@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 {Cordes2010,
	title = {{Influence of foundation species, depth, and location on diversity and community composition at Gulf of