Hydrothermal Vents and Methane Seeps: Rethinking the Sphere of Influence
Lisa A. Levin,Amy R. Baco,David A. Bowden,Ana Colaço,Erik E. Cordes,Marina R. Cunha,Amanda W.J. Demopoulos,Judith Gobin,Benjamin M. Grupe,Jennifer T. Le,Anna Metaxas,Amanda N. Netburn,Greg W. Rouse,Andrew R. Thurber,Verena Tunnicliffe,Cindy Lee Van Dover,Ann Vanreusel,Les Watling +17 more
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TLDR
In this article, the authors synthesize current knowledge of the nature, extent and time and space scales of vent and seep interactions with background systems, and document an expanded footprint beyond the site of local venting or seepage with respect to elemental cycling and energy flux, habitat use, trophic interactions, and connectivity.Abstract:
Although initially viewed as oases within a barren deep ocean, hydrothermal vent and methane seep communities are now recognized to interact with surrounding ecosystems on the sea floor and in the water column, and to affect global geochemical cycles. The importance of understanding these interactions is growing as the potential rises for disturbance from oil and gas extraction, seabed mining and bottom trawling. Here we synthesize current knowledge of the nature, extent and time and space scales of vent and seep interactions with background systems. We document an expanded footprint beyond the site of local venting or seepage with respect to elemental cycling and energy flux, habitat use, trophic interactions, and connectivity. Heat and energy are released, global biogeochemical and elemental cycles are modified, and particulates are transported widely in plumes. Hard and biotic substrates produced at vents and seeps are used by “benthic background” fauna for attachment substrata, shelter, and access to food via grazing or through position in the current, while particulates and fluid fluxes modify planktonic microbial communities. Chemosynthetic production provides nutrition to a host of benthic and planktonic heterotrophic background species through multiple horizontal and vertical transfer pathways assisted by flow, gamete release, animal movements, and succession, but these pathways remain poorly known. Shared species, genera and families indicate that ecological and evolutionary connectivity exists among vents, seeps, organic falls and background communities in the deep sea; the genetic linkages with inactive vents and seeps and background assemblages however, are practically unstudied. The waning of venting or seepage activity generates major transitions in space and time that create links to surrounding ecosystems, often with identifiable ecotones or successional stages. The nature of all these interactions is dependent on water depth, as well as regional oceanography and biodiversity. Many ecosystem services are associated with the interactions and transitions between chemosynthetic and background ecosystems, for example carbon cycling and sequestration, fisheries production, and a host of non-market and cultural services. The quantification of the sphere of influence of vents and seeps could be beneficial to better management of deep-sea environments in the face of growing industrialization.read more
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Environmental Impacts of the Deep-Water Oil and Gas Industry: A Review to Guide Management Strategies
Erik E. Cordes,Daniel O.B. Jones,Thomas A. Schlacher,Diva J. Amon,Angelo F. Bernardino,Sandra Brooke,Robert S. Carney,Danielle M. DeLeo,Katherine M. Dunlop,Elva Escobar-Briones,Andrew R. Gates,Luciana Génio,Luciana Génio,Judith Gobin,Lea-Anne Henry,Santiago Herrera,Sarah Hoyt,Mandy Joye,Salit Kark,Nélia C. Mestre,Anna Metaxas,Simone Pfeifer,Kerry Sink,Andrew K. Sweetman,Ursula Witte +24 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors review the types of activities that are associated with global offshore oil and gas development in water depths over 200 m, the typical impacts of these activities, some of the more extreme impacts of accidental spills, and the current state of management in the major regions of offshore industrial activity including 18 exclusive economic zones.
Journal ArticleDOI
Meiofauna matters: The roles of meiofauna in benthic ecosystems
TL;DR: Empirical evidence is found that meiofauna can mediate ecosystem processes in sediments with little or no macrofauna, thereby increasing the resilience of those benthic ecosystem processes that are essential for the continued delivery of ecosystem services desired by society.
Journal ArticleDOI
Resilience of benthic deep-sea fauna to mining activities
Sabine Gollner,Stefanie Kaiser,Lena Menzel,Daniel O.B. Jones,Alastair Brown,Nélia C. Mestre,Dick van Oevelen,Lenaick Menot,Ana Colaço,Miquel Canals,Daphne Cuvelier,Jennifer M. Durden,Andrey Gebruk,Great Egho,Matthias Haeckel,Yann Marcon,Lisa Mevenkamp,Telmo Morato,Christopher K. Pham,Autun Purser,Anna Sanchez-Vidal,Ann Vanreusel,Annemiek Vink,Pedro Martínez Arbizu +23 more
TL;DR: While densities and diversities of some taxa can recover to or even exceed pre-disturbance levels, community composition remains affected after decades, and community shifts that persist over geological timescales at mined sites are identified.
Journal ArticleDOI
Defining “serious harm” to the marine environment in the context of deep-seabed mining
Lisa A. Levin,Kathryn Mengerink,Kristina M. Gjerde,Ashley A. Rowden,Cindy Lee Van Dover,Malcolm R. Clark,Eva Ramirez-Llodra,Bronwen Currie,Craig R. Smith,Kirk N. Sato,Natalya D. Gallo,Andrew K. Sweetman,Hannah Lily,Claire W. Armstrong,Joseph Brider +14 more
TL;DR: In this article, the International Seabed Authority (ISA) is charged with ensuring effective protection of the marine environment as part of its responsibilities for managing mining in seabed areas beyond national jurisdiction (the Area) on behalf of humankind.
References
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