Publication Date:
2017-11-16
Description:
Since the discovery of dense animal communities associated with deep-sea hydrothermal
venting (Lonsdale 1977), biological knowledge of those animals has accumulated
(Van Dover 2000). Some unique animals associated with vent fields were found to
depend on chemosynthetic primary production (Corliss et al. 1979). Subsequently,
similar chemosynthetic animal assemblages were also discovered associated with
deep-sea methane-seep areas, whale falls, and sunken wood (Pauli et al. 1984; Smith
et al. 1989). To understand the pathways of adaptation to these environments, species
shared between different habitats are of particular interest (Distel et al. 2000; Lorion
et al. 2008). On a global scale, the number of species shared between vents and seeps is less than 10% of the total recorded vent or seep species (e.g. Tunnicliffe et al. 1998,
2003; Sibuet and Olu 1998). In the vent and seep communities around Japan, however,
this figure exceeds 20% (based on a faunal list provided by Fujikura et al. 2008),
although the Identification of species is still in progress. This relatively high abundance
of both vent- and seep-inhabiting species suggests close relationships between vent and
seep communities around Japan. A high similarity between megafaunal communities at
vents and seeps around Japan was already noted by Fujikura et al. (1995); however, that
study was based on species abundances investigated at only a single vent and two
methane-seep communities. To date, at least 55 vent and seep communities have been
discovered around Japan (Fujikura et al. 2008), and further analyses are required to
elucidate the nature of this similarity.
In this chapter, we focus on similarities between megafaunal communities
inhabiting vents and seeps. As Kojima (2002) has already provided an review with
an almost complete list of studies on vent and seep animals around Japan as of
the time of publication, here we only provide brief, essential Information on their
geologic settings and ecologic characteristics. Then, we summarize the species
distributional records with Statistical analyses based on previous studies of those
communities around Japan and discuss their proximity. In addition, we also summarize
recent genetic studies of both vent- and seep-inhabiting species, i.e., three
Calyptogena clams, Lamellibrachia and Paraescarpia tubeworms, and
Bathymodiolus musseis, and discuss the Connectivity among populations of these
species. Finally, we discuss whether the similarity of communities is accompanied
by population Connectivity.
Type:
Book chapter
,
NonPeerReviewed
Format:
text
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