Megabenthic assemblages at the southern Central Indian Ridge – Spatial segregation of inactive hydrothermal vents from active-, periphery- and non-vent sites

Megabenthic assemblages at the southern Central Indian Ridge – Spatial segregation of inactive hydrothermal vents from active-, periphery- and non-vent sites

Active hydrothermal vents are small-scale habitats hosting endemic fauna in a well-defined zonation around fluid effluents. The fauna of inactive hydrothermal vents and its relation to active vents and non-vent area is poorly known. Characterizing inactive areas is prerequisite to establish protecte...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine environmental research Vol. 151; p. 104776
Main Authors: Gerdes, K.H., Martínez Arbizu, P., Schwentner, M., Freitag, R., Schwarz-Schampera, U., Brandt, A., Kihara, T.C.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01-10-2019
Elsevier BV
Subjects:
Active hydrothermal vent
Animals
Biodiversity
Cluster analysis
Clustering
Ecosystem
Effluents
Fauna
Faunal assemblage
GIS mapping
Hydrothermal plumes
Hydrothermal springs
Hydrothermal Vents
Inactive hydrothermal vent
Megafauna
Mining
Ocean floor
Photograph and video imagery
Protected areas
Redundancy
Segregation
Southern central indian ridge
Substrates
Sulfide
Sulfides
Sulphides
Underwater exploration
Vents
Zonation
Inactive hydrothermal vent
Faunal assemblage
Active hydrothermal vent
Southern central indian ridge
Megafauna
Photograph and video imagery
GIS mapping
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Active hydrothermal vents are small-scale habitats hosting endemic fauna in a well-defined zonation around fluid effluents. The fauna of inactive hydrothermal vents and its relation to active vents and non-vent area is poorly known. Characterizing inactive areas is prerequisite to establish protected areas, especially in the context of potential seafloor massive sulfide mining, which targets inactive sites. Hierarchical clustering and Distance-based Redundancy Analysis revealed five assemblages, with significantly associated substrate types: I) active hydrothermal vent, II) periphery, III) inactive hydrothermal vent and IV) soft- and V) hard-substrate within the non-vent area. For the first time, a unique inactive faunal assemblage could be identified within the hydrothermally extinct inactive Gauss field and on adjacent hard substrates. The spatial separation from the active Edmond field and periphery and the non-vent area indicates the existence of an inactive assemblage. •Five faunal assemblages linked to active vent, periphery, inactive vent and the non-vent soft- and hard substrates.•Delineation of inactive faunal assemblage from inactive parts in active vent, periphery and non-vent hard substrates.•Inactive sulfide deposits inhabited by distinct faunal assemblage without endemic taxa.•Establishment of Marine Protected Areas needs to include inactive hydrothermal vents.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0141-1136
1879-0291
DOI:10.1016/j.marenvres.2019.104776