Éditeur(s) : Elsevier
Résumé : Deep-sea bivalves of the subfamily Bathymodiolinae (family Mytilidae) are very widespread and form dense beds in reduced environments such as hydrothermal vents and cold seeps. Bathymodiolus mussels recently discovered on African cold seeps strangely resemble Gulf of Mexico and Barbados seep species. This raises intriguing questions regarding their taxonomic relationships and their dispersal capabilities across the Atlantic equatorial belt. The morphological study of the shell and soft parts of mussels from either sites of the Atlantic shows that they form two distinct groups: the Bathymodiolus boomerang group (also including Bathymodiolus heckerae and a species from Africa), and the Bathymodiolus childressi group (also including Bathymodiolus mauritanicus and one species from Barbados). Phylogenetic relationships inferred from the nucleotide sequences of the ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS-2) and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) confirmed morphological analyses and the existence of two amphi-Atlantic complexes of species. Both ITS2 and COI phylogenies indicate almost no difference between the two eastern Atlantic seep mussels (Bathymodiolus sp. A and B. mauritanicus) and their western Atlantic counterparts (B. boomerang and Bathymodiolus sp. B; Barbados Prism cold seeps). In the B. boomerang complex, B. heckerae seems to differ from the Barbados and the African species, whereas these latter two are not distinguishable. In the B. childressi complex, relationships are less clear and do not support the description of new species from the Barbados. Past and present-day connections across the Atlantic are discussed in the light of both larval dispersal capabilities of the mussels and the equatorial Atlantic circulation to appreciate whether these species could represent true amphi-Atlantic species.
Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers (0967-0637) (Elsevier), 2007-11 , Vol. 54 , N. 11 , P. 1890-1911

Droits : 2007 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2007/publication-4064.pdf
DOI:10.1016/j.dsr.2007.07.004
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/4064/

Éditeur(s) : Public Library Science
Résumé : Like hydrothermal vents along oceanic ridges, cold seeps are patchy and isolated ecosystems along continental margins, extending from bathyal to abyssal depths. The Atlantic Equatorial Belt (AEB), from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of Guinea, was one focus of the Census of Marine Life ChEss (Chemosynthetic Ecosystems) program to study biogeography of seep and vent fauna. We present a review and analysis of collections from five seep regions along the AEB: the Gulf of Mexico where extensive faunal sampling has been conducted from 400 to 3300m, the Barbados accretionary prism, the Blake ridge diapir, and in the Eastern Atlantic from the Congo and Gabon margins and the recently explored Nigeria margin. Of the 72 taxa identified at the species level, a total of 9 species or species complexes are identified as amphi-Atlantic. Similarity analyses based on both Bray Curtis and Hellinger distances among 9 faunal collections, and principal component analysis based on presence/absence of megafauna species at these sites, suggest that within the AEB seep megafauna community structure is influenced primarily by depth rather than by geographic distance. Depth segregation is observed between 1000 and 2000m, with the middle slope sites either grouped with those deeper than 2000m or with the shallower sites. The highest level of community similarity was found between the seeps of the Florida escarpment and Congo margin. In the western Atlantic, the highest degree of similarity is observed between the shallowest sites of the Barbados prism and of the Louisiana slope. The high number of amphi-atlantic cold-seep species that do not cluster according to biogeographic regions, and the importance of depth in structuring AEB cold-seep communities are the major conclusions of this study. The hydrothermal vent sites along the Mid Atlantic Ridge (MAR) did not appear as "stepping stones" for dispersal of the AEB seep fauna, however, the south MAR and off axis regions should be further explored to more fully test this hypothesis.
Plos One (1932-6203) (Public Library Science), 2010-08 , Vol. 5 , N. 8 , P. 1-11

Droits : © 2010 Olu et al.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00011/12207/8975.pdf
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0011967
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00011/12207/