Contact: WWU Professor of Biology Craig Moyer, (360) 650-7935 or cmoyer@hydro.biol.wwu.edu.
BELLINGHAM - The establishment earlier this year of the new Mariana Trench Marine National Monument in the Western Pacific Ocean off Guam was due in part to the research by a Western Washington University professor that revealed an astonishing and unique biodiversity in this previously under-explored island arc region, which is one of the most volcanically active areas in the world.
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Bacterial mats found at Northwest Eifuku volcano, Mariana Trench Marine National Monument. |
| WWU/Craig Moyer photo |
"What we discovered over the course of our research efforts in this region were several unique forms of microbes that live in these toxic, extreme environments, and some are oxidizing methane in ways we didn't even know were possible before," Moyer said. "These microbes live in places we thought life just couldn't exist."
Moyer's research into these unique forms of life was part of the scientific justification for the monument presented last October to the White House Council on Environmental Quality, which started the ball rolling toward establishment. The national monument was one of the outgoing items signed into law by the Bush Administration, and covers more than 12,000 square nautical miles near the three northernmost islands of the 14-island Mariana chain. The monument will be administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and is designed to protect the area's flora and fauna - including the microbiological diversity discovered by Moyer and his colleagues - in the years to come.
This work has been supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Submarine Ring of Fire Program and by the National Science Foundation. For more information on Moyer's research or the formation of the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument, visit his website at http://fire.biol.wwu.edu/cmoyer/research.html or contact him at (360) 650-7935 or cmoyer@hydro.biol.wwu.edu.
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