The fauna of hydrothermal vents on the Mohn Ridge (North Atlantic)

The influence of vent systems on pelagic eukaryotic micro-organism composition in the Nordic Seas

“…4). Sea water and plume chemistry have been investigated thoroughly in other studies (Pedersen et al 2005;Sauter et al 2006;Pedersen et al 2010a;Schander et al 2010;Baumberger 2011;Tandberg et al 2011;Jørgensen et al 2012;Kongsrud and Rapp 2012;Stensland 2013), and further discussion related to chemistry will therefore follow below. Five groups dominated the three different water masses (Alveolata, Rhizaria, Protozoa, Metazoa and Heterokonta), but the internal proportion within a given sample varied.…”

“…Indeed, vent and seep systems can have a high productivity, both benthic and pelagic, compared to the surrounding water masses (Van Dover(2005) and Loki's Castle (2008); in addition, the cold seep Håkon Mosby Mud Volcano was included based on the high methane concentrations in the water column (online resource 2). Since the discovery, several studies (Pedersen et al 2005(Pedersen et al , 2010aLichtschlag et al 2010;Schander et al 2010;Baumberger 2011;Tandberg et al 2011;Jørgensen et al 2012;Kongsrud and Rapp 2012;Stensland 2013) have described the geochemistry, benthic fauna and prokaryote sediment community of both the hydrothermal vents and Håkon Mosby Mud Volcano. However, the protist community in these systems remains largely undescribed despite its importance as a link towards higher trophic levels.…”

Exitomelita sigynae gen. et sp. nov.: a new amphipod from the Arctic Loki Castle vent field with potential gill ectosymbionts

“…Other amphipods reported in lower numbers at Atlantic vent sites include the families Amphilochidae, Stegocephalidae, Leucothoidae, Oedicerotidae, Phoxocephalidae, Pleustidae, Podoceridae, and Stenothoidae (Bellan-Santini and Thurston 1996;Bellan-Santini 2005, 2006, 2007Schander et al 2010). The amphipod fauna of hydrothermal vents normally does not include melitids or maerids, with the exception of Bathyceradocus wuzzae found near, but not on, the Wuzza Bare Mount vent field in the NE Pacific (Larsen and Krapp-Schickel 2007).…”

“…While hydrothermal vent systems at fast spreading ridges (e.g., The East Pacific Rise) have received the most attention so far, hydrothermal ecosystems at slow and ultra-slow spreading ridges are very poorly studied (Schander et al 2010). The Loki's Castle vent field at 2,350 m depth on the Mohn-Knipovich Ridge north of Jan Mayen in the Norwegian Sea was the first black smoker vent field to be discovered on an ultra-slow spreading ridge and the first along the Arctic ridge system .…”

“…Earlier studies on shallow vent sites on the ridge system north of Iceland and around Jan Mayen have shown that the fauna is dominated by shallow water and bathyal species from the surrounding waters, with just a few examples of species adapted to live at hydrothermal vent systems (Fricke et al 1989;Schander et al 2010). Recent expeditions to study the marine biology at Loki's Castle have revealed a completely different picture of Arctic vent ecosystems with the fauna characterized by a high degree of endemism and local adaptation Kongsrud and Rapp 2011) and reveal closer links to Pacific vent faunas compared to vent sites in the Atlantic south of Iceland .…”