ATTRIBUTIONS MADE FOR: The Deepwater Program: Northern Gulf of Mexico Continental Slope Habitat and Benthic Ecology - DgoMB: Macrofauna

A research program has been initiated by the Minerals Management Service (Contract No. 1435-01-99-CT-30991) to gain better knowledge of the benthic communities of the deep Gulf of Mexico entitled “The Deepwater Program: Northern Gulf of Mexico Continental Slope Habitat and Benthic Ecology.”
Increasing exploration and exploitation of fossil hydrocarbon resources in the deep-sea prompted the Minerals Management Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior to support an investigation of the structure and function of the assemblages of organisms that live in association with the sea floor in the deep-sea. The program, Deep Gulf of Mexico Benthos or DGoMB, is studying the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) continental slope from water depths of 300 meters on the upper continental slope out to greater than 3,000 meters water depth seaward of the base of the Sigsbee and Florida Escarpments. The study is focused on areas that are the most likely targets of future resource exploration and exploitation. However, to develop a Gulf-wide perspective of deep-sea communities, sampling in areas beyond those thought to be potential areas for exploration has been included in the study design. A major enhancement in the program is the extension of the transects onto the abyssal plain of the central Gulf of Mexico through collaborative studies with Mexican scientists. This additional work effort will allow assessment of benthic communities structure and function throughout the basin by sampling the deepest habitats in the region.
The program is designed to gain a better ability to predict variations in the structure and function of animal assemblages in relation to water depth, geographic location, time and overlying water mass. Biological studies are integrated with measurements of physical and chemical hydrographic parameters, sediment geochemical properties and geological characteristics that are known to influence benthic community distributions and dynamics. Eight (8) hypotheses are being tested on the basis of measures of benthic community structure. It is hypothesized that community structure varies as a function of: 1) water depth, 2) geographic location (east vs. west), 3) association with canyons, 4) association with mid-slope basins, 5) sea surface primary productivity, 6) proximity to hydrocarbon seeps, 7) time (seasonal and interannual scales), and 8) association with the base of escarpments.

美国内政部矿产资源管理局（合同编号：1435-01-99-CT-30991）启动了一项研究计划，旨在深化对墨西哥湾深海海底生物群落的认识，该计划命名为“深海项目：墨西哥湾北部大陆坡栖息地与底栖生态学。”随着深海化石烃资源的不断勘探和开发，美国内政部矿产资源管理局支持了对深海海底生物群落结构及功能的调查研究。该项目，即墨西哥湾深海底栖生物研究（Deep Gulf of Mexico Benthos 或 DGoMB），旨在研究墨西哥湾北部大陆坡从上部大陆坡的300米水深至西格比和佛罗里达断崖基座以外的超过3000米水深的海域。研究聚焦于未来资源勘探和开发最有可能成为目标区域。然而，为了构建对深海群落的全海域视角，研究设计中纳入了对潜在勘探区域以外的区域的采样。该项目的一项重大进展是通过与墨西哥科学家的合作研究，将横断面扩展至墨西哥湾中部深海平原。这一额外的努力将允许通过对该区域最深栖息地的采样，对整个盆地中底栖生物群落的结构和功能进行评估。该项目旨在提高预测动物群落结构及其与水深、地理位置、时间及上层水体变化之间关系的能力。生物学研究与物理和化学水文参数的测量、沉积物地球化学性质和地质特征相结合，这些特征被认为是影响底栖生物群落分布和动态的因素。基于底栖生物群落结构测量的结果，正在测试八个（8）假设。假设群落结构随以下因素变化：1）水深，2）地理位置（东与西），3）与峡谷的关联，4）与中坡盆地的关联，5）海面初级生产力，6）与烃泄漏的邻近性，7）时间（季节和年代际尺度），以及8）与断崖基座的关联。