Cold-Water Corals in a Changing Ocean

Although usually associated with shallow tropical seas, there are many species of coral in the deep ocean. These ‘cold-water corals’ form diverse seabed habitats from spectacular coral gardens growing on extinct volcanic seamounts to deep-sea coral reefs and giant coral carbonate mounds. Over the last 25 years cold-water coral research has grown exponentially showing them to be amongst the most diverse and dynamic marine ecosystems in the deep sea. It is also now clear that cold-water corals are sentinels of change in the deep ocean. The pressures of rapidly changing ocean conditions and destructive human activities imperil cold-water corals and have driven efforts at national, regional and international levels to promote sustainable use of the deep seabed. This talk will explore how cold-water coral research and deep-sea conservation policy has evolved over the last quarter century and speculate on what will drive research priorities through to the 2050s.