CORALCAL-4
Type | Oceanographic cruise |
---|---|
Set | This cruise is part of the set CORALCAL |
Ship | Alis |
Ship owner | IRD |
Dates | 04/04/2012 - 27/04/2012 |
Chief scientist(s) | BENZONI Francesca |
DIPARTIMENTO DI BIOTECNOLOGIE E BIOSCIENZE "BICOCCA" Piazza della Scienza 2 20126 MILANO |
|
DOI | 10.17600/12100060 |
Objective | The CORALCAL-4 cruise falls under the general theme of analyzing the biodiversity of reefs and lagoons in New Caledonia led by the COREUS research unit (UR227, IRD, New Caledonia) in partnership with an international network of taxonomists. This is the fourth cruise of its type, following CORALCAL-1 which concerned Côte Oubliée (south-east of Grande Terre), CORALCAL-2 for Chesterfield-Bellona and CORALCAL-3 for Grand Lagon Nord in New Caledonia. The cruise looked at reefs and lagoons of two coastal zones of Grande Terre which have either been hardly studied and/or were studied before 2005 without taking tissue samples for use in modern molecular biology approaches. These areas extend along the western coast from around Basse-Poya to the Passe de Yandé, and along the eastern coast from around Hienghène to Thio. The objectives were to draw up an inventory of corals, gorgonians and seaweeds and create collections of specimens (references) and collections of related tissues for DNA analyses with the goal of obtaining the best possible representation of marine biodiversity on the scale of New Caledonia, back up the phylogenies being developed and establish faunal and floral affinities with the surrounding areas for which comparable data is available. The related project is on Analysis of biodiversity in New Caledonian coral ecosystems. |