So my name is Amanda Demopoulos. I'm a research ecologist with the U.S.Geological Survey,
and my specialty is benthic ecology. So I study animals that live on or near the seafloor.
On the current expedition, I'm on the Okeanos Explorer, in the central Pacific Ocean,
and we're investigating deep-sea corals, sponges, and fish communities within the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.
The part of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument that we're exploring includes the Howland and Baker Islands,
as well as Titov Seamount.
All of these features are within the Howland-Baker Unit of PRIMNM, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.
These dives that we've conducted in this region were the first-ever deep-sea dives within the unit,
and what we've seen, basically we're the first eyes on the seafloor here.
I was really struck by how how diverse the different habitat types are here,
in terms of the geology and geological terrain.
In particular, when we did our shallow dives on Howland and Baker Islands, we came upon these really karstic rock features that look like cathedrals.
Really large, high archways; really complex features --basically that nature created.
And within these cracks and crevices and archways, we found all of these different animals that are basically using these features as a home,
including different kinds of bivalves and corals, and sometimes we would find an octopus, hidden away, tucked away within these cracks and crevices.
So I think I was struck by the diversity habitat types as well as diversity and abundance of the animals.
By investigating the seafloor with the ROV and taking really good imagery of what's on the seafloor,
we have been able to gather some information on the distribution of deep-sea corals, sponges, and fish communities within the region,
and that information will be used to better preserve and protect those resources,
to better manage the monuments and the protected areas that we've been investigating here so far.
And we have a number of interested scientists on the shoreside who will use the data to write proposals to come back here and do further investigation,
because what we have done is really only the tip of the iceberg.