Exploring the Biodiversity of Remote Pacific Ocean Deep-Sea Coral Communities With eDNA

May 2022 - May 2024

Expedition Overview

From May 2022 through May 2024, a team of researchers will apply the emerging technology, environmental DNA or eDNA, to explore and characterize deep-sea coral communities in the remote tropical Pacific Ocean.

Deep-sea corals are an important component of community biodiversity in the deep ocean worldwide. However, due to the difficulty of accessing these environments, many of them remain uncharacterized. Currently, there is limited understanding of the taxonomy and overall diversity and connectivity of deep-sea coral communities across the remote tropical Pacific region.

The Exploring the Biodiversity of Remote Pacific Ocean Deep-Sea Coral Communities With eDNA project team is using existing eDNA and deep-sea coral samples collected on prior expeditions from around Pacific remote islands and seamounts to explore and characterize the biodiversity and locations of deep-sea coral communities.

The results from this project will provide an important source of baseline data, which will guide future exploration in the remote tropical Pacific, provide a basis for monitoring of deep-sea coral communities, and provide data for national marine sanctuary and marine national monument management.

The Ocean Exploration Trust's remotely operated vehicle Hercules collects an eDNA sample over a coral garden in the Howland Baker Unit of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.
The Ocean Exploration Trust's remotely operated vehicle Hercules collects an eDNA sample over a coral garden in the Howland Baker Unit of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. Image courtesy of Ocean Exploration Trust, Inc. Download largest version (jpg, 1.3 MB).
Steve Auscavitch at the bench transferring freshly extracted deep-sea coral DNA from species collected in Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument during genome skimming library preparation in February 2023.
Steve Auscavitch at the bench transferring freshly extracted deep-sea coral DNA from species collected in Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument during genome skimming library preparation in February 2023. Image courtesy of Meredith Everett. Download largest version (jpg, 5.54 MB).

Related Links

Partners

Education Themes

Education theme pages provide the best of what the NOAA Ocean Exploration website has to offer to support your classroom during this expedition. On each theme page, you will find links to expedition features, lessons, multimedia, career information, and associated past expeditions.
Deep-Sea Corals
Deep-Sea Corals
Deep-Sea Corals

Media Contacts

Emily Crum

Communication Specialist
NOAA Ocean Exploration
ocean-explore-comms@noaa.gov


Michael Milstein

Public Affairs Officer
NOAA Fisheries West Coast Regional Office
michael.milstein@noaa.gov

Funding for this expedition was provided by NOAA Ocean Exploration via its Ocean Exploration Fiscal Year 2022 Funding Opportunity.