Award: OCE-1031050

Since their discovery, deep-sea chemosynthetic ecosystems have been important systems within which to test the generality of paradigms developed for shallow-water species. This study allowed us to explore scale-dependent genetic diversity in populations of deep-sea seep species, and to identify key factors underlying population persistence and maintenance of biodiversity in these patchy systems. We built capacity (knowledge and expertise) in studying spatial and temporal scales of connectivity and the oceanographic and life-history processes that underlie genetic subdivision in the deep sea that is critical in light of emergent policy regimes in both Exclusive Economic Zones and on the High Seas related to marine conservation. We adopted a seascape genetic approach that advanced beyond the state-of-the-art through inclusion of biophysical modeling, observations of larval biology and ecology, and a comprehensive suite of molecular tools. The goal of this study was to contribute to our understanding of how invertebrate taxa that are endemic to chemosynthetic ecosystems may be connected through dispersion in evolutionary time and dispersal in ecological time. In this multi-institutional, multidisciplinary project, a team of geneticists, benthic ecologists, larval ecologists, and physical oceanographers completed three major field expeditions using submersibles, remotely operated vehicles, and autonomous vehicles to chemosynthetic ecosystems of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and Western Atlantic Margin. We are using population genetic tools to explore the genetic diversity and relatedness of tubeworms, mussels, brittlestars, and other taxa in the western Atlantic. Among our advances was the development of a bioinformatic pipeline to manage and analyze gene sequences from dozens of loci. This pipeline is now being applied to clams and mussels that we sampled during our field expeditions to document how genetic diversity varies among populations across the geographic range of a species. This genetic structure will be interpreted within the context of high-resolution, 3-D regional oceanographic transport models developed independently by our collaborators. We also explored the history of dispersion of two clam taxa from the Pacific into the Atlantic and their subsequent speciation. As we worked with our colleagues studying larval ecology, we came to appreciate the need for a precision larval sampling tool that could be deployed very near the seabed as well as in the water column. For nearly half a century, opening-closing nets towed by a surface ship have been the standard tools for sampling zooplankton. These nets capture zooplankton in the water column through oblique tows from about 100 m above the seabed to the surface – any one tow typically integrates zooplankton across very broad (100-200 m) depth intervals. Our collaboration with engineers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution led to an entirely new kind of zooplankton sampler designed for use by the autonomous vehicle Sentry. The zooplankton sampling system, known as "SyPRID" (Sentry Precision Robotic Impeller Driven), can be deployed 1.5 m above the seabed and can also sample with precision any specified depth in the water column, with simultaneous measurement of environmental parameters (e.g., dissolved oxygen, temperature, salinity, etc.). In addition to the undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral interdisciplinary training undertaken during the project, a highlight of the broader impact was the engagement of artists at sea. Outcomes of this work include an on-line exhibition "Art & Science: Envisioning Ocean Depths" (http://oceanography.ml.duke.edu/discovery/) and "Two Miles Deep", a video by cartoonist Jim Toomey (Sherman?s Lagoon; https://vimeo.com/133530590). During our 2015 expedition, we discovered a 19th century shipwreck in more than 2000m off the coast of North Carolina; the location of the discovery was shared with NOAAs Maritime Heritage Program and the find became a worldwide news story (e.g., http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/20/us/shipwreck-discovered-north-carolina-feat/). Last Modified: 10/24/2016 Submitted by: Cindy L Van Dover Data products from this project are archived in the Biological & Chemical Oceanography Data Management (BCO-DMO) System: http://www.bco-dmo.org/project/2270. Last Modified: 12/02/2016 Submitted by: Cindy L Van Dover