[Coral-List] Deepwater Coral Session, Ocean Sciences 2004

[Gregory.Boland at mms.gov]

Dear coral-list subscribers

 

We invite you to the 12th Ocean Sciences Meeting to be held for the first
time in Portland, Oregon, 26-30 January 2004, and specifically for the
submission of papers to Session OS 36, Deepwater Corals.  

 

Details can be found at the Official Web Site
http://www.agu.org/meetings/os04/ <http://www.agu.org/meetings/os04/>
where you can submit an abstract electronically and get updates on the
symposium.

 

This session is open to any presentations on studies or observation of
deepwater corals, including stony corals such as Lophelia pertusa
(Scleractinia), black corals (Antipatharia), soft corals (Alcyonacea), etc.,
from any location. There is interest in understanding the life history and
biology of these species, especially in the context of protecting them from
human activities such as commercial exploitation, commercial fishing, and
oil and gas development. The biotic and abiotic factors affecting
reproduction, dispersal, and growth of deep-sea corals are additional areas
of interest. This session also includes any studies of impacts to deep-sea
corals as well as any regulatory aspect of protecting them. Other areas of
interest for this session include mapping the distribution of deep-sea
corals, taxonomic and genetic studies, and the ecology of organisms
associated with habitats created by deep-sea corals.

 

Please note that: (1) abstracts are to be submitted by 16 October.  That is
not far away, but this submission is for abstracts only.

 

As always, Ocean Sciences will be a very significant international
conference and we hope this session will be well populated with new research
in this quickly developing field.

 

Greg Boland

Minerals Management Service