The Ecology of Underwater Cultural Heritage: From Microbial Communities to Macrofauna

Part of: Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "The Ecology of Underwater Cultural Heritage: From Microbial Communities to Macrofauna," at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Underwater Cultural Heritage (UCH) provides a unique opportunity for exploring how the human-built environment influences benthic ecology and how biological communities, in turn, affect UCH in the marine environment. Archaeological site formation processes are coupled with the development of microbial communities, recruitment of benthic invertebrates and fish, and community succession. Microorganisms (e.g., bacteria, archaea, and fungi) are the first to colonize UCH, provide chemical cues that the structure is suitable for habitation, and serve as sentinels for long-term monitoring of site preservation and ecosystem health. UCH provides hardbottom habitat suitable for colonization by macrofauna (corals, etc.) and may serve as “stepping-stones” that facilitate dispersal of organisms between habitats in ways that differ from natural substrates. Papers in this session feature interdisciplinary research that focuses on the ecology of UCH from baseline ecological characterizations to understanding impacts from environmental disasters.

Other Keywords
Shipwrecks • Ecology • Site Formation • Archaeology • Spatial Analysis • Formation Processes • Coral Reefs • landscapes • Shipwreck • collaboration

Geographic Keywords
Gulf of Mexico • Atlantic • Caribbean • Atlantic and Pacific Oceans • Mallows Bay, Maryland, USA

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-8 of 8)

  • Documents (8)
Documents
  • El Eco a Sentinel from Indigenous Time to the Present (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Mariela Declet Perez. Isabel Rivera Collazo.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "The Ecology of Underwater Cultural Heritage: From Microbial Communities to Macrofauna", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Historically, coral reefs have been used as food resources and raw material gathering areas for coastal communities. In the present, this ecosystem is in danger around the world due to anthropogenic and climate change impacts. This centenary marine ecosystem can survive hundreds to thousands...

  • From The Field To The Lab: Determining How Microbes Affect the Fate Of Shallow-Water Shipwrecks (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Erin K Field. Cody E Garrison. Kyra A Price. Nathan Richards.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "The Ecology of Underwater Cultural Heritage: From Microbial Communities to Macrofauna", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Microbial biofilms can contribute to both the protection and deterioration of wrecks through biofouling and biocorrosion processes. By conducting both lab-based studies and field explorations we aim to identify wreck-associated microbial communities and determine how they affect wreck...

  • How Deep-Sea Shipwreck Spatial Attributes Shape Benthic Microbiomes (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kara E Davis. Rachel D Moseley. Leila J Hamdan.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "The Ecology of Underwater Cultural Heritage: From Microbial Communities to Macrofauna", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. The seafloor contains millions of shipwrecks with diverse provenance. Prior studies show that shipwrecks may support discrete microbiome in surrounding sediments, forming island-like systems for microbes. The specific site and environmental features that support these communities remain...

  • Maritime Heritage Ecology: Discussions, Challenges, and Incentives of Intercollaboration (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Calvin Mires.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "The Ecology of Underwater Cultural Heritage: From Microbial Communities to Macrofauna", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Maritime Heritage Ecology is an interdisciplinary research framework that aims to understand the interactive biological, natural, and anthropogenic factors that drive site formation processes and answer critical management questions for UCH. Similar to Shipwreck Ecology, this nascent area of...

  • Microbial Influenced Corrosion on Accomac (1928-c.1973), A Freshwater, Ferrous-Hulled Shipwreck: Evaluation of Microbial Diversity and Composition in Mallows Bay, MD (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Maggie O Shostak. Meredith A Cox. Erin K Field. Nathan Richards.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "The Ecology of Underwater Cultural Heritage: From Microbial Communities to Macrofauna", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Abandoned shipwrecks are sitting at the bottom of oceans and lakes around the world. Over time, microbial-comprised biofilms, can help protect wrecks again chemical corrosion and deterioration or contribute to their deterioration through microbially-influenced corrosion organisms....

  • Shipwreck Ecology: A New Paradigm for the Analysis of the Formation of Maritime Archaeological Landscapes (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Alicia Caporaso.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "The Ecology of Underwater Cultural Heritage: From Microbial Communities to Macrofauna", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Shipwreck ecology can be defined as the effective interaction between ships and shipwrecks and marine organisms within the environmental contexts in which they are located. Locally controlled site formation processes by which all shipwrecks deteriorate are coupled with recruitment of...

  • Shipwreck Microbial Communities as Indicators of Environmental Impact from Oil Spills (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Melanie Damour. Leila J Hamdan.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "The Ecology of Underwater Cultural Heritage: From Microbial Communities to Macrofauna", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Much of the recent research on Gulf of Mexico deepwater shipwrecks has pivoted toward exploring and characterizing resident microbial communities. Developed in response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, BOEM’s Gulf of Mexico Shipwreck Corrosion, Hydrocarbon Exposure, Microbiology, and...

  • Underwater Cultural Heritage is Integral to Marine Ecosystems (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kirstin Meyer-Kaiser. Calvin Mires.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "The Ecology of Underwater Cultural Heritage: From Microbial Communities to Macrofauna", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. The physical remains of human activities in the ocean, collectively called underwater cultural heritage (UCH), serve as important seafloor habitats that are integral to the ecosystems around them. Shipwrecks and other UCH influence connectivity and dispersal of marine animals, impact local...