New MAR-ECO special issue available

A special thematic issue of Marine Biology Research has just been published. The issue is edited by MAR-ECO research and steering committee member, Andrey Gebruk. It is entitled: “Benthic Fauna of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge: Results of the MAR-ECO Expedition”. The issue is available on-line.

The special issue contains a series of papers on benthic fauna and includes original new data and observations, including quite a few descriptions of new species. These results compliment the monograph entitled Biogeography of the mid-Atlantic Ridge, which was published, thanks to MAR-ECO support, last year.

The papers in both the monograph and special issue are primarily written by Russian authors. Andrey Gebruk and his group at the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology in Moscow, and colleagues around Russia have made a tremendous effort to analyse sample material. They have worked closely with Endre Willassen and Jon Kongsrud at the Bergen Museum. MAR-ECO has been able to help find support for numerous exchange visits for staff and students, through the Norwegian Foreign Office and the Nordic Council.

More publications from this group are anticipated in the future as Gebruk’s associates and students are now working on material in the UK and Denmark from last summer’s ECOMAR to the mid-Atlantic Ridge.

Andrey Gebruk summer 2004