By sampling Northwest Atlantic deep-sea basins, the expedition IceDivA II aims to extend the previous Northeast Atlantic deep-sea programs, IceAGE (Icelandic marine Animals: Genetics and Ecology) and IceDivA (Icelandic marine Animals meets Diversity along latitudinal gradients in the deep sea of the Atlantic Ocean), also linking with the South Atlantic deep-sea programme DIVA (Latitudinal Gradients in BioDIVersity in the deep Atlantic) and those in the Southern Ocean. This will provide pan-Atlantic deep-sea samples to investigate topics regarding species richness and evolution. To map the species diversity, and answer questions on the connectivity of deep-sea fauna along latitudinal gradients in the pan-Atlantic Ocean, we will sample in 3,000 m to 5,500 m water depths from the Icelandic Basin, via the Labrador Basin, to the Newfoundland Basin, bridging the NW Atlantic knowledge gap between prior expeditions. The faunal analysis will follow an integrative approach, combining modern genomic methods with traditional, morphological taxonomy. Via cooperative data/sample sharing we will support the BMBF project PLASTISEA as well as the EU projects iAtlantic and HOTMIC.
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