Award Abstract # 1536331
Collaborative Research: Ecosystem dynamics of Western Pacific hydrothermal vent communities associated with polymetallic sulfide deposits

NSF Org: OCE
Division Of Ocean Sciences
Recipient: WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION
Initial Amendment Date: August 27, 2015
Latest Amendment Date: November 17, 2017
Award Number: 1536331
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: Daniel J. Thornhill
dthornhi@nsf.gov
 (703)292-8143
OCE
 Division Of Ocean Sciences
GEO
 Directorate For Geosciences
Start Date: December 1, 2015
End Date: February 28, 2018 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $360,832.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $360,832.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2015 = $274,675.00
History of Investigator:
  • Jeffrey Seewald (Principal Investigator)
    jseewald@whoi.edu
  • Roxanne Beinart (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Roxanne Beinart (Former Principal Investigator)
  • Jeffrey Seewald (Former Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
266 WOODS HOLE RD
WOODS HOLE
MA  US  02543-1535
(508)289-3542
Sponsor Congressional District: 09
Primary Place of Performance: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole
MA  US  02543-1041
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
09
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): GFKFBWG2TV98
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): BIOLOGICAL OCEANOGRAPHY
Primary Program Source: 01001516DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 1097, 1174, 1319, 8811, 9117
Program Element Code(s): 1650
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.050

ABSTRACT

Hydrothermal vents are common in the Western Pacific, and are markedly different in many geological, geochemical, and biological aspects from the much better known hydrothermal vents on mid-ocean ridges. The processes that structure western Pacific vent communities, such as the extent to which physical and chemical conditions change over time, the dispersal of organisms among hydrothermal vent fields, and the physiological capacities of the symbionts and their animal host are poorly understood. And yet, large-scale industrial mining of polymetallic sulfide deposits at active hydrothermal vents is imminent in the Western Pacific. In 2005 and 2006, 19 long term study sites were established on the Eastern Lau Spreading Center by generating high resolution photomosaics of animal communities in both active and inactive flow areas and on both sulfide chimneys and on lavas, and mapping spatially discrete physical and chemical environmental measurements on to these photomosaics. Revisiting these study sites and acquiring data of comparable resolution in the coming year, combined with detailed studies of the physiology of key species, will significantly increase our understanding of the physiology of the fauna and how these communities respond to change. The resulting data will provide crucial information on the fauna and communities endemic to this region that is critical for predicting and mitigating the effects of mining activities on these ecosystems, and for informing plans for monitoring potential recovery post-mining. To ensure that Western Pacific Islanders are engaged throughout the duration of our program, local scientists will be included in the fieldwork, in-country presentations to students and the general public will be given in association with port stops, and findings will be communicated to local resource managers through the Geoscience Division of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC). The principal investigators are also proponents of fostering greater "open access and collaboration" among oceanographers, and telepresence will be used during this expedition to experiment on two different models of collaboration, which - along with the resulting scientific insights - will be published to disseminate the results of this effort. Finally, in collaboration with the Harvard Museum of Natural History (HMNH), an exhibit module and course curricula will be developed presenting the effects of both natural and anthropogenic disturbance on biodiversity. It will feature high-resolution imagery, animal and mineralogical samples, and deep-sea research technologies. Web-enabled kiosks will allow visitors to delve deeper into the subject material. The HMNH attracts 200,000 visitors each year, including 33,000 students (K-12) and their teachers, as well as visitors from around the world.

The funded interlinked studies of holobiont (symbionts and their animal host) physiology and distribution, community structure and change over time, genetic connectivity, and holobiont ecosystem engineering will significantly increase our understanding of the processes structuring hydrothermal vent ecosystems in general, and those of the Western Pacific in particular. Vent fields in the proposed study area within the Lau Basin are located in relative proximity to one another with no known barriers to biological dispersal and span a pronounced regional gradient in both geological setting and physico-chemical conditions. This natural laboratory, that is home to a significant diversity of vent fauna and where long-term study sites were established a decade ago, presents an opportunity to gain broad new insights into the ecological and physiological characteristics of the vent fauna and the processes that structure these communities. Accordingly, the project will A) determine the rates and patterns of natural physical, chemical, and biological changes at vents in the Lau Basin over a decadal time period by acquiring new high-resolution, co-registered geological, chemical and biological maps and comparing these with data of comparable resolution acquired in 2005, 2006, and 2009; B) evaluate the role of symbiont physiology -in particular their use of key energy sources not previously measured- in the realized distribution of the holobionts by coupling genetic characterization of host and symbionts with shipboard physiological measurements and gene expression studies, and physico-chemical microhabitat characterization; C) quantify the effects of different holobionts on the surrounding environment by coupling repeated spatially integrated measurements of physico-chemical conditions to all collections and; D) assess the influence of genetic connectivity of populations in the Lau Basin on the distribution of holobionts across regional gradients in geology and geochemistry. They will provide new and generally applicable insights on the role of multiple symbionts in both the distribution of their animal hosts and in structuring associated communities. These efforts will also constrain the roles of genetic connectivity, environmental chemistry, and holobiont capabilities in structuring communities along this spreading center. Moreover, through co-registered animal collections and in situ geochemical measurements, the investigators will develop first-order estimates of the extent to which holobiont aggregations affect geochemical flux from diffuse flows, which accounts for ~50% of all vent geochemical flux. Ultimately, this effort will provide critical and robust data on the dynamics of vent fields and communities in the western Pacific biogeographic province, as well as on the underlying physiological and ecological factors governing these patterns.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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Breusing, Corinna and Castel, Jade and Yang, Yi and Broquet, Thomas and Sun, Jin and Jollivet, Didier and Qian, Pei?Yuan and Beinart, Roxanne A. "Global 16S rRNA diversity of provannid snail endosymbionts from Indo?Pacific deep?sea hydrothermal vents" Environmental Microbiology Reports , v.14 , 2022 https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-2229.13051 Citation Details
Breusing, Corinna and Johnson, Shannon B and Tunnicliffe, Verena and Clague, David A and Vrijenhoek, Robert C and Beinart, Roxanne A and Breusing, Corinna "Allopatric and Sympatric Drivers of Speciation in Alviniconcha Hydrothermal Vent Snails" Molecular Biology and Evolution , 2020 https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaa177 Citation Details
Breusing, Corinna and Genetti, Maximilian and Russell, Shelbi L. and Corbett-Detig, Russell B. and Beinart, Roxanne A. "Horizontal transmission enables flexible associations with locally adapted symbiont strains in deep-sea hydrothermal vent symbioses" Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , v.119 , 2022 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2115608119 Citation Details
Breusing, Corinna and Mitchell, Jessica and Delaney, Jennifer and Sylva, Sean P. and Seewald, Jeffrey S. and Girguis, Peter R. and Beinart, Roxanne A. "Physiological dynamics of chemosynthetic symbionts in hydrothermal vent snails" The ISME Journal , v.14 , 2020 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-020-0707-2 Citation Details
Breusing, Corinna and Johnson, Shannon B. and Mitarai, Satoshi and Beinart, Roxanne A. and Tunnicliffe, Verena "Differential patterns of connectivity in Western Pacific hydrothermal vent metapopulations: A comparison of biophysical and genetic models" Evolutionary Applications , v.16 , 2021 https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.13326 Citation Details

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