CORAMM Programme

The CORAMM project consists of four work packages, to be carried out by representatives of the various member organisations. There is a degree of overlap between several of the packages and work will be carried out across the range of workpages simultaneously.

For a detailed breakdown of the proposed timescale of the CORAMM project, please click here.

WORK PACKAGE 1

Work package 1 will concentrate on the development of new video image analysis techniques to better evaluate the health and structure of coral community structures. Raw images for this work package will be collected by ROV by scientists from the TMBL, using new raw image and analysis techniques being developed by AWI and Jacobs University Bremen.

Sponge growing over Lophelia pertusa.Photo: T. Lundalv, Tjarno Marine Biological Laboratory

 

WORK PACKAGE 2

Work package 2 focus on the in situ investigation of particle dynamics and physical characteristics within the Tisler Reef region. Within the Jacobs University laboratory in Germany the behaviour of 'Drill cuttings' typical to the Norwegian Shelf area will be tested in a flume tank to determine their hydrodynamic behaviour. By combining the in situ flow measurements with the experimental flume work data the behaviour of released 'drill cuttings' in an area like the Tisler Reef will be gauged. Flume tank experimental work will also be conducted to determine the behaviour of disturbed sediments from the Tisler Reef region, with these results allowing predictions to be made as to the regions of the reef most at risk from increased sediment flux from nearby bottom trawling.

 

Lophelia pertusa in sedimentation experiments. Photo: T. Lundalv, Tjarno Marine Biological Laboratory

 

WORK PACKAGE 3

The focus of work package 3 is to determine the degree to which cold water corals are susceptible to microbial attack. Research on tropical corals has found that the bacterial composition of sediments deposited on coral can play a major part in reducing the productivity of the coral. Scientists from the Max Planck Laboratory for Marine Microbiology (MPI MM) will carry out investigations to determine whether the bacterial composition of sediment has a role in cold water coral health. Analysis will be carried out using new microsensor techniques developed at MPI MM.

Bacterial attack of tropical coral following sedimentation. Photo: Dr Katharina Fabricius - Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)

WORK PACKAGE 4

Work package 4 will fit the findings of work packages 1 - 3 into environmental models. Currently used models will be modified to fit the cold water coral ecosystems and integrated into the environmental risk assessment (ERA) strategies currently used by the offshore industry. Particular focus will be made of the bioaccumulation of material within various levels of the food web and also on the impacts of sedimentation on key cold water coral species, such as Lophelia pertusa.