Benthic

USGS scientists are collaborating with multiple agencies to provide the esssential foundation for understanding these deep-sea environments.

DISCOVRE (DIversity, Systematics and COnnectivity of Vulnerable Reef Ecosystems) is an integrated, multidisciplinary, international effort investigating the unique and fragile deep-sea coral environments from the microscopic level to the ecosystem level.

Turbid water conditions make the delineation and characterization of benthic habitats difficult by traditional in situ and remote sensing methods. Consequently, only a small fraction of this valuable resource has been mapped or characterized.

Deep-sea canyons are complex environments encompassing a range of benthic habitats, including soft sediments along the axis of the canyon, and hard substrates along the canyon walls.

A severe disease - tentatively named stony coral tissue loss disease - is rapidly killing corals in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Puerto Rico, and the National Park Service are working together to better under the disease and determine if the disease affecting corals in the USVI is the same one that has been killing corals in Florida since...

Hydrologic restoration is one of several approaches to rehabilitate mangroves on a large-scale. USGS evaluates how solely restoring tidal hydrologic flows affect the recovery of mangroves in Florida.

Seamounts may be biodiversity hotspots, oases, islands, and centers for endemism in the deep sea. USGS and partners explore these possibilities within the Greater and Lesser Antilles Transition Zone.

A series of ROV cruises was proposed to survey selected reefs for fish and soft coral diversity.

Florida's springs are a source of cultural, recreational, and ecological importance. But land-use changes and increased demands for groundwater due to the state's growing population have led to widespread impairment of these unique ecosystems.