Epizooic metazoan meiobenthos associated with tubeworm and mussel aggregations from cold seeps of the northern Gulf of Mexico

Cold seeps of the deep Gulf of Mexico: Community structure and biogeographic comparisons to Atlantic equatorial belt seep communities

Quantitative collections of tubewormand mussel-associated communities were obtained from 3 cold seep sites in the deep Gulf of Mexico: in Atwater Valley at 1890m depth, in Alaminos Canyon at 2200m depth, and from the Florida Escarpment at 3300m depth. A total of 50 taxa of macroand megafauna were collected including 2 species of siboglinid tubeworms and 3 species of bathymodiolin mussels. In ge...

Modeling the Mutualistic Interactions between Tubeworms and Microbial Consortia

The deep-sea vestimentiferan tubeworm Lamellibrachia luymesi forms large aggregations at hydrocarbon seeps in the Gulf of Mexico that may persist for over 250 y. Here, we present the results of a diagenetic model in which tubeworm aggregation persistence is achieved through augmentation of the supply of sulfate to hydrocarbon seep sediments. In the model, L. luymesi releases the sulfate generat...

Ecology of Cold Seep Sediments: Interactions of Fauna with Flow, Chemistry and Microbes

Cold seeps occur in geologically active and passive continental margins, where pore waters enriched in methane are forced upward through the sediments by pressure gradients. The advective supply of methane leads to dense microbial communities with high metabolic rates. Anaerobic methane oxidation presumably coupled to sulphate reduction facilitates formation of carbonates and, in many places, g...

Microbial Diversity in Sediments and Gas Hydrates Associated with Cold Seeps in the Gulf of Mexico

Jenny Wu Biology 862

Bergquist, Derk C., Urcuyo, Istvan A., & Fisher, Charles R. (2002). Establishment and persistence of seep vestimentiferan aggregations on the upper Louisiana slope of the Gulf of Mexico. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 241, 89-98. The researchers of the Department of Biology at Pennsylvania State University utilized in situ growth rates in addition to relative abundances and size structures of ...