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Aquanauts Karl Castillo, Rich Camilli and Patrick Gibson setting up in-situ instrumentation to investigate metabolic pathways in marine sponges
(Image courtesy of: Niels Lindquist)
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Aquarius saturation mission 2008
Role of sponges in Nitrogen cycling and total respiration in coral–reef ecosystems
Our 2008 studies will combine the expertise and talents of marine
ecologists and chemists and physical oceanographers to examine nutrient
element and chemical cycling for a greater number of coral reef sponges
that differ in basic biological characteristics, such as the presence
or absence of large, internally hosted populations of diverse
microorganism that greatly expand the breadth of potential chemical
transformations occurring within sponges. Using the exceptionally long
underwater excursion times provided by the Aquarius Reef Base
Observatory, we will deploy newly developed underwater systems for (i)
continuously monitoring sponge pumping rates and changes in the
concentrations of ecologically important chemicals in the seawater they
filter, and (ii) tracking chemicals expelled by sponges as the
chemicals mix and travel toward neighboring organisms. Field assays
will also be conducted to examine how chemicals in seawater exhaled by
sponges affect the growth, health and survival of neighboring corals
and seaweeds. Because sponges are a major component of benthic
communities in diverse tropical, temperate and polar marine habitats, a
quantitative understanding of important chemical processes occurring
within sponges and chemical fluxes between sponges and their
surrounding communities are crucial for defining their roles in
regulating the quality of critical marine habitats, such as coral reefs.
NOAA Aquarius saturation mission
Oceanus interview
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