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Impacts of Deep-Sea Mining on Microbial Ecosystem Services

View ORCID ProfileBeth N. Orcutt, James Bradley, William J. Brazelton, Emily R. Estes, Jacqueline M. Goordial, Julie A. Huber, Rose M. Jones, Nagissa Mahmoudi, Jeffrey J. Marlow, Sheryl Murdock, Maria Pachiadaki
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/463992
Beth N. Orcutt
1Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, 60 Bigelow Drive, East Boothbay, ME, 04544, USA
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  • ORCID record for Beth N. Orcutt
James Bradley
2University of Southern California, Zumberge Hall of Science, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, USA
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William J. Brazelton
3University of Utah, School of Biological Sciences, 257 South 1400 East, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA
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Emily R. Estes
4University of Delaware, College of Earth, Ocean & Environment, 700 Pilottown Road, Lewes, DE, 19958, USA
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Jacqueline M. Goordial
1Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, 60 Bigelow Drive, East Boothbay, ME, 04544, USA
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Julie A. Huber
5Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 266 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA
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Rose M. Jones
1Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, 60 Bigelow Drive, East Boothbay, ME, 04544, USA
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Nagissa Mahmoudi
6Harvard University, Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, 16 Divinity Ave, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
7McGill University, Department of Earth & Planetary Science, 3450 University Street, Montreal, QC, H3A 0E8, Canada
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Jeffrey J. Marlow
6Harvard University, Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, 16 Divinity Ave, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
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Sheryl Murdock
8University of Victoria, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, 3800 Finnerty Road, Victoria, BC, V8W 2Y2, CanadaCanada
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Maria Pachiadaki
1Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, 60 Bigelow Drive, East Boothbay, ME, 04544, USA
5Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 266 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA
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ABSTRACT

Interest in extracting mineral resources from the seafloor through deep-sea mining has accelerated substantially in the past decade, driven by increasing consumer demand for various metals like copper, zinc, manganese, cobalt and rare earth elements. While there are many on-going discussions and studies evaluating potential environmental impacts of deep-sea mining activities, these focus primarily on impacts to animal biodiversity. The microscopic spectrum of life on the seafloor and the services that this microbial realm provides in the deep sea are rarely considered explicitly. In April 2018, a community of scientists met to define the microbial ecosystem services that should be considered when assessing potential impacts of deep-sea mining, and to provide recommendations for how to evaluate these services. Here we show that the potential impacts of mining on microbial ecosystem services in the deep sea vary substantially, from minimal expected impact to complete loss of services that cannot be remedied by protected area offsets. We conclude by recommending that certain types of ecosystems should be “off limits” until initial characterizations can be performed, and that baseline assessments of microbial diversity, biomass, and biogeochemical function need to be considered in environmental impact assessments of all potential instances of deep-sea mining.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
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Posted November 06, 2018.
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Impacts of Deep-Sea Mining on Microbial Ecosystem Services
Beth N. Orcutt, James Bradley, William J. Brazelton, Emily R. Estes, Jacqueline M. Goordial, Julie A. Huber, Rose M. Jones, Nagissa Mahmoudi, Jeffrey J. Marlow, Sheryl Murdock, Maria Pachiadaki
bioRxiv 463992; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/463992
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Impacts of Deep-Sea Mining on Microbial Ecosystem Services
Beth N. Orcutt, James Bradley, William J. Brazelton, Emily R. Estes, Jacqueline M. Goordial, Julie A. Huber, Rose M. Jones, Nagissa Mahmoudi, Jeffrey J. Marlow, Sheryl Murdock, Maria Pachiadaki
bioRxiv 463992; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/463992

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