Polymetallic nodules are essential for food-web integrity of Pacific abyssal plains

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanja Stratmann ◽  
David Amptmeijer ◽  
Daniel Kersken ◽  
Karline Soetaert ◽  
Dick van Oevelen
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
Mitigation Strategy ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Literature Research ◽  
Polymetallic Nodules ◽  
Link Density ◽  
Sessile Organisms ◽  
High Diversity ◽  
Interaction Webs

<p>The abyssal seafloor is at some locations covered with polymetallic nodules that provide hard substrate for sessile organisms. Extraction of these mineral-rich nodules will likely severely modify the trophic and non-trophic interactions within the abyssal food web, but the importance of nodules and their associated sessile fauna in supporting this food web remains unclear. Here, we present highly resolved interaction webs with ~200 (Peru Basin) and ~450 (Clarion-Clipperton Zone, CCZ) food-web compartments based on an extensive literature research. Compartments were connected with ~3,100 (Peru Basin) and ~8,500 (CCZ) trophic and non-trophic (e.g. substrate-providing nodules) links. The webs were used to assess how nodule extraction would modify the number of network compartments, number of links, link density and web connectance. We showed that nodule removal would reduce the number of food-web compartments and links by ~25% and ~35%, respectively, in the Peru Basin and by 21% and 20%, respectively, in the CCZ. Subsequent analysis identified stalked sponges, living attached to the nodules, as key structural species that support a high diversity of commensal and mutualistic fauna. We conclude that nodules are critical for food-web integrity and suggest the deployment of artificial sponge stalks as a potential mitigation strategy for deep-sea mining.</p>

scholarly journals Faunal carbon flows in the abyssal plain food web of the Peru Basin have not recovered during 26 years from an experimental sediment disturbance

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanja Stratmann ◽  
Lidia Lins ◽  
Autun Purser ◽  
Yann Marcon ◽  
Clara F. Rodrigues ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
Abyssal Plain ◽  
System Throughput ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Total System ◽  
Surface Deposit ◽  
Deposit Feeders ◽  
Polymetallic Nodules ◽  
Linear Inverse Model

Abstract. Future deep-sea mining for polymetallic nodules in abyssal plains will impact the benthic ecosystem, but it is largely unclear whether this ecosystem will be able to recover from mining disturbance and if so, at what time scale and to which extent. In 1989, during the "DISturbance and reCOLonization" (DISCOL) experiment, a total of 22 % of the surface within a 10.8 km2 large circular area of the nodule-rich seafloor in the Peru Basin (SE Pacific) was ploughed to bury nodules and mix the surface sediment. This area was revisited 0.1, 0.5, 3, 7, and 26 years after the disturbance to assess macrofauna, megafauna and fish density and diversity. We used this unique abyssal faunal time series to develop carbon-based food web models for disturbed (sediment inside the plough tracks) and undisturbed (sediment inside the experimental area, but outside the plough tracks) sites. We developed a linear inverse model (LIM) to resolve carbon flows between 7 different feeding types within macrofauna, megafauna and fish. The total faunal biomass was always higher at the undisturbed sites compared to the disturbed sites and 26 years post-disturbance the biomass at the disturbed sites was only 54 % of the biomass at undisturbed sites. Fish and sub-surface deposit feeders experienced a particularly large temporal variability in biomass and model-reconstructed respiration rates making it difficult to determine disturbance impacts. Deposit feeders were least affected by the disturbance, with respiration, external predation and excretion levels only reduced by 2.6 % in the sediments disturbed 26-years ago compared with undisturbed areas. In contrast, the respiration rate of filter and suspension feeders was still 79.5 % lower after 26 years when comparing the same sites. The "total system throughput" (T..), i.e. the total sum of carbon flows in the food web, was always higher at undisturbed sites compared to the corresponding disturbed sites and was lowest at disturbed sites directly after the disturbance (8.63 × 10−3 ± 1.58 × 10−5 mmol C m−2 d−1). Therefore, 26 years after the DISCOL disturbance, the throughput discrepancy between the undisturbed and the disturbed sediment was still 56 %. From these results we conclude that C cycling within the fauna compartments of an abyssal plain ecosystem remains reduced 26 years after physical disturbance, and that a longer period of time is required for the system to recover from such a simulated small scale deep-sea mining experimental disturbance.

Polymetallic Nodules: Resource Potential and Mining Prospects

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (6) ◽  
pp. 22-30
Author(s):  
Rahul Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Deep Sea ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Industrial Applications ◽  
Green Energy ◽  
Steady Increase ◽  
Critical Metals ◽  
Alternative Source ◽  
Resource Potential ◽  
Polymetallic Nodules ◽  
International Seabed Authority

Abstract Deep-sea minerals such as polymetallic nodules have attracted significant interest among stakeholders not only for evaluating their potential as an alternative source of critical metals that are required for various industrial applications including green energy but also in developing technology for their exploitation. There has been a steady increase in the number of contractors having exploration rights over large tracts on the seafloor in the “Area,” and the International Seabed Authority that is mandated with the responsibility of regulating such activities is in the process of preparing a code for exploitation of these deep-sea minerals. This commentary takes a look at the resource potential and mining prospects of polymetallic nodules while addressing the economic and environmental issues associated with them.

scholarly journals The use of DNA barcodes in food web construction—terrestrial and aquatic ecologists unite!

