Science | A great variety of animal life has been detected in the depths of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans

For the first time, Dr.Species diversity Extremely high depths of the sea compared to the 20 deep-sea basin in Atlantic oceans s security.

Over the course of 20 years, a research team led by Professor Hartmut Arendt at the Institute of Zoology at the University of Cologne has compiled a data set that allows for the first time to compare the diversity of existing eukaryotes: organisms with the cell nucleus.

Sampling of sediments from depths of 4,000 to 8,350 meters, planting and sequencing of groups located exclusively in the deep sea, and finally, molecular analysis using high-throughput techniques, all this produces a complete picture of the biodiversity in the deep sea.

The The research findings have been published in Communications Biology.

An unexplored world

The sea floor at depths of more than 1,000 meters covers more than 60 percent of the Earth’s surface, making it the majority of the biosphere. However, little is known about the diversity, distribution patterns, and functional significance of organisms in this extreme and giant habitat.

The truth is that climate change, for example, through warming, acidification, or oxygen depletion, is already having an impact on this delicate ecosystem. Moreover, the deep sea is under pressure from the growing interest in extracting raw materials.

Scientists previously assumed that deepwater basins, which have the same low temperature (0-4 ° C), salinity (about 3.6%), high pressure (300-500 bar depending on depth), and very similar sediments, have relatively low species diversity. And so is the same.

Additionally, most of the deep-sea studies to date have focused on specific habitats, such as hydrothermal vents and saltwater lenses. Until now, there has been a lack of data on the diversity of the deep sea plains, which by far make up the majority of the sea floor.

“Using a new approach to shared molecular biology and crop-based studies, we found large and very specific local differences in communities of organisms with little overlap with communities of organisms in coastal areas,” said Dr. Alexandra Schonley in a statement. Study author.

(With information from Europa Press)

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