Primarily, this searchable dataset contains data from an experiment designed to document members of the wood fall fauna from the deep North Pacific Ocean, in which wood was experimentally deployed by the ROV's Jason and Tiburon in 2002, and recovered after 10 months (July 2003 by the ROV Jason II) and after 24 months (by the Deep Submergence Vehicle, Alvin). The deployments were made at Escanaba Trough, Gorda Ridge, Endeavour Segment, Axial Volcano and several sites on Cascadia Basin at depths of from 1550 to 3250 m. Specimens that were associated with wild wood falls that were collected incidental to other deep-sea research in the North Pacific, whether by trawling or by submersible/ROV cruises are also included.
This dataset is unique in offering information on animals that colonized experimental wood falls of known age at specific times. Although deep-sea wood fall invertebrates would seem to be rare, some animals, notably wood boring clams, are specialized for this habitat. Because nearly all of the known wood fall invertebrates were collected by trawls, our knowledge of what other animals live on seafloor wood is limited, because trawls can dislodge many animal taxa from the substrate.