factors that allow orgnisms to survive in the abyssal plains

This may change in the near future with prospected deep-seabed mining, a commercial activity that will extract polymetallic nodules from the seabed for their metal content 2. We conclude that polymetallic nodules are critical for food-web integrity and that their absence will likely result in reduced local benthic biodiversity.Ībyssal plains, the deep seafloor between 30 m water depth, have been relatively untouched by anthropogenic impacts due to their extreme depths and distance from continents 1. Subsequent analysis identified stalked glass sponges living attached to the nodules as key structural species that supported a high diversity of associated fauna. We show that knock-down effects of nodule removal resulted in a 17.9% (CCZ) to 20.8% (PB) loss of all taxa and 22.8% (PB) to 30.6% (CCZ) loss of network links. The CCZ interaction web included 1028 compartments connected with 59,793 links and the PB interaction web consisted of 342 compartments and 8044 links.

Here, we use seafloor imagery and published literature to develop highly-resolved trophic and non-trophic interaction webs for the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCZ, central Pacific Ocean) and the Peru Basin (PB, South-East Pacific Ocean) and to assess how nodule removal may modify these networks. However, the importance of nodules and their associated sessile fauna in supporting food-web integrity remains unclear.

Deep-seabed mining targets these mineral-rich nodules and will likely modify the consumer-resource (trophic) and substrate-providing (non-trophic) interactions within the abyssal food web.

Polymetallic nodule fields provide hard substrate for sessile organisms on the abyssal seafloor between 30 m water depth.

Factors that allow orgnisms to survive in the abyssal plains