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One of the biggest threats to deep-sea ecosystems is proposed deep-sea mining, the process of extracting mineral deposits, like cobalt and nickel, from the deep seabed, which scientists and conservation organizations oppose.
“We don’t know how extensive those connected little caves are, we don’t have a sense of how much biodiversity or biomass is actually being represented within the subsurface,” says Lauer. “There’s a whole other layer here—literally!”
Since seafloor ecosystems are likely interconnected, says Lauer, large stretches of the seafloor need to be protected.
“We need to at least understand what’s there before we potentially destroy these habitats,” says Heather Olins, biologist at Boston College, who was not involved in the new study.
Gollner says it’s unclear just how deep this subsurface habitat goes and how far it reaches horizontally, which is crucial to protecting the entire hydrothermal vent system beyond the visible vent itself.
Studying hydrothermal vents, and preserving vents for future study, can also help scientists understand conditions for life not on Earth.
“If there is life beyond Earth in our solar system, it’s not going to be solar powered,” says Olins, since nowhere else in our solar system has surface conditions conducive to life as we know it.
But there are places that could host extremophiles, like Jupiter's moon Europa, with an ocean below an icy crust.
“We know that there’s volcanic activity, and an ocean," says Olins. "There’s no reason why there couldn’t be some sort of hydrothermal-vent-like life elsewhere in our solar system."
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