TY - JOUR
T1 - Community composition and temporal change at deep Gulf of Mexico cold seeps
AU - Lessard-Pilon, Stephanie
AU - Porter, Matthew D.
AU - Cordes, Erik E.
AU - MacDonald, Ian
AU - Fisher, Charles R.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study would not have been possible without the expertise and efforts of the pilots of the DSV ALVIN and the ROV JASON, as well as the captains and crews of the R.V. Atlantis and the NOAA ship Ronald H. Brown. The authors thank R. Carney (Louisiana State University) for identification of sea cucumbers and urchins, Chris Mah (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History) for identification of sea stars, and S. Ross (University of North Carolina, Wilmington) for identification of fishes. This research was supported by funding from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) Contract # 1435-01-05-39187 , “Investigations of Chemosynthetic Communities on the Lower Continental Slope of the Gulf of Mexico (CHEMO III),” with vessel and submergence facilities support provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research.
Copyright:
Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2010/11
Y1 - 2010/11
N2 - Specialized cold-seep communities have been known to exist in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) since the mid-1980s, but only recently has extensive research been carried out on sites at depths >1000. m. This study uses a combination of imagery and analyses within a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) framework to examine the composition of mussel and tubeworm communities at depths between 2200 and 2800. m in the Gulf of Mexico, spatial relations among the fauna, and changes in these communities over time. Photomosaics at three discrete seep communities were obtained in 2006 and a video mosaic of another community was obtained in 1992. Each of these communities was re-imaged in 2007. In addition, quantitative physical collections were made within two of the photomosaic sites and used to confirm the identification of megafauna, quantify the occurrence of smaller and cryptic macrofauna, and allow first-order calculations of biomass within the sites. Substrate type had a significant effect on community composition. Significant associations were identified between live mussels with anemones, shrimp, and sea cucumbers, and between tubeworm aggregations and Munidopsis sp. crabs and encrusting fauna, indicating differences in the composition of megafauna associated with adjacent mussel and tubeworm aggregations. Little change was seen in the total area colonized by foundation fauna (tubeworms and mussels) between years at any site. However, significant changes occurred in the positions of mussels, even over periods of a single year, at all sites, and evidence for the establishment of new tubeworm aggregations between 1992 and 2007 was noted at one site. These photomosaics provide data suggesting that environmental conditions can change over small spatial and temporal scales and mussels move in response to these changes. The successional trends are examined and compared to the patterns that have been documented in shallow (<1000-m depth) Gulf of Mexico seep communities.
AB - Specialized cold-seep communities have been known to exist in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) since the mid-1980s, but only recently has extensive research been carried out on sites at depths >1000. m. This study uses a combination of imagery and analyses within a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) framework to examine the composition of mussel and tubeworm communities at depths between 2200 and 2800. m in the Gulf of Mexico, spatial relations among the fauna, and changes in these communities over time. Photomosaics at three discrete seep communities were obtained in 2006 and a video mosaic of another community was obtained in 1992. Each of these communities was re-imaged in 2007. In addition, quantitative physical collections were made within two of the photomosaic sites and used to confirm the identification of megafauna, quantify the occurrence of smaller and cryptic macrofauna, and allow first-order calculations of biomass within the sites. Substrate type had a significant effect on community composition. Significant associations were identified between live mussels with anemones, shrimp, and sea cucumbers, and between tubeworm aggregations and Munidopsis sp. crabs and encrusting fauna, indicating differences in the composition of megafauna associated with adjacent mussel and tubeworm aggregations. Little change was seen in the total area colonized by foundation fauna (tubeworms and mussels) between years at any site. However, significant changes occurred in the positions of mussels, even over periods of a single year, at all sites, and evidence for the establishment of new tubeworm aggregations between 1992 and 2007 was noted at one site. These photomosaics provide data suggesting that environmental conditions can change over small spatial and temporal scales and mussels move in response to these changes. The successional trends are examined and compared to the patterns that have been documented in shallow (<1000-m depth) Gulf of Mexico seep communities.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.dsr2.2010.05.012
DO - 10.1016/j.dsr2.2010.05.012
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:78349239388
SN - 0967-0645
VL - 57
SP - 1891
EP - 1903
JO - Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography
JF - Deep-Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography
IS - 21-23
ER -