New Cold-Water Coral BookNew Cold-Water Coral Book Represents “Quantum-Leap Forward” in Global Understanding

A recently published book, Cold-Water Coral Reefs of the World, offers “the most comprehensive and wide-ranging investigation of cold-water corals to date.”

The book examines global hotspots for cold-water corals, looking at recent discoveries and charting a path for future research on the critical role that these corals play in ocean health and the global ecosystem. Chapters include research conducted on localised, geographic hotspots like ‘Life and Death of Cold-Water Corals Across the Mediterranean Sea’, ‘Cold-Water Coral Reefs in the Oxygen Minimum Zones off West Africa’, ‘Waters of Ireland and the UK’ and ‘Biology, Ecology, and Threats to Cold-Water Corals on Brazil’s Deep-Sea Margin’.

“The joys of working on a book like this is the opportunity to collaborate with academics from many different fields to bring this invisible world to light,” said Sebastian Hennige, a Senior Lecturer at the Univertsty of Edinburgh School of Geosciences, who led work on the chapter describing the waters of Ireland and the UK. “In addition to chapters focused on specific coral regions, the book takes a look historic and forward look at what we know and where we can focus future efforts.”

This new publication comes 150 years after the legendary HMS Challenger mission, on which the discovery of deep-sea and cold-water corals was first recorded. Based on decades of scientific enquiry, it represents a ‘quantum leap’ in understanding not only cold-water coral reef habitats, but the specific oceanic conditions – on the surface, in the water column and at the seabed – that support their growth and development. Focusing on nine hotspots around the world, the book highlights not just how widespread cold-water coral reefs are, but illustrates similarities and differences between ocean basins and hemispheres.
The book confronts the challenges facing cold-water coral reefs and examines anthropogenic impacts on these delicate ecosystems, seeking to understand the pressures and drivers of change that threaten a habitat we’re only just now beginning to fully appreciate.

“The results in this book show that people, from scientists to policymakers, are ready for a new era during which we will move from understanding the ecological importance of cold-water coral reefs and the threats they face, to actively restoring them,” writes Lophelia.org founder J Murray Roberts in the foreword to the book. “We simply cannot lose cold-water coral reefs as we begin to understand just how important they are.”

Cold-Water Coral Reefs of the World is published as part of a wider book series Coral Reefs of the World, which presents the status of knowledge of the world’s coral reefs authored by leading scientists.