| Abstract |
HERMES was designed to gain new insights into the biodiversity, structure, function and dynamics of ecosystems along Europe's deep ocean margin. It represented the first major attempt to investigate and understand deep-water ecosystems and their environment in an integrated way by bringing together expertise in biodiversity, geology, sedimentology, physical oceanography, microbiology and biogeochemistry. Europe's deep ocean margins cover an area of three million square kilometres and extend some 15000km, from the Arctic in the north to the Mediterranean in the south, and from the Atlantic in the west to the Black Sea in the east. HERMES could not study the whole margin, so key "biodiversity hotspots" were identified where the work could be concentrated. The hotspots included cold-water coral/carbonate mounds, cold seeps, canyons and anoxic environments where the geosphere and hydrosphere influence the biosphere through escape of fluids, presence of gas hydrates and deep-water currents. HERMES also investigated open slopes adjacent to these hotspots in order to compare them to the background, although these slope areas can also be disturbed by landslides or strongly affected by ocean currents.
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