RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Impacts of Deep-Sea Mining on Microbial Ecosystem Services
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 463992
DO 10.1101/463992
A1 Beth N. Orcutt
A1 James Bradley
A1 William J. Brazelton
A1 Emily R. Estes
A1 Jacqueline M. Goordial
A1 Julie A. Huber
A1 Rose M. Jones
A1 Nagissa Mahmoudi
A1 Jeffrey J. Marlow
A1 Sheryl Murdock
A1 Maria Pachiadaki
YR 2018
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/11/06/463992.abstract
AB 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.