Genome ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (9) ◽  
pp. 603-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomas Roslin ◽  
Sanna Majaneva
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Food Webs ◽  
Taxonomic Resolution ◽  
Dna Barcodes ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Web Studies ◽  
Web Structure ◽  
Asking Questions ◽  
Web Construction ◽  
Interaction Webs

By depicting who eats whom, food webs offer descriptions of how groupings in nature (typically species or populations) are linked to each other. For asking questions on how food webs are built and work, we need descriptions of food webs at different levels of resolution. DNA techniques provide opportunities for highly resolved webs. In this paper, we offer an exposé of how DNA-based techniques, and DNA barcodes in particular, have recently been used to construct food web structure in both terrestrial and aquatic systems. We highlight how such techniques can be applied to simultaneously improve the taxonomic resolution of the nodes of the web (i.e., the species), and the links between them (i.e., who eats whom). We end by proposing how DNA barcodes and DNA information may allow new approaches to the construction of larger interaction webs, and overcome some hurdles to achieving adequate sample size. Most importantly, we propose that the joint adoption and development of these techniques may serve to unite approaches to food web studies in aquatic and terrestrial systems—revealing the extent to which food webs in these environments are structured similarly to or differently from each other, and how they are linked by dispersal.

scholarly journals Silurian metalliferous nodules from the region of Asaritsa peak, West Balkan mountain – preliminary results

2020 ◽  
Vol 81 (3) ◽  
pp. 75-77
Author(s):  
Atanas Hikov ◽  
Valeri Sachanski ◽  
Zlatka Milakovska ◽  
Elitsa Stefanova ◽  
Irena Peytcheva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Deep Sea ◽  
Nodule Formation ◽  
Deposition Mechanism ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Polymetallic Nodule ◽  
Polymetallic Nodules

First data for polymetallic nodules and host sediments in Silurian sequence from the region of Asaritsa peak, West Balkan mountain are presented. The nodules are rich of Fe, Mn, Co and Ni. Both sediments and nodules have high content of REE. The described Silurian nodules and sediments show a number of similarities with modern deep-sea polymetallic nodule bearing sediments. Some differences such as probable depth of deposition, mechanism of nodule formation, degree of lithification are also established.

Food web structure and vulnerability of a deep-sea ecosystem in the NW Mediterranean Sea

2013 ◽  
Vol 75 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuele Tecchio ◽  
Marta Coll ◽  
Villy Christensen ◽  
Joan B. Company ◽  
Eva Ramírez-Llodra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Web Structure ◽  
Nw Mediterranean ◽  
Nw Mediterranean Sea

scholarly journals Food-Web and Ecosystem Structure of the Open-Ocean and Deep-Sea Environments of the Azores, NE Atlantic

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Telmo Morato ◽  
Emile Lemey ◽  
Gui Menezes ◽  
Christopher K. Pham ◽  
Joana Brito ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Web ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
Open Ocean ◽  
Ecosystem Structure ◽  
Ne Atlantic

scholarly journals Differences regarding Branded HA in Italy, Part 2: Data from Clinical Studies on Knee, Hip, Shoulder, Ankle, Temporomandibular Joint, Vertebral Facets, and Carpometacarpal Joint

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. CMAMD.S39143 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Migliore ◽  
E. Bizzi ◽  
O. De Lucia ◽  
A. Delle Sedie ◽  
S. Tropea ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hyaluronic Acid ◽  
Temporomandibular Joint ◽  
Clinical Studies ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Facet Joints ◽  
Carpometacarpal Joint ◽  
Literature Research ◽  
Reporting Data

Objectives The aim of the current study is to collect scientific data on all branded hyaluronic acid (HA) products in Italy that are in use for intra-articular (IA) injection in osteoarthritis (OA) compared with that reported in the leaflet. Methods An extensive literature research was performed for all articles reporting data on the IA use of HA in OA. Selected studies were taken into consideration only if they are related to products based on H As that are currently marketed in Italy with the specific joint indication for IA use in patients affected by OA. Results Sixty-two HA products are marketed in Italy: 30 products are indicated for the knee but only 8 were proved with some efficacy; 9 products were effective for the hip but only 6 had hip indication; 7 products proved to be effective for the shoulder but only 3 had the indication; 5 products proved effective for the ankle but only one had the indication; 6 products were effective for the temporomandibular joint but only 2 had the indication; only 2 proved effective for vertebral facet joints but only 1 had the indication; and 5 products proved effective for the carpometacarpal joint but only 2 had the indication. Conclusions There are only a few products with some evidences, while the majority of products remain without proof Clinicians and regulators should request postmarketing studies from pharmaceuticals to corroborate with that reported in the leaflet and to gather more data, allowing the clinicians to choose the adequate product for the patient.

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