Environmental influences on deep-sea coral reef reproduction across the northern hemisphere

Deep-sea coral reefs rely on relatively low organic matter input that is often characterized by large fluctuations in quantity and quality. Understanding how reef-forming deep-sea corals allocate this limited energy to reproduction is crucial, especially as climate change impacts both food input and metabolic demands on reefs. By comparing deep reefs across the North Atlantic under varying food regimes, this research aims to understand how organic matter input affects reproductive timing and output. In addition, we assessed how the reproduction of reef-forming deep-sea corals is impacted by the stressful conditions of the oligotrophic North Pacific where the calcium carbonate needed to build and maintain their skeletons is undersaturated. Understanding how environmental variables affect deep-sea coral reproduction is important for learning how reefs and populations will respond in the face of a changing climate.

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