image credit: Nico Augustin / GEOMAR
Cruise title: JellyWeb Madeira
Lead PIs: Dr. Jan Dierking and Dr. Henk-Jan Hoving
Partners: Dr. João Canning-Clode. ARDITI – the Regional Agency for the Development of Research Technology and Innovation. Madeira, Portugal.
Dr. Jamileh Javidpour, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
Location: Macaronesia, North Atlantic
Dates: 09 February 2024
About: The deep sea represents one of the least explored ecosystems on earth. It harbours high biodiversity, much of which remains to be discovered, and provides extensive ecosystem services. Yet at the same time, it is threatened by climate change and increasing anthropogenic pressure. Improving the understanding of deep sea biodiversity and food web structure are thus essential, to provide baselines against which to measure impending changes. A particular knowledge gap concerns the biodiversity and functional role of gelatinous macrozooplankton in pelagic oceanic
food webs. Our proposed work aims to address the current knowledge gaps via biodiversity exploration and dedicated food web sampling of oceanic pelagic ecosystems, for in-depth food web tracer analyses. We will use the full power of established and novel in-situ observation and sampling technology, with particular attention to gelatinous macrozooplankton and focusing on Madeira as least explored of the Macaronesian Islands. In addition we will perform high resolution habitat mapping using optical imaging transects and multibeam mapping of the islands slopes.