Scleractinian cold-water corals (CWC) rely on benthic currents for the delivery of food and other resources that support their growth and subsequent mound development in the deep sea. However, the CWC-current relationship remains poorly understood, as current knowledge is predominantly derived from spatially constrained ex-situ experimentation and coarse-scale modeling. Therefore, we combined long-term in situ acoustic Doppler...

Multibeam backscatter has proven to be a useful tool in deciphering seabed sediments. While traditional image-based backscatter processing methods are commonly used, signal-based approaches such as Angular Range Analysis (ARA) offer a robust sediment-characterisation, albeit with a relatively low spatial-resolution. Thus, this research aims to improve the segmentation accuracy of ARA; and investigate influences on enhanced Ang...

Ocean biodiversity loss is being driven by several anthropogenic threats and significant efforts are required to halt losses and promote healthy marine ecosystems. The establishment of a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) can help restrict damaging activities and have been recognised as a potential solution to aid marine conservation. When managed correctly they can deliver both ecological and socio-economic benefits. In...