Ecosystem engineering creates a direct nutritional link between 600-m deep cold-water coral mounds and surface productivity

• Published in: Scientific Reports
• Main Authors: Soetaert, Karline, Mohn, Christian, Rengstorf, Anna, Grehan, Anthony, van Oevelen, Dick
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Springer Nature 2016
• Subjects: lophelia-pertusa scleractinia; european continental-margin; food-supply mechanisms; organic-carbon flux; ne atlantic; ocean acidification; northeast atlantic; rockall trough; tidal flow; model; Rockall Trough; Lophelia pertusa; Northeast Atlantic; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10379/13974; https://doi.org/10.1038/srep35057

Cold-water corals (CWCs) form large mounds on the seafloor that are hotspots of biodiversity in the deep sea, but it remains enigmatic how CWCs can thrive in this food-limited environment. Here, we infer from model simulations that the interaction between tidal currents and CWC-formed mounds induces...