Study of the communities of deep corals in the margin of the the mediterranean continental shelf. The main objective of the project is the study of the role of the communities of benthic suspensible organisms in the platform-slope areas in the processes of transfer of matter and energy, as important creators of habitat (three-dimensional structure), reservoirs of biological diversity and areas of protection and breeding ("nurseries") of numerous pelagic and nectonic species, some of them of commercial interest. The project is an integrated and multidisciplinary study of these communities in the north-western Mediterranean, with special emphasis on the headwaters of the submarine canyons. Knowledge of the specific composition of the communities, their distribution, both geographic and batimetric, their intra-interspecific and intra-occupational relationships and the environmental characteristics of the habitat are the first studies to be developed in the first phase of the project. Once these bases on diversity and structure have been established, a second phase of the project will be focused on the ecology (function) of these communities with the study of key species in the studied systems. Experimenting with living organisms (mainly cnidarians and sponges) will allow you to know different aspects of their ecology and the influence these communities have on the planktonic and benthonic system. Other important objectives of the project will be to analyze the influence of the benthic suspensible organisms on the microbial trophic chains of the layers of the water column closer to the bottom and the study of epibenthenic zooplankton communities. Knowledge of the dynamics of these communities will allow them to make a proper management plan for them, as well as, if necessary, the creation of reserve areas due to their importance as areas with high biodiversity, Commercial interest and role in the processes of transfer of matter and energy along the platform-slope axis. The project is carried out in collaboration with the company PRAESENTIS with the purpose of developing a new submarine vehicle prototype equipped with cameras of video and photography (EVO) and the Organization ADENA Spain (WWF) with which they are considering The strategies for conservation and dissemination of the state of seabed platforms in Mediterranean water

HERMES-IV_CORAL-8 Cruise (29GD20070903) carried out on the Research Vessel García del Cid in 2007