Ever since deep-sea hydrothermal vents and methane seeps were first discovered in the deep ocean more than 40 years ago, scientists have wondered how these isolated communities, fully dependent on underwater “islands” of toxic chemicals, are first colonized by organisms, and how the populations of these specialized animals are exchanged and maintained. These fundamental processes depend on the transport of babies (larvae) by the ocean currents, yet because the larvae are microscopic and diluted in the vastness of the ocean, it is very difficult to determine where and how they drift……until now!
The Larval Lab and our friends at the University of Oregon and North Carolina State University are embarking on a 3 year project to figure out where the babies of deep-sea cold-seep animals go. Our project uses a combination of underwater robots to collect larvae in the field, rearing and observing the larvae of deep-sea animals in the lab, and mathematical models to show how biology interacts with ocean currents to predict which methane seeps will be colonized by larvae originating at different depths.
Follow our research cruises here!