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Hydrothermal Vent Ecosystems:Discovery, species variability on temporal

and spatial scales, importance and uses,conservation issues and vent protected areas.

SPC-EU EDF10 Deep Sea MineralsProject Inaugural Regional WorkshopNadi, Fiji: June 6-8, 2011

Chuck FisherDepartment of Biology

Pennsylvania State University


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The Deep Sea:

Low Temperature Very Little Light

Low Biomass (food) High Pressure


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The Deep Sea:

An extreme environment?

Low Temperature Very Little Light

Low Biomass (food) High Pressure


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Adapting to high pressure is simple, evolutionarily.

A few small changes in proteins and membranes is all ittakes


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The deep sea is a stable environment withrelativelyconstant darkness, pressure, temperature, chemistry

and humidity.(Certainly less extreme that Pennsylvania or even Fiji)

Hundreds, if not thousands ofdifferent animal groups haveindependently evolved to inhabitthe deep sea.

Biodiversity in the deep sea ishigh: about 200,000 described

animal species, representing mostmajor groups of animals. There are likely hundreds of

thousands more species yet to bedescribed in the deep sea.


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But, all of the deep sea is not so mellow


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When deep sea hydrothermal ventswere discovered we expected.

No sunlight

New seafloor

No sediment

Low biomass(not much food or life)


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But Rose Garden


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Deep sea hydrothermal vents areextreme environments

High and variable temperaturesLow/no oxygenToxic chemistry, particularly sulfide

(also heavy metals, radiation)


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Temperature and Vent Animals:

2C - 350C over < 1cm10C - 60C+ along an alvinellid2C - 30C+ along a tubeworm

Variable over sec/min/hr....


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Toxicity in the vent environment

Hydrogen sulfide is toxic to most animalsSulfide poisons most hemoglobins (blood)

Sulfide can knock out respiration

There are also a variety of other potential toxins

that must be overcome or avoided. ie:

Heavy metals, pH, radioactivity


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So, why bother?

Because h drothermal vents are an ener


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Where does the food come from?

On land and in shallow water, the energycomes from sunlight. Plants, algae (and coralswith symbiotic algae), use the energy to make

food by the process of photosynthesis

At deep sea hydrothermal vents the energycomes from chemicals (mostly sulfide) in thehot water. Bacteria (and some animals withsymbiotic bacteria) use the energy to makefood by the process of chemoautotrophy


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Chemoautotrophic symbiosis:


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Giant tubeworms


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Giant tubeworms


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Giant tubeworms

Hemoglobins bindoxygen andsulfide:

With high affinityWith high capacityNon competitivelyReversibly

SpecialBlood!


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Tubeworm hemoglobins:

400kDa HbHuman Hb

68kDa

3500kDaHb

Giant extracellular proteins


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Here, on the ELSC, a vestimentiferan tubeworm istiny, seemingly rare, ecologically a minor player, but

1 cm

Oasisia fujikurai (?)


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Mid-Atlantic Ridge Shrimp


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BacterialPad

Bacteriophore

SetaeScaphognat

hiteof Maxilla

Exopodite of

Maxilliped I

Rimicaris


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Lepetodrilu

s

1 cm

A new snail from Indian Ocean vents

Todd Walsh

ord. Neomphalina

fam. PeltospiridaeChrysomallongen. nov.

squamiferumsp. nov.

Common Name: Scaly-foot snail

B i l


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Click to edit Master subtitle style

Bacterial partners

CFB

16S rRNA

1.5 mm

FeS2 /

Fe3S4

formation?

SF gland microbe


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Biodiversity

Importance ecologically is sometimes debated

although most people would agree it is importantto ecosystem stability and that we should avoidextinction of species whenever possible.

The kind of biodiversity I am talking about isextreme. Very strange animals, with very uniquetypes of adaptations, that have the very real


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The uniqueness and value of vent ecosystemshas been recognized globally and 4 vent

1) The Endeavour Vent field Marine Protectedarea on the west coast of Canada (4 x 6 nm)

2) The Azores vent fields Marine Park (7 sites, 4are also OSPAR Marine Protected Areas)

3) The Guymas Basin and 21N on the East

Pacific Rise by Mexico (about 1500 km2 total)4) The US Mariana Trench National Monument

includes several vents and undersea volcanoes


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Van Dover et al. 2002

Biogeography of vent fauna


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Western Pacific Back-Arc Basins

The main symbiont-containing foundationfauna:

Giant snails (AlviniconchaandIfremeria) and mussels.


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The hotshots, living it the hottest environments

ScaleWorms

Paralvinella


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The cooler vent specialists:

BarnaclesAnemones

Sponges


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The fauna on inactive vents:Who? (vent specialists?)How? (Nutrition from vents?)

Unique?


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Some environmental considerations

Unfortunately, there is a lot we do not know We know there are many more rare species to be

discovered, but how many and what?

The W. Pacific vent meiofauna is very poorlyknown The fauna of inactive vents is almost unknown Connections between vent animals and the rest of the

deep sea, and to the shallow water animals, are verypoorly constrained.


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Some environmental considerations

Unfortunately, there is a lot we do not know The natural life spans of W. Pacific vents is not

known

Natural succession of W. Pacific vent fauna is largelyunknown Spacing and distribution of vents in most areas is not

well known

Population connections and inter-relations (geneticbiodiversity) are not known for most species


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So what if a rare species of vent

Will the fish in the shallow water care? How will it effect other ocean ecosystems? Will we loose any valuable biotechnology? Will our grandchildren care?


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However, if we move forward with

The animals that live in active hydrothermalvents are adapted to catastrophic events(on local and natural time scales)

Most must be adapted to relatively short-livedhabitats

Also must be adapted to dispersal from onevent to another

h h b l f k d h


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There has been a lot of work done on the

West Pacific Back Arc Basin vent fauna

We know the major players Many of the genetic tools to look at species

differences and population connections have been

developed and these studies are moving fast We have ongoing studies that will teach us about

Th h b l f k d h


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There has been a lot of work done on the

West Pacific Back Arc Basin vent fauna

We know the major players Many of the genetic tools to look at species

differences and population connections have been

developed and these studies are moving fast We have ongoing studies that will teach us about


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The technology to discover and characterizenew vents is also improving at a very fast pace.


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Thank you for your attention!


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