The main goal of WP1 is to characterize the diversity and distribution of the different benthic habitat types present along the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge.
Arctic deep-sea ecosystems host diverse, unique and vulnerable habitat types, including hydrothermal vents along the mid-ocean ridge and sponge grounds on seamounts. These habitats are reservoirs of (largely unknown) biodiversity, sources of compounds of biotechnological interest, and providers of important services to humankind. But they are also located in areas where seabed mineral deposits occur.
However, our knowledge about deep-sea ecosystems is still insufficient to predict potential loss of biodiversity from seabed mining. To be able to preserve vulnerable habitats from environmental impacts caused by human activities such as seabed mining, it is crucial to conduct baseline surveys prior to the start of those activities. One of the important components of a robust baseline is a comprehensive understanding of which species of organisms are present, how they associate to form distinctive biological communities or habitats, and how the different habitats are geographically distributed.
This Work Package is aimed to answer the following questions:
- What is the structure and distribution of the different benthic habitat types present in deep-sea areas considered for mineral extraction?
- What are the environmental factors influencing the distribution of those habitats?
- Are biological communities living on inactive seafloor massive sulphide deposits unique?
- Which areas should be protected from mining activities due to the presence of vulnerable or rare deep-sea habitats?
Methods used:
- Visual transects and sampling with Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) Ægir6000
- Image analysis
- Multicore and box-core sampling
- Molecular methods: DNA barcoding and metabarcoding, metagenomics
- Habitat mapping