Development of a novel approach to understand the environmental drivers and trophic responses of deep water (mesophotic) coral ecosystems across the Ryukyu Archipelago

• Project/Area Number: 15K12183
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Environmental dynamic analysis
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: WYATT Alexander 東京大学, 大気海洋研究所, 研究員 (70748920)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 宮島 利宏 東京大学, 大気海洋研究所, 助教 (20311631)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Project Status: Discontinued (Fiscal Year 2015)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,770,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥870,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000)
• Keywords: 物質循環 / 中深度サンゴ礁

Outline of Annual Research Achievements

This grant generally exceeded planned research achievements during the 4 months before it was rescinded. This included:
- preliminary design and procurement of equipment for an autonomous in-situ flume and technical diving capability necessary to begin advanced study of mesophotic coral ecoystems (MCE).
- field survey of MCE in Funauki Bay, Iriomote to install equipment to monitor long-term baseline environmental variation in target study sites (June 2015). This data has since allowed us to document strong temperature oscillations in these habitats, thought to be driven by internal wave dynamics.
- reconnaissance survey of MCE around Monad Shoal, the Philippines including video surveys and testing and development of advanced technical diving techniques for MCE surveys.
The above achievements are forming the basis for ongoing work on MCE using these challenging techniques, including a new international collaboration.

Research Products

• [Presentation] Ecological and Biogeochemical Impacts of Internal Waves on Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems: Testing Eddy Correlation and Isotope Approaches, Iriomote, Japan (2016)
  • Author(s): Alex S.J. Wyatt, Toshihiro Miyajima, James J. Leichter, Tohru Naruse, Tomohiro Kuwae, Toshi Nagata
  • Organizer: 2016 Ocean Sciences Meeting
  • Place of Presentation: Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, located at 900 Convention Center Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70130
  • Year and Date: 2016-02-21