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Mid-ocean ridges generate a myriad of physical oceanographic processes that favor the supply of food and nutrients to suspension- and filter-feeding organisms, such as cold-water corals and deep-sea sponges. However, the pioneering work conducted along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge failed to report the presence of large and dense living coral reefs, coral gardens, or sponge aggregations. Here, we describe the densest, near-natural, and novel octocoral garden composed of large red and white colonies of Paragorgia johnsoni Gray, 1862 discovered at 545-595 m depth on the slopes of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, in the Azores region. This newly discovered octocoral garden is a good candidate for protection since it fits many of the FAO criteria that define what constitutes a Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem. The observations described here corroborate the existence of a close relationship between the octocoral structure and the ambient currents on ridge-like topographies, providing new insights into the functioning of mid-ocean ridges' ecosystems. The ubiquitous presence of biogenic and geological topographies associated with mid-ocean ridges, which could act as climate refugia, suggests their global importance for deep-sea biodiversity. A better understanding of the processes involved is, therefore, required. Our observations may inspire future deep-sea research initiatives to narrow existing knowledge gaps of biophysical connections with benthic fauna at small spatial scales along mid-ocean ridges., Competing Interests: All authors declare that they have no competing or conflicts of interest., (© 2021 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Nineteen species of the deep-water fish family Macrouridae inhabit the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) of the North Atlantic. Size and age structure, longevity and length at age were explored for seven of the more abundant species: Coryphaenoides armatus, Coryphaenoides brevibarbis, Coryphaenoides carapinus, Coryphaenoides guentheri, Coryphaenoides mediterraneus, Coryphaenoides rupestris and Macrourus berglax. The otoliths from these species had growth increments resembling those accepted as annuli in other deep-water species for which validation experiments have been conducted. Based on the counts of these growth increments, age estimates were derived as the basis for studies of age structure, growth and longevity. All the species appeared to have relatively low growth rates, but the interspecific variation in longevity illustrates that there is a considerable variation within the family and among species inhabiting the same deep-sea environment. Most of the species likely complete full life cycles on the MAR, but it is probable that both the youngest and the largest-oldest individuals of some of the species were not sampled adequately., (© 2021 The Authors. Journal of Fish Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Fisheries Society of the British Isles.)

So far, the natural recovery of vent communities at large scales has only been evaluated at fast spreading centers, by monitoring faunal recolonisation after volcanic eruptions. However, at slow spreading ridges, opportunities to observe natural disturbances are rare, the overall hydrothermal system being more stable. In this study, we implemented a novel experimental approach by inducing a small-scale disturbance to assess the recovery potential of vent communities along the slow-spreading northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge (nMAR). We followed the recovery patterns of thirteen Bathymodiolus azoricus mussel assemblages colonising an active vent edifice at the Lucky Strike vent field, in relation to environmental conditions and assessed the role of biotic interactions in recolonisation dynamics. Within 2 years after the disturbance, almost all taxonomic richness had recovered, with the exception of a few low occurrence species. However, we observed only a partial recovery of faunal densities and a major change in faunal composition characterised by an increase in abundance of gastropod species, which are hypothesised to be the pioneer colonists of these habitats. Although not significant, our results suggest a potential role of mobile predators in early-colonisation stages. A model of post-disturbance succession for nMAR vent communities from habitat opening to climax assemblages is proposed, also highlighting numerous knowledge gaps. This type of experimental approach, combined with dispersal and connectivity analyses, will contribute to fully assess the resilience of active vent communities after a major disturbance, especially along slow spreading centers targeted for seafloor massive sulphide extraction., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

For over 40 years, hydrothermal vents and the communities that thrive on them have been a source of profound discovery for deep-sea ecologists. These ecosystems are found throughout the world on active plate margins as well as other geologically active features. In addition to their ecologic interest, hydrothermal vent fields are comprised of metallic ores, sparking a nascent industry that aims to mine these metal-rich deposits for their mineral wealth. Here, we provide the first systematic assessment of macrofaunal and megafaunal biodiversity at hydrothermal vents normalized against research effort. Cruise reports from scientific expeditions as well as other literature were used to characterize the extent of exploration, determine the relative biodiversity of different biogeographic provinces, identify knowledge gaps related to the distribution of research effort, and prioritize targets for additional sampling to establish biodiversity baselines ahead of potential commercial exploitation. The Northwest Pacific, Southwest Pacific, and Southern Ocean biogeographic provinces were identified as high biodiversity using rarefaction of family-level incidence data, whereas the North East Pacific Rise, Northern East Pacific, Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and Indian Ocean provinces had medium biodiversity, and the Mid-Cayman Spreading Center was identified as a province of relatively low biodiversity. A North/South divide in the extent of biological research and the targets of hydrothermal vent mining prospects was also identified. Finally, we provide an estimate of sampling completeness for each province to inform scientific and stewardship priorities., Competing Interests: Andrew Thaler is the founder and CEO of Blackbeard Biologic: Science and Environmental Advisors. Diva Amon is the founder and Director of SpeSeas.

The Chain Fracture Zone is a 300-km-long transform fault that offsets the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. We analyzed new multibeam bathymetry, backscatter, gravity, and magnetic data with 100% multibeam bathymetric data over the active transform valley and adjacent spreading segments as part of the Passive Imaging of the Lithosphere Asthenosphere Boundary (PI-LAB) Experiment. Analyses of these data sets allow us to determine the history and mode of crustal formation and the tectonic evolution of the transform system and adjacent ridges over the past 20 Myr. We model the total field magnetic anomaly to determine the age of the crust along the northern ridge segment to better establish the timing of the variations in the seafloor fabric and the tectonic-magmatic history of the region. Within the active transform fault zone, we observe four distinct positive flower structures with several en échelon fault scarps visible in the backscatter data. We find up to -10 mGal residual Mantle Bouguer Anomaly in the region of the largest positive flower structure within the transform zone suggesting crustal thickening relative to the crustal thinning typically observed in fracture zones in the Atlantic. The extensional/compressional features observed in the Chain Transform are less pronounced than those observed further north in the Vema, St. Paul, and Romanche and may be due to local ridge segment adjustments.

The indigenous oil-degrading bacterial consortia MARA and MARB were enriched from the deep-sea sediments of South Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) with crude oil as sole carbon and energy sources. Biodiversity and community analyses showed that members of α-Proteobacteria were the key players in consortium MARA, whereas those of γ-Proteobacteria were the key players in consortium MARB, which were studied by MiSeq sequencing method. Gravimetric method estimated the oil degradation rates of MARA and MARB to be 63.4% and 85.8%, respectively, after 20d. Eleven cultivable oil degraders with different morphologies were isolated. These strains were identified as Alcanivorax, Bacillus, Dietzia, Erythrobacter, Marinobacter, Nitratireductor, and Oceanicola based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. Three strains belonging to Dietzia exhibited the highest oil degradation capability. Results indicated that the intrinsic biodegradation capacity of oil contaminants by indigenous microbial communities exists in South MAR sediments., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Strains MAR441T and MAR445 were isolated from Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) sediments with a depth of 2,734 m, and found to be member of the genus Shewanella. The strains were rod shaped, pigmented, non-motile, and capable of anaerobic growth either by fermentation of carbohydrates or by anaerobic respiration. The strains utilized a variety of electron acceptors, including nitrate and ferric compounds and could utilize peptone when grown anaerobically in a two-chambered microbial fuel cell (MFC), which use carbon cloth electrodes and deliver a stable power output of ~150-200 mW/m2. The major fatty acids were typical of the genus Shewanella, with major components of C13:0, iso-C13:0, iso-C15:0, C16:0, C16:1ω7c, C18:1ω7c and C20:5ω3 fatty acids. The DNA G+C content of strains MAR441T and MAR445 were 42.4 mol %. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that strains MAR441T and MAR445 were most closely related to Shewanella olleyana (sequence similarities 97.9 %). DNA-DNA hybridization demonstrated only 15.6-37.2 % relatedness between strain MAR441T and the type strains of related Shewanella species. Phenotypic characteristics confirmed that these isolates constituted a novel species of the genus Shewanella. The type strain of Shewanella dovemarinensis is MAR441T (=ATCC BAA-2408 T =DSM24955 T)., (Copyright © 2014, the Society for General Microbiology.)

Hydrothermal vent mussels of the genus Bathymodiolus are ideally positioned for the use of recording hydrothermal fluxes at the hydrothermal vent sites they inhabit. Barium, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Mo, Pb, Sr, and U concentrations in tissue sections of Bathymodiolus mussels from several hydrothermal fields between 15°N and 9°S at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge were determined and compared to the surrounding fluids and solid substrates in the habitats. Elements generally enriched in hydrothermal fluids, such as Fe, Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd, were significantly enriched in the gills and digestive glands of the hydrothermal mussels. The rather small variability of Zn (and Mn) and positive correlation with K and earth alkaline metals may indicate a biological regulation of accumulation. Enrichments of Mo and U in many tissue samples indicate that particulate matter such as hydrothermal mineral particles from the plumes can play a more important role as a metal source than dissolved metals. Highest enrichments of Cu in mussels from the Golden Valley site indicate a relation to the ≥400 °C hot heavy-metal rich fluids emanating in the vicinity. In contrast, mussels from the low-temperature Lilliput field are affected by the Fe oxyhydroxide sediment of their habitat. In a comparison of two different sites within the Logatchev field metal distributions in the tissues reflected small-scale local variations in the metal content of the fluids and the particulate material., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)