@article {Voight2012,
	title = {{Scientific Gear as a Vector for Non-Native Species at Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents}},
	journal = {Conservation Biology},
	volume = {26},
	number = {5},
	year = {2012},
	month = {oct},
	pages = {938{\textendash}942},
	abstract = {The fauna of deep-sea hydrothermal vents are among the most isolated and inaccessible biological communities on Earth. Most vent sites can only be visited by subsea vehicles, which can and do move freely among these communities. Researchers assume individuals of the regionally homogeneous vent fauna are killed by the change in hydrostatic pressure the animals experience when the subsea vehicles, which collected them, rise to the surface. After an Alvin dive, we found 38 apparently healthy individuals of a vent limpet in a sample from a hydrothermally inactive area. Prompted by our identification of these specimens as Lepetodrilus gordensis, a species restricted to vents 635 km to the south of our dive site, we tested whether they were from a novel population or were contaminants from the dive made 36 h earlier. The 16S gene sequences, morphology, sex ratio, bacterial colonies, and stable isotopes uniformly indicated the specimens came from the previous dive. We cleaned the sampler, but assumed pressure changes would kill any organisms we did not remove and that the faunas of the 2 areas were nearly identical and disease-free. Our failure to completely clean the gear on the subsea vehicle meant we could have introduced the species and any diseases it carried to a novel location. Our findings suggest that the nearly inaccessible biological communities at deep-sea vents may be vulnerable to anthropogenic alteration, despite their extreme physical conditions.},
	keywords = {HOV Alvin (Human Occupied Vehicle)},
	issn = {0888-8892},
	doi = {10.1111/j.1523-1739.2012.01864.x},
	author = {Voight, J R and Lee, R W and Reft, A J and Bates, A E}
}
@article {Robert2012,
	title = {{Small-scale thermal responses of hydrothermal vent polynoid polychaetes: Preliminary in situ experiments and methodological development}},
	journal = {Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology},
	volume = {420-421},
	year = {2012},
	pages = {69{\textendash}76},
	abstract = {Hydrothermal vent systems represent a unique marine environment where high spatial variability allows the study of habitat selection with respect to small-scale temperature gradients. An autonomous time-lapse camera with a temperature logger array was deployed on four occasions to examine the thermal responses of two vent endemic polynoid polychaete taxa: Branchinotogluma sp. and Lepidonotopodium piscesae. Over a total deployment time of 52~h, we collected over 3,400 frames, in which 1,700 individuals were observed and monitored. Automated image processing and particle tracking routines were used to quickly process the imagery acquired in situ. Kriging interpolation was employed to create temperature maps (2.5{\textendash}67~{\textdegree}C) of the field of view within which individual polynoids were tracked over time. Using the individual trajectories, we examined whether organisms selected for a narrower range of temperature than available in the environment and whether past information regarding the temperature encountered influenced subsequent movement decisions. A two state hidden Markov model was applied to predict behaviour based on movement patterns and examine whether areas characterized by different movement patterns differed in temperature. We found polynoids to be active over a wide range of temperatures and areas where different movement patterns were observed did not differ in temperature. Within their tolerated range of temperature, polynoids appear to thermoconform to the highly spatially variable thermal environment. Based on these preliminary deployments, we make suggestions for future studies over broader thermal regimes and longer time scales.},
	keywords = {HOV Alvin (Human Occupied Vehicle)},
	doi = {10.1016/j.jembe.2012.03.019},
	url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jembe.2012.03.019},
	author = {Robert, K and Onthank, K L and Juniper, S K and Lee, R W}
}
@article {Becker2011,
	title = {{Stable isotopes provide new insights into vestimentiferan physiological ecology at Gulf of Mexico cold seeps}},
	journal = {Naturwissenschaften},
	volume = {98},
	number = {2},
	year = {2011},
	month = {feb},
	pages = {169{\textendash}174},
	abstract = {On the otherwise low-biomass seafloor of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) continental slope, natural oil and gas seeps are oases of local primary production that support lush animal communities. Hundreds of seep communities have been documented on the continental slope, and nutrition derived from seeps could be an important link in the overall GoM food web. Here, we present a uniquely large and cohesive data set of $δ$13C, $δ$15N, and $δ$34S compositions of the vestimentiferan tubeworms Escarpia laminata and Lamellibrachia sp. 1, which dominate biomass at GoM seeps and provide habitat for hundreds of other species. Our sampling design encompassed an entire region of the GoM lower slope, allowing us for the first time to assess spatial variability in isotope compositions and to robustly address long-standing hypotheses about how vestimentiferans acquire and cycle nutrients over their long lifespan (200+~years). Tissue $δ$13C values provided strong evidence that larger adult vestimentiferans use their buried roots to take up dissolved inorganic carbon from sediment pore water, while very small individuals use their plume to take up carbon dioxide from the seawater. $δ$34S values were extremely variable among individuals of the same species within one location (S values were extremely variable among individuals of the same species within one location (2 area), indicating high variability in the inorganic sulfur pools on a very small spatial scale. This finding supports the hypothesis that vestimentiferans use their roots to cycle sulfate and sulfide between their symbionts and free-living consortia of sulfate-reducing archaea in the sediment. Finally, consistent differences in $δ$15N between two cooccurring vestimentiferan species provided the first strong evidence for partitioning of inorganic resources, which has significant implications for the ecology and evolution of this taxonomic group.},
	keywords = {HOV Alvin (Human Occupied Vehicle)},
	issn = {0028-1042},
	doi = {10.1007/s00114-010-0754-z},
	author = {Becker, E L and Macko, S A and Lee, R W and Fisher, C R}
}
@article {Becker2010,
	title = {{Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope compositions of hydrocarbon-seep bivalves on the Gulf of Mexico lower continental slope}},
	journal = {Deep-Sea Research. Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography},
	volume = {57},
	number = {21-23},
	year = {2010},
	pages = {1957{\textendash}1964},
	abstract = {Stable isotope compositions of cold-seep bivalves can illuminate processes that affect the chemical and isotopic compositions of seeping fluids along the continental slope of the Gulf of Mexico as well as provide insight into the physiological ecology of these species. Carbon and nitrogen isotope compositions were analyzed in mussels and clams from 14 seep sites spanning a depth range of 1000 to 2800 m along the lower Louisiana slope of the Gulf of Mexico. Mussels of three species found on the lower slope, Bathymodiolus childressi, B. brooksi, and B. heckerae, showed site-specific differences in tissue $δ$13C, reflecting differences in the local methane pool. Mussels from sites on the lower slope sitting atop the contiguous salt sheet generally had tissue $δ$13C values that reflected a stronger biogenic methane signal (-70.8 to -58.8{\textperthousand}) than mussels on the upper slope or seaward of the Sigsbee Escarpment (-67.3 to -40.4{\textperthousand}). Clams (Calyptogena ponderosa and Calyptogena sp. nov.) had a narrow range of $δ$13C values between -37.0 and -34.4{\textperthousand}, indicating that their thiotrophic symbionts are fixing primarily seawater-dissolved organic carbon. The most depleted tissue $δ$15N values yet published for both mussels and clams are reported in this study at -23.7 and -9.2{\textperthousand}, respectively. These depleted values have implications for the assimilation of inorganic nitrogen by these symbioses and the concentrations of particular inorganic nitrogen sources in the local environment.},
	keywords = {HOV Alvin (Human Occupied Vehicle), ROV Jason (Remotely Operated Vehicle)},
	issn = {0967-0645},
	doi = {10.1016/j.dsr2.2010.05.002},
	url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2010.05.002},
	author = {Becker, E L and Lee, R W and Macko, S A and Faure, B M and Fisher, C R}
}
