The Deepwater Program: Northern Gulf of Mexico Continental Slope Habitat and Benthic Ecology - DgoMB: Amphipods

Gary Wolff1, Gilbert Rowe1, Mahlon Kennicutt1, Bob Presley1, Joan Bernhard2, John Morse1, Paul Montagna1, Worth Nowlin1, William Bryant1, Terry Wade1, Abby Benson3, Abby Benson3

1 Texas A&M University, ; 2 Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, ; 3 U.S. Geological Survey, 

Corresponding author(s): Gary Wolff (gary@gerg.tamu.edu)Gilbert RoweMahlon KennicuttBob PresleyJoan BernhardJohn MorsePaul MontagnaWorth NowlinWilliam BryantTerry Wade

Received {date}; Revised {date}; Accepted {date}; Published {date}

Citation: Combination of authors, year of data paper publication (in parentheses), Title, Journal Name, Volume, Issue number (in parentheses), and doi of the data paper.

Resource Citation

Wolff G, Rowe G, Kennicutt M, Presley B, Bernhard J, Morse J, Montagna P, Nowlin W, Bryant W, Wade T (2023). The Deepwater Program: Northern Gulf of Mexico Continental Slope Habitat and Benthic Ecology - DgoMB: Amphipods. Version 1.1. United States Geological Survey. Occurrence dataset. https://ipt-obis.gbif.us/resource?r=dgomb_amphipods&v=1.1

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Samplingevent

General description

Additional information: marine, harvested by OBIS

Data published through GBIF: https://ipt-obis.gbif.us/resource?r=dgomb_amphipods

Spatial coverage

General spatial coverage: Gulf of Mexico
Coordinates: 23°30'0''N and 29°20'6''N Latitude; 96°0'10.8''W and 85°30'0''W Longitude 

Datasets

Dataset description
Object name: Darwin Core Archive The Deepwater Program: Northern Gulf of Mexico Continental Slope Habitat and Benthic Ecology - DgoMB: Amphipods
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: Darwin Core Archive format
Format version: 1.0
Distribution: https://ipt-obis.gbif.us/archive.do?r=dgomb_amphipods
Publication date of data: 2023-09-18
Language: English
Licences of use: Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License

External datasets

Dataset description
Object name: NCEI Archive Accession
Character encoding: UTF-8
Format name: TSV
Distribution: https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/a-survey-to-characterize-the-principal-components-of-benthic-communities-over-the-entire-northe

Metadata language: English
Date of metadata creation: 2023-09-18
Hierarchy level: Dataset

References
Rowe, G.T. and M.C. Kennicutt II, eds. 2009. Northern Gulf of Mexico continental slope habitats and benthic ecology study: Final report. U.S. Dept, of the Interior, Minerals Management. Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, New Orleans, LA. OCS Study MMS 2009-039. 456 pp. https://www.fws.gov/doiddata/dwh-ar-documents/1187/DWH-AR0009351.pdf
Physical oceanographic conditions in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico in summer 2000–2002 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2008.07.003
Montagna, P.A., Baguley, J.G., Reuscher, M.G., Rowe, G.T., Wade, T.L. (2020). Linking Abiotic Variables with Macrofaunal and Meiofaunal Abundance and Community Structure Patterns on the Gulf of Mexico Continental Slope. In: , et al. Scenarios and Responses to Future Deep Oil Spills. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12963-7_7 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12963-7_7