Scientists study shipwreck sites to better understand ecological processes like succession, zonation, connectivity, energy flow, disturbance, and degradation. In the future, shipwrecks may provide opportunities to establish a global monitoring network for studying these processes in aquatic environments. Illustration by Alex Boersma.

Scientists Study Shipwrecks to Understand Underwater Ecology

1/28/2024 - By coastalscience.noaa.gov. In a newly published paper in BioScience, NCCOS scientists collaborated with an international team of ecologists and archaeologists to describe how shipwrecks provide a unique opportunity to study complex ecological processes. The synthesis focuses on a range of fundamental ecological functions and processes and how they manifest on and around shipwrecks.… SEE MORE