The Gulf Oil Spill: Determining the Impact in an Unexplored Deep Sea

Dr. Cordes received his Ph.D. from Penn State University and was a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University. He currently is an assistant professor in the Biology Department at Temple University. He studies the potential for organisms to alter their environment in deep-sea ecosystems. His research is focused on the ecology of deep-water corals and vestimentiferan tubeworms. Dr. Cordes’ lab combines ecological and molecular techniques to investigate a wide variety of questions centered on these organisms and their habitats. The work on cold-water corals includes investigations of the habitat preferences of Lophelia pertusa and the genetic connectivity of deep-water gorgonian populations in the Gulf of Mexico.

Another project that Dr. Cordes' lab is focused on is the acute response of benthic hardbottom communities to oil exposure in the deep Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi Canyon 252 Incident NRDA Tier 1 for Deepwater Communities. Ongoing studies of cold seeps include the biogeographic and bathymetric patterns in tubeworm- and mussel-associated communities and the influence of tubeworm tube-hosted microbial communities on seep biogeochemistry, particularly the sulfur cycle. Dr. Cordes is also involved in the assessment of the impact of the Deepwater Horizon incident on the cold-water coral and natural seep communities of the Gulf of Mexico. Dr. Cordes has participated in 19 multi-day research cruises consisting of 58 weeks at sea including 33 submersible dives and 105 days of ROV time. He has also participated in numerous day trips on board the R/V Point Sur and R/V Point Lobos during his work at Moss Landing Marine Labs.