Deep-Water Coral Garden Ecosystems
A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine Diversity".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 789
Special Issue Editors
Interests: benthic ecology including, biodiversity, habitat mapping, human impact, and management
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to announce a forthcoming Special Issue of Diversity focused on deep-water coral garden ecosystems. These are rich, colorful, and threatened ecosystems that are out of sight for most people in the world. Because deep-sea coral gardens are less accessible for studies compared to their shallow counterpart, there is still much to learn about their distribution, ecology, and vulnerability. At the same time, climate change and bottom trawling are representing an increased threat to coral gardens.
Corals gardens are formed by a wide range of corals, e.g., gorgonians, sea pens, bamboo corals, and black corals, and are the home to many other species. Some of the associated species are highly adapted to a life on or between corals, while others use them as an opportunity to secure a good position for feeding or protection from predators.
Their morphology shows a variety of adaptations to a life in the benthic boundary layer, the zone between the water column and the seafloor, with very different colony shapes and sizes, and polyp size and arrangements.
We are still only in the beginning of understanding how they feed, reproduce, and protect themselves in this narrow zone just above the seafloor. Much more research is needed on these vulnerable ecosystems, such as their establishment and spread processes, population dynamics, potential impacts (positive and negative) on their recipient habitats and communities, or their ecological functions.
This Special Issue is an exciting opportunity to combine and synthesize recent research on deep-water coral ecosystems. We, together with Diversity’s team, kindly invite you to submit a manuscript focused on any of the above topics. Although specific case studies with broad implications are welcome, we encourage authors to submit large-scale and/or multi-specific studies, and synthesis works and reviews that could better enlarge our knowledge on the ecology and conservation of deep-sea coral ecosystems.
Prof. Dr. Lene Buhl-Mortensen
Dr. Michela Angiolillo
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diversity is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- distribution
- habitat requirement
- adaptations
- ecosystem service
- diversity
- associated fauna
- treats
- dispersal and reproduction
