Research

Three main tasks

• Mapping of species composition and distribution patterns
  
• Identification of trophic interrelationships and modelling of food-web patterns
  
• Analyses of life history strategies

Key issues

• Are the MAR communities extensions of the communities inhabiting the North Atlantic continental slope regions?
  
• Is there a difference in species occurrence either side of the MAR?
  
• Do circulation features, such as the North Atlantic Drift (extension of the Gulf Stream), act as barriers between the northern and southern fauna?
  
• In the region of the North Atlantic Drift, what is the effect of eastward drift and import of material from the west?
  
• What is the significance of individual seamounts within the ridge system?
  
• Is the trophic structure of the northern mid-Atlantic ecosystem similar to that on the slope regions of the eastern and western sides of the Atlantic?
  
• What is the life history strategy of key species, and how vulnerable are they to habitat disturbance and exploitation?