Project: The Underworld of Hydrothermal Vents

Since the discovery of deep-sea hydrothermal vents in 1977, scientists realize that life exists above and below the seafloor. The extent to which they are interconnected, however, remains poorly understood. We propose to characterize subsurface biosphere diversity, from viruses to animals, at deep-sea hydrothermal vents to elucidate the nature and extent of connectivity between the surficial and subsurface biospheres. We will test the hypotheses that 1) eukaryotic life is also an integral component of the subseafloor biosphere; 2) the subseafloor is inhabited by both cosmopolitan and endemic protists and fungi; and 3) the subseafloor habitats harbor larvae -and perhaps adult life stages- of vent endemic animals. This research will transform our understanding of the ecology/evolution of subseafloor habitats and our thinking about animal recruitment at deep-sea vents. Consistent with SOI's mission, we will expand our knowledge of limits of eukaryotic life. During a three-week cruise with R/V Falkor and ROV SuBastian to "East Pacific Rise" vents at the 9º50'N region, we will use in situ and lab experiments, molecular identification with amplicon sequencing, Illumina NextSeq 500 technology, 2bRAD population genetic analyses, and RT qPCR for functional analyses. Our data management plan includes deposition of metadata/samples to long-term repositories. Outreach includes inquiry-learning telepresence programs for children from USA and Europe.