New MIDAS publications

Two new scientific publications drawing on research conducted in MIDAS have been recently published.

The MIDAS team at the Senckenberg Research Institute in Germany, together with colleagues at Ifremer, have published results from a study of variation in the genetic diversity and broad-scale connectivity of isopods and polychaetes resident in the Clarion Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean. Using a reverse taxonomy approach based on DNA barcoding, they tested the extent to which distance and large-scale changes in environmental parameters lead to differentiation in these two macrofaunal taxa, which exhibit different functions and life-history patterns. Assessing the geographic range of species and understanding the processes underlying species distributions are vital for conservation planning and predicting faunal responses to changing environmental conditions, such as seafloor disturbance as a result of deep-sea mining.

Janssen A, Kaiser S, Meißner K, Brenke N, Menot L, Martínez Arbizu P (2015) A Reverse Taxonomic Approach to Assess Macrofaunal Distribution Patterns in Abyssal Pacific Polymetallic Nodule Fields. PLoS ONE 10(2): e0117790. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0117790

Physical oceanographers at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) in the UK have published the results of a study on the complex interaction between tidal mixing processes and deep-ocean topography. Using a site at the mid-Atlantic ridge, they used time series temperature and current data to examine the flux and flow in the water column in response to tide and local topography. Understanding this relationship is critical in assessing the potential spread and dilution of sediment plumes generated by deep-sea mining.

Dale, A. C., and M. E. Inall (2015), Tidal mixing processes amid small-scale, deep-ocean topography, Geophys. Res. Lett., 42, doi:10.1002/2014GL062755.