Dr. Erik E. Cordes

I describe myself as an Ecological Oceanographer. My integrative research program is focused on the ecology and conservation of the distinct, high-biomass communities of the deep sea including deep-water corals, natural hydrocarbon seeps, and hydrothermal vents. My ecological questions range from broad investigations of ecosystem and community interactions on temporal scales from days to centuries, to studies of the complex and occasionally bizarre biogeochemistry and microbial ecology of these habitats. I use a wide variety of tools to answer these questions, including molecular biology, next-generation sequencing, multivariate statistics, ecological modeling, stable isotope analyses, and classical oceanography and zoology.

- Ecosystem Impacts of Oil and Gas Inputs to the Gulf (ECOGIG Consortium), Year 2-4 Consortia Grants (RFP-I), Role: Co-Principal Investigator, Task Co-Lead)

Other oil spill related projects:

- Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Effects on Deepwater Coral Communities (NOAA,NRDA,NSF-RAPID)

- BOEM-NOAA funded project: Lophelia II: Reefs, Rigs, and Wrecks

- NSF RAPID funded project: Acute response of benthic hardbottom communities to oil exposure in the deep Gulf of Mexico

Relevant to the biota of the Gulf of Mexico, Dr. Cordes has published the following:

Cordes, E. E. 2004. The ecology of seep communities in the Gulf of Mexico: biodiversity and role of Lamellibrachia luymesi. Ph.D. dissertation, Pennsylvania State University. 203 pp.

Cordes, E. E., S. Hourdez, B. L. Predmore, M. L. Redding, and C. R. Fisher. 2005. Succession of hydrocarbon seep communities associated with the long-lived foundation species Lamellibrachia luymesi. Marine Ecology Progress Series 305: 17–29.