Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3385
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3385
28 Jul 2025
 | 28 Jul 2025
Status: this preprint is open for discussion and under review for Ocean Science (OS).

A first predictive mechanistic model of cold-water coral biomass and respiration based on physiology, hydrodynamics, and organic matter transport

Evert de Froe, Christian Mohn, Karline Soetaert, Anna-Selma van der Kaaden, Gert-Jan Reichart, Laurence H. De Clippele, Sandra R. Maier, and Dick van Oevelen

Abstract. Cold-water corals form complex three-dimensional structures on the seafloor, providing habitat for numerous species and act as a carbon cycling hotspot in the deep-sea. The distribution of those important ecosystems is often predicted by statistical habitat suitability models, using variables such as terrain characteristics, temperature, salinity, and surface productivity. While useful, these models do not provide a mechanistic understanding of the processes that facilitate cold-water coral occurrence, and how this may change in the future. Here, we present the results of a mechanistic process-based model in which coral biomass and respiration are predicted from a 3D coupled transport-reaction-model for south-east Rockall Bank (NE Atlantic Ocean). Hydrodynamic forcing is provided by a high-resolution Regional Ocean Modelling System (ROMS) model, which drives the transport of reactive suspended particulate organic matter in the region. The physiological cold-water coral model, with coral food uptake, assimilation, and respiration as key variables and with model parameters estimated from available experimental report, is coupled to the reactive transport model of suspended particulate organic matter. Model predictions agree with coral reef biomass and respiration observations in the study area and coral occurrences comply with predictions from previously published habitat suitability models. Cold-water coral biomass was mainly predicted on coral mounds and ridges in the area. Filter feeding activity by cold-water corals proved to strongly deplete food particles in the bottom waters. Replenishment of food particles by tidal currents was therefore vital for cold-water coral growth. This mechanistic modelling approach has the advantage over statistical and machine learning-based predictions that it can be used to obtain an understanding of the effect of changing environmental conditions such as ocean temperature, surface production export, or ocean currents on cold-water coral biomass distribution and can be applied to other study areas and/or species.

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Evert de Froe, Christian Mohn, Karline Soetaert, Anna-Selma van der Kaaden, Gert-Jan Reichart, Laurence H. De Clippele, Sandra R. Maier, and Dick van Oevelen

Status: open (until 01 Oct 2025)

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Evert de Froe, Christian Mohn, Karline Soetaert, Anna-Selma van der Kaaden, Gert-Jan Reichart, Laurence H. De Clippele, Sandra R. Maier, and Dick van Oevelen

Data sets

ATLAS Deliverable 2.5: Model code for the Rockall Bank case study area Evert de Froe, Christian Mohn, Karline Soetaert, Dick van Oevelen https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4250150

Model code and software

ATLAS Deliverable 2.5: Model code for the Rockall Bank case study area Evert de Froe, Christian Mohn, Karline Soetaert, Dick van Oevelen https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4250150

Video supplement

Supplemental videos to PhD thesis Evert de Froe: Dinner's Served in the Deep Sea Evert de Froe https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7510506

Evert de Froe, Christian Mohn, Karline Soetaert, Anna-Selma van der Kaaden, Gert-Jan Reichart, Laurence H. De Clippele, Sandra R. Maier, and Dick van Oevelen

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Short summary
Cold-water corals are important reef-building animals in the deep sea, and are found all over the world. So far, researchers have been mapping and predicting where cold-water corals can be found using video transects and statistics. This study provides the first process-based model in which corals are predicted based on ocean currents and food particle movement. The renewal of food by tidal currents close to the seafloor and corals proved essential in predicting where they can grow or not.
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