Research in the Seascape Ecology lab typically involves multidisciplinary, collaborative efforts led by Dr. Rosanna Milligan.
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Research in the Seascape Ecology lab focuses on
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Identifying spatial and temporal distribution patterns of mobile deep-sea animals and their underlying drivers;
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Understanding how the migration and dispersal of deep-sea animals creates connections between ecosystems;
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Understanding how deep-sea ecosystems are impacted by anthropogenic activities, and how we might be able to predict and manage the effects of future change.
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To achieve these goals, we make use of world-class datasets and cutting-edge data analysis and statistical tools.
Connectivity across Ecosystem Boundaries
Mobile organisms create important connections within and between ecosystems. In pelagic ecosystems, many deep-living organisms conduct diel vertical migrations between deep waters and their epipelagic feeding grounds, and thus play important roles in carbon export from the atmosphere to the ocean interior. Many midwater species are now known to be vital prey for species of economic and conservation importance, including highly migratory pelagic fishes and oceanic marine mammals, as well as demersal fishes living near the seafloor. At the seabed, long-lived predatory and scavenging fishes redistribute energy from prey and/or carrion falls and, in doing, help increase ecosystem stability. The animals that regularly cross these 'traditional' ecosystem boundaries are therefore likely to be extremely important in regulating energy flow through marine ecosystems, but they are not well studied. Understanding how animal movements connect distant ecosystems and influence their functioning across varying spatial and temporal scales is an important ecological question that we are working to answer through our research under the DEEPEND | RESTORE and Deep-Sea Benefits programs.
Ecological Indicators of Change in the Deep Sea
The vast size and highly dynamic nature of the deep oceans make them difficult to study, and yet the resources they hold are being increasingly targeted as human activities move progressively away from coastal and shelf ecosystems. Understanding the risks associated with such activities, creating predictive tools and identifying indicators of change are therefore important for the sustainable management of our oceans. Through our research with the DEEPEND|RESTORE consortium, we are working to characterize the deep-pelagic fish assemblage in the Gulf of Mexico, their biodiversity, distribution patterns, and dynamics in relation to key abiotic variables, and use those data to identify indicators and predictors of faunal change at appropriate scales for offshore management.
Temporal Dynamics of Mobile Deep-Sea Animals
The DEEPEND and DEEPEND|RESTORE research programs have generated over 15 years of data on the micronektonic fauna of the offshore Gulf of Mexico, and we're still going! These time-series data provide an unprecedented view of the temporal variability of the deep-living oceanic fauna, their biodiversity, and their potential vulnerability to natural and human impacts. New research avenues under the Deep-Sea Benefits program are currently being developed to understand shorter-term temporal cycles in the deep-living fauna.
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Through the Deep-ocean Environmental Long-Term Observatory System (DELOS) project, we studied temporal changes in the abundances of deep-sea fishes on the continental slope off Angola, West Africa. Working on long-term photographic data collected from an active oil field at a depth of 1500 m since 2009, we are working to understand how seasonal patterns in abundance might be linked to overlying sea surface productivity within the region, and to understand the drivers that might cause such recurrent behaviors within the assemblage.
Distribution Patterns of Deep-Sea Fishes
Much of our current research focuses on understanding the drivers that influence spatial distributions of deep-sea fishes over time, in relation to distinct habitat features in the water column or at the seafloor (e.g. cold-water corals, abyssal hills, mesoscale eddies). Using the Gulf of Mexico as a case study, we are currently working to determine the relative importance of environmental conditions, life-history traits, and dispersal (by ocean currents or active movement) in structuring the assemblages and populations of deep-living fishes in the offshore space. By better understanding the distributions, behavior, and natural variability of these assemblages across different temporal and spatial scales, we hope to develop tools that will enable us to predict the impacts of future human or natural impacts and the spatiotemporal scales at which they are most relevant within the pelagic realm.
