Cold Seep Communities on Continental Margins: Structure and Quantitative Distribution Relative to Geological and Fluid Venting Patterns

来自 Springer

阅读量:

55

作者:

M SibuetOL Roy

展开

摘要:

Cold seep ecosystems occur on active and passive continental margins. Chemosynthesisbased communities depend on autochtonous and local chemical energy and produce organic carbon in large quantities through microbial chemosynthesis. The high organic carbon production leads to the large size of the fauna and the high biomass of the communities. The remarkable abundance of giant tubeworms (vestimentiferans) and large bivalves (i.e. Vesicomyidae, Mytilidae and others) is one of the most striking features of such communities and one of the best indicators or tracers of fluid emissions at the seafloor. Cold seep communities are known since about 15 years and have shown that the chemoautotrophy and many symbiont containing organisms are not unique to hydrothermal vents. Ecosystem characteristics and functioning in continental margin habitats are incompletely understood and we do not know how detritus and chemosynthesis-based ecosystems interact. There is a clear need of more field investigations. But with progress in deep-sea submersible technology, our understanding continues to grow. Following a recent review that focused on biogeographical trends and comparisons with hydrothermal vent communities (Sibuet and Olu 1998), we review here the ecology of chemosynthesis-based communities from several cold seep areas. Our synthesis addresses biodiversity and abundance fluctuations and distribution patterns linked to geological and fluid venting features. The diversity of the "symbiotic" fauna expressed as species richness decreases with ocean depth. Species composition is an indicator of the biotope variability. The spatial extension of active seep areas is highly variable from hundreds of square meters to several hectares. Three distinct categories of cold seep sites are recognised. The shape, density and biomass of aggregations reflect the intensity of fluid flow, and characterise fluid circulation and different expulsion pathways through geological structures.

展开

出版时间:

2002

ISBN:

978-3-642-07872-9

被引量:

156

通过文献互助平台发起求助,成功后即可免费获取论文全文。

相似文献

引证文献

同作者

来源图书

Ocean Margin Systems
2002

引用走势

2010
被引量:24

站内活动

辅助模式

0

引用

文献可以批量引用啦~
欢迎点我试用!

关于我们

百度学术集成海量学术资源,融合人工智能、深度学习、大数据分析等技术,为科研工作者提供全面快捷的学术服务。在这里我们保持学习的态度,不忘初心,砥砺前行。
了解更多>>

友情链接

百度云百度翻译

联系我们

合作与服务

期刊合作 图书馆合作 下载产品手册

©2025 Baidu 百度学术声明 使用百度前必读

引用