{"id":15,"date":"2017-04-05T12:17:26","date_gmt":"2017-04-05T16:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/staff\/template-blue-prepop\/?page_id=15"},"modified":"2025-04-26T16:58:51","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T20:58:51","slug":"deep-ocean","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www2.whoi.edu\/staff\/sbeaulieu\/projects\/deep-ocean\/","title":{"rendered":"Biodiversity in the deep ocean"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Biodiversity in the deep ocean<\/h1>\n
\"tubeworms

Tubeworms, crabs, and other fauna at a hydrothermal vent on the East Pacific Rise, as photographed through HOV Alvin’s viewport (LADDER 1 cruise, WHOI)<\/p><\/div>\n

My work in deep-sea biodiversity addresses “species” and “habitats” (the same two sub-goals of the biodiversity goal of the Ocean Health Index). For “species,” my expertise is mainly benthic invertebrates. For “habitats,” in the past 2 decades I have focused on deep-sea hydrothermal vent fields. I co-authored the chapter on vents and seeps for the first United Nations World Ocean Assessment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Current projects<\/h2>\n

Hydrothermal vents on the East Pacific Rise (EPR)<\/h3>\n

Our current project at the EPR is “Collaborative Research: Life after Death: Do Inactive Sulfides Fuel a Unique Ecosystem at the Deep Seafloor?,” funded by the National Science Foundation.<\/p>\n

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Previous projects<\/h2>\n

Trajectories in functional diversity after disturbance at vents on the East Pacific Rise<\/h3>\n

Our previous project at the EPR funded by the National Science Foundation. Cruises for this project included AT42-21 with HOV Alvin in Dec. 2019<\/a>. Click for NSF Award and Project Outcomes 2019-2023<\/a><\/p>\n

Hydrothermal vents in the Pescadero Basin<\/h3>\n

This project funded by the Dalio Explore Fund included a research cruise in Nov. 2017<\/a> to hydrothermal vents in the Pescadero Basin, Gulf of California.<\/p>\n

Global distribution of submarine hydrothermal vent fields<\/h3>\n

InterRidge Global Database of Active Submarine Hydrothermal Vent Fields Version 3.4 published in PANGAEA<\/a><\/p>\n

Ecosystem services from deep-sea hydrothermal vents<\/h3>\n

Funded by The Joint Initiative Awards Fund from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, I co-authored a chapter in Natural Capital and Exploitation of the Deep Ocean<\/a>\u00a0and co-presented a session titled “(When) Should We Mine the Seafloor?” at the 2017 AAAS Annual Meeting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

RAPID: Larval Abundance, Behavior and Dispersal at Deep-sea Hydrothermal Vents in the Southern Mariana Trough<\/h3>\n

I participated on R\/V Yokosuka cruise YK10-11 with HOV Shinkai 6500<\/a> in 2010 and by telepresence on a NOAA Okeanos Explorer cruise in 2016<\/a>. Click for NSF Award and Project Outcomes 2010-2012<\/a><\/p>\n

\"octocoral

A stalked octocoral, perhaps a seapen with an isopod on it, and polymetallic nodules at 5000-m depth at H2O. (K. Smith, MBARI, and S. Beaulieu, WHOI)<\/p><\/div>\n

Benthos at abyssal depths under the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre<\/h3>\n

Biodiversity at hydrothermal vents on the Galapagos Rift<\/h3>\n

“Life under glass houses” (sediment communities at Station M)<\/h3>\n

“Life on glass houses” (glass sponge communities at Station M)<\/h3>\n

Zooplankton in Monterey Canyon<\/h3>\n

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Funding Agencies<\/h3>\n

Recent deep-sea research funding from the National Science Foundation<\/a> and the Dalio Explore Fund<\/p>\n\t

Collaborators<\/h3>\n

Recent deep-sea research collaborators include:<\/p>\n

Mullineaux lab<\/a><\/p>\n

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Interviews<\/h3>\n