By Adam Trautwig
The concept of life on the seafloor is so foreign it can be difficult to imagine.
For the purpose of this exploration we define “deep sea” as depths between 2,000 and 6,500 meters below the surface (roughly 6,560-21,325 ft). Worldwide, this area comprises more than half of the planet’s surface. However, we know more about the vacuum of space than we know about the deep sea, having only explored about 5 percent of it.
At this depth, the sun’s life granting rays are far away and marine organisms have to find other ways to survive.
Because of the unpredictable nature and sparse distribution of these resources, the deep sea has long been thought of as barren and devoid of life. It’s only with the development of more sophisticated technology that we’ve been able to gather a more complete picture of what life at the bottom of the ocean really looks like.
A recent study published in Nature and led by Dr. Skipton Woolley seems to suggest that this conception of a lifeless abyss may in fact be inaccurate. Dr. Woolley’s team examined distributions of brittle sea stars to better develop a pattern deep-sea diversity, and the results are surprising.
This study suggests that energy availability dictates latitudinal diversity – and in layman’s terms, this means that the available ways of sustaining life dictate the diversity of species that live in said area.
In deep sea environments, chemically derived energy sources thrive where on the surface, thermal-based energy sources are chief.
The researchers go on to say that these populations are also most likely supplemented by immigration from near-shore populations.
While we now know that deep-sea vents are examples of these extremely diverse chemically based ecosystems, what we are only now finding out is how resilient and variable those habitats are. Research led by Jason Sylvan has shown that even once a vent gone cold, organisms still thrive in the same ecosystem by using different resources.
These areas are important battlegrounds for preservation.
The unique life forms that count the deep sea among their homes may have unknown roles in production of compounds important to medicine and engineering. They are under siege, however, from deep sea mining and fishing as well as from human disruption.
The far reaching effects of pollution, habitat destruction and global climate change have effects that ripple to even these remote places. With research similar to that done by Dr. Woolley’s and Dr. Sylvan’s teams, more informed policies could better protect future generation’s priceless inheritance.
We recommend that you investigate the scientific journal articles on which this article was based. To do so, Google Woolley et al.’s “Deep-sea diversity patterns are shaped by energy availability” and Sylvan et al.’s “Life and death of deep-sea vents: Bacterial diversity and ecosystem succession on inactive hydrothermal sulfides.”
As always you may follow the author on twitter @1SolitaryTrout.