Stable Isotope Variation Among the Mussel Bathymodiolus childressi and Associated Heterotrophic Fauna at Four Cold-Seep Communities in the Gulf of Mexico

2008 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. E. MacAvoy ◽  
R. S. Carney ◽  
E. Morgan ◽  
S. A. Macko
2013 ◽  
Vol 160 (11) ◽  
pp. 2967-2980 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. M. Wilson ◽  
J. A. Nelson ◽  
B. C. Balmer ◽  
D. P. Nowacek ◽  
J. P. Chanton

Author(s):  
Sabine Stöhr ◽  
Michel Segonzac

The animal communities associated with the deep-sea reducing environment have been studied for almost 30 years, but until now only a single species of ophiuroid, Ophioctenella acies, has been found at both hydrothermal vents and methane cold seeps. Since the faunal overlap between vent and seep communities is small and many endemic species have been found among other taxa (e.g. Mollusca, Crustacea), additional species of ophiuroids were expected at previously unstudied sites. Chemical compositions at reducing sites differ greatly from the nearby bathyal environment. Generally, species adapted to chemosynthetic environments are not found in non-chemosynthetic habitats, but occasional visitors of other bathyal species to vent and seep sites have been recorded among many taxa except ophiuroids. This paper presents an analysis of the ophiuroid fauna found at hydrothermal vents and non-reducing nearby sites on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and on methane cold seeps in the Gulf of Mexico, at Blake Ridge off South Carolina and south of Barbados. In addition to O. acies, four species were found at vents, Ophiactis tyleri sp. nov., Ophiocten centobi, Ophiomitra spinea and Ophiotreta valenciennesi rufescens. While Ophioctenella acies appears to be restricted to chemosynthetic areas, the other four species were also found in other bathyal habitats. They also occur in low numbers (mostly single individuals), whereas species adapted to hydrothermal areas typically occur in large numbers. Ophioscolex tripapillatus sp. nov. and Ophiophyllum atlanticum sp. nov. are described from nearby non-chemosynthetic sites. In a cold seep south of Barbados, three species of ophiuroids were found, including Ophioctenella acies, Amphiura sp., Ophiacantha longispina sp. nov. and Ophioplinthaca chelys. From the cold seeps at Blake Ridge and the Gulf of Mexico, Ophienigma spinilimbatum gen. et sp. nov. is described, likely restricted to the reducing environment. Ophiotreta valenciennesi rufescens occurred abundantly among Lophelia corals in the Gulf of Mexico seeps, which is the first record of this species from the West Atlantic. Habitat descriptions complement the taxonomic considerations, and the distribution of the animals in reducing environments is discussed.


2010 ◽  
Vol 278 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 43-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wesley C. Ingram ◽  
Stephen R. Meyers ◽  
Charlotte A. Brunner ◽  
Christopher S. Martens

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 36-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yurij K. Vasil'chuk ◽  
Nadine A. Budantseva ◽  
Hanne H. Christiansen ◽  
Julia N. Chizhova ◽  
Alla C. Vasil'chuk ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 20190865 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen G. Hesterberg ◽  
Gregory S. Herbert ◽  
Thomas J. Pluckhahn ◽  
Ryan M. Harke ◽  
Nasser M. Al-Qattan ◽  
...  

The Gulf of Mexico (GoM) is home to the world's largest remaining wild oyster fisheries, but baseline surveys needed to assess habitat condition are recent and may represent an already-shifted reference state. Here, we use prehistoric oysters from archaeological middens to show that oyster size, an indicator of habitat function and population resilience, declined prior to the earliest assessments of reef condition in an area of the GoM previously considered pristine. Stable isotope sclerochronlogy reveals extirpation of colossal oysters occurred through truncated life history and slowed growth. More broadly, our study suggests that management strategies affected by shifting baselines may overestimate resilience and perpetuate practices that risk irreversible decline.


mSystems ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrien Vigneron ◽  
Eric B. Alsop ◽  
Perrine Cruaud ◽  
Gwenaelle Philibert ◽  
Benjamin King ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTGulf of Mexico sediments harbor numerous hydrocarbon seeps associated with high sedimentation rates and thermal maturation of organic matter. These ecosystems host abundant and diverse microbial communities that directly or indirectly metabolize components of the emitted fluid. To investigate microbial function and activities in these ecosystems, metabolic potential (metagenomic) and gene expression (metatranscriptomic) analyses of two cold seep areas of the Gulf of Mexico were carried out. Seeps emitting biogenic methane harbored microbial communities dominated by archaeal anaerobic methane oxidizers of phylogenetic group 1 (ANME-1), whereas seeps producing fluids containing a complex mixture of thermogenic hydrocarbons were dominated by ANME-2 lineages. Metatranscriptome measurements in both communities indicated high levels of expression of genes for methane metabolism despite their distinct microbial communities and hydrocarbon composition. In contrast, the transcription level of sulfur cycle genes was quite different. In the thermogenic seep community, high levels of transcripts indicative of syntrophic anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) coupled to sulfate reduction were detected. This syntrophic partnership between the dominant ANME-2 and sulfate reducers potentially involves direct electron transfer through multiheme cytochromes. In the biogenic methane seep, genes from an ANME-1 lineage that are potentially involved in polysulfide reduction were highly expressed, suggesting a novel bacterium-independent anaerobic methane oxidation pathway coupled to polysulfide reduction. The observed divergence in AOM activities provides a new model for bacterium-independent AOM and emphasizes the variation that exists in AOM pathways between different ANME lineages.IMPORTANCECold seep sediments are complex and widespread marine ecosystems emitting large amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and other hydrocarbons. Within these sediments, microbial communities play crucial roles in production and degradation of hydrocarbons, modulating oil and gas emissions to seawater. Despite this ecological importance, our understanding of microbial functions and methane oxidation pathways in cold seep ecosystems is poor. Based on gene expression profiling of environmental seep sediment samples, the present work showed that (i) the composition of the emitted fluids shapes the microbial community in general and the anaerobic methanotroph community specifically and (ii) AOM by ANME-2 in this seep may be coupled to sulfate reduction byDeltaproteobacteriaby electron transfer through multiheme cytochromes, whereas AOM by ANME-1 lineages in this seep may involve a different, bacterium-independent pathway, coupling methane oxidation to elemental sulfur/polysulfide reduction.


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