Abstract Motivation Traits are increasingly being used to quantify global biodiversity patterns, with trait databases growing in size and number, across diverse taxa. Despite growing interest in a trait‐based approach to the biodiversity of the deep sea, where the impacts of human activities (including seabed mining) accelerate, there is no single repository for species traits for deep‐sea chemosynthesis‐based ecosystems, including hydrothermal vents. Using an international, collaborative approach, we have compiled the first global‐scale trait database for deep‐sea hydrothermal‐vent fauna – sFDvent ( s Div‐funded trait database for the F unctional D iversity of vent s). We formed a funded working group to select traits appropriate to: (a) capture the performance of vent species and their influence on ecosystem processes, and (b) compare trait‐based diversity in different ecosystems. Forty contributors, representing expertise across most known hydrothermal‐vent systems and taxa, scored species traits using online collaborative tools and shared workspaces. Here, we characterise the sFDvent database, describe our approach, and evaluate its scope. Finally, we compare the sFDvent database to similar databases from shallow‐marine and terrestrial ecosystems to highlight how the sFDvent database can inform cross‐ecosystem comparisons. We also make the sFDvent database publicly available online by assigning a persistent, unique DOI. Main types of variable contained Six hundred and forty‐six vent species names, associated location information (33 regions), and scores for 13 traits (in categories: community structure, generalist/specialist, geographic distribution, habitat use, life history, mobility, species associations, symbiont, and trophic structure). Contributor IDs, certainty scores, and references are also provided. Spatial location and grain Global coverage (grain size: ocean basin), spanning eight ocean basins, including vents on 12 mid‐ocean ridges and 6 back‐arc spreading centres. Time period and grain sFDvent includes information on deep‐sea vent species, and associated taxonomic updates, since they were first discovered in 1977. Time is not recorded. The database will be updated every 5 years. Major taxa and level of measurement Deep‐sea hydrothermal‐vent fauna with species‐level identification present or in progress. Software format .csv and MS Excel (.xlsx).
Evidence of hydrothermal venting on the ultra-slow spreading Gakkel Ridge in the Central Arctic Ocean has been available since 2001, with first visual evidence of black smokers on the Aurora Vent Field obtained in 2014. But it was not until 2021 that the first ever remotely operated vehicle (ROV) dives to hydrothermal vents under permanent ice cover in the Arctic were conducted, enabling the collection of vent fluids, rocks, microbes, and fauna. In this paper, we present the methods employed for deep-sea ROV operations under drifting ice. We also provide the first description of the Aurora Vent Field, which includes three actively venting black smokers and diffuse flow on the Aurora mound at ~3,888 m depth on the southern part of the Gakkel Ridge (82.5°N). The biological communities are dominated by a new species of cocculinid limpet, two small gastropods, and a melitid amphipod. The ongoing analyses of Aurora Vent Field samples will contribute to positioning the Gakkel Ridge hydrothermal vents in the global biogeographic puzzle of hydrothermal vents.
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The oceans were observed to be deep during the great age of exploration in the early to mid-nineteenth century. Subsequent exploration demonstrated that the ocean was bisected by underwater mountain ranges and dotted with abyssal hills. With the advent of the echosounder and latterly multichannel swath bathymetry, we now know that the deep ocean has topography as diverse as found on land. In the last 30 years, with an increase in deep-sea scientific activity and the use of underwater vehicles, we have learned that the deep sea consists of a series of habitats and ecosystems interconnected by hydrography and topography. The more recent challenges have been how to sample and analyse these separate habitats and ecosystems. This chapter describes the different environments and briefly outlines the main methods of sampling for each habitat or ecosystem. More detailed aspects of these sampling methods are found in subsequent chapters.
Deep-sea tailing disposal (DSTD) and its shallow water counterpart, submarine tailings disposal (STD), are practiced in many areas of the world, whereby mining industries discharge processed mud- and rock waste slurries (tailings) directly into the marine environment. Pipeline discharges and other land-based sources of marine pollution fall beyond the regulatory scope of the London Convention and the London Protocols (LC/LP). However, guidelines have been developed (Papua New Guinea) to improve tailing waste management frameworks in which mining companies can operate. DSTD can impact ocean ecosystems in addition to other sources of stress, such as from fishing, pollution, energy extraction, tourism, eutrophication, climate change and, potentially in the future, from deep-seabed mining. Environmental management of DSTD may be most effective when placed in a broader context, drawing expertise, data and lessons from multiple sectors (academia, government, society, industry and regulators) and engaging with international deep-ocean observing programs, databases and stewardship consortia. Here, the challenges associated with DSTD are identified, along with possible solutions, based on the results of a number of robust scientific studies. Also highlighted are the key issues, trends of improved practice and techniques that could be used if considering DSTD, such as increased precaution if considering submarine canyon locations and likely cumulative impacts and research needed to address current knowledge gaps.
The polychaete family Polynoidae (scale-worms) is well-represented at deep sea hydrothermal vents. Most species are free-living in a wide range of habitats: from high-temperature hydrothermal `chimney' walls to diffuse venting areas. Conversely, species of the genus Branchipolynoe live inside the mantle cavity of vent and seep mytilids. Specimens, morphologically close to Branchipolynoe seepensis , have been reported from all the known vent areas on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR), with varying infestation rates (0–6 individuals per host). Reproductive tract, gametogenesis and population structures were examined for specimens from the Lucky Strike vent field (MAR) in order to test whether this species displays dwarf males, protandric hermaphroditism or differential mortality between males and females. Observations of histological sections reveal the presence of fully developed ovaries in females which originate ventrally in segments 7–9 and of an unusual genital tract in which both sperm and mature oocytes are stored. Oogenesis is intraovarian and quasi-continuous. The vitellogenic oocytes are only free in the coelom at their terminal growing stage and are then transferred into an ovisac through spermathecae. The species displays an external sexual dimorphism in the number of genital papillae and the shape of the pygidial appendages. Sex ratios showed significant deviations from a 1:1 expected ratio, in favour of females. The modal decompositions of size–frequency histograms show the occurrence of three modes in females and only two modes in males, indicating discrete breeding periods. The two first modes were not significantly different between males and females. These results indicate that B. seepensis forms heterosexual pairs and uses internal fertilization to reproduce during discrete spawning periods. Differential mortality between males and females is likely to shape size-histograms as observed by preventing males from reaching the female proportions. Such an observation could be a result of either cannibalism on larger males, small sizes facilitating the male escape, or natural predation when males move from one bivalve to another to breed.
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