The research project takes opportunistic advantage of a major field program led by colleagues in the UK in 2009 and 2010, to locate and investigate the first chemosynthetic ecosystems (hydrothermal vents and cold-seeps) in the Southern Ocean. These systems are increasingly recognized as a potential "gateway" or "barrier" to gene flow between three distinct biogeographic vent-faunal provinces: the East Pacific Rise, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Central/SW Indian Ridge system. The P.I.s have identified sites where high-temperature hydrothermal venting exists to within a few (<5) kilometers. The proposed effort will precisely locate, characterize and sample these systems during a first UK research cruise in Jan 2009. During the second year of the project, the P.I.s will engage in sampling key biological, geological and geochemical components of these systems. The research will help to determine colonization mechanisms of Southern Ocean ridge systems, includeing 1) Colonization by "EPR-province" fauna, driven primarily by hydrography; 2) Colonization from the "Atlantic" or "Indian" fauna, driven by the tectonic history of plate movements; 3) Independent, in situ evolution of novel life forms. The results will contribute significantly to understanding the evolution and ecology of chemosynthetic fauna in the Southern Ocean and, indeed, worldwide.
The project will support the PhD of a WHOI/MIT Joint Program (Biology) student , and will contribute to the goals of the Census of Marine Life's ChEss program (Chemosynthetic Ecosystems). The investigators will use multi-lingual outreach activities that those programs afford in addition to those already established (e.g. Student Experiments at Sea through the NSF Ridge2000 Program and Dive & Discover). The combination of extremes involved, i.e. chemically fuelled deep-ocean ecosystems and the remote Southern Ocean, will capture the public's imagination, and will include involvement in a new major exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution.
