This project will provide new insights and provide guidelines that can be used by policy makers, contribute to important societal debates and decisions like those related to the oil search in the Lofoten-Vestrålen area of Norway.
Norway