The Cumacea of the Antarctic deep-sea expeditions ANDEEP I to III

Applicant Dr. Ute Mühlenhardt-Siegel
Subject Area Atmospheric Science, Oceanography and Climate Research
Term from 2006 to 2009
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 26908789
 

Project Description

During the Antarctic expeditions ANDEEP I and II (January to April 2002) and ANDEEP III (January to April 2005) epibenthic sledge (EBS) samples were taken from different Antarctic deep-sea basins. In total 7026 specimens of Cumacea were sorted from the epibenthic sledge samples of the ANDEEP I to III expeditions, and from all samples of the ANT XV/3 expedition. The DIVA-1 project (Meteor Expedition Me 48/1 to the Angola Basin, July 2000) investigated the deep-sea basin off Angola and resulted in 41 new species of the order Cumacea. Only one species was already known (Mühlenhardt-Siegel 2003, 2005 a, b, c, d, e). It seems therefore reasonable to expect many new species from the deep-sea basins of the Southern Ocean. Cumacea were frequently found in the benthic community of the deep-sea basins; within the peracarid crustaceans they ranked third in abundance after Amphipoda and Isopoda. The Cumacea are an important subject for biogeographical studies, as well as for diversity, distribution, faunal overlap and colonisation of the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean and the adjacent deep-sea basins because they have a benthic life style and - as all peracarids - no free larvae, resulting in a limited active and passive distribution.
DFG Programme Infrastructure Priority Programmes
Subproject of SPP 1158:  Infrastructure area - Antarctic Research with Comparative Investigations in Arctic Sea Ice Areas
Host Professorin Dr. Angelika Brandt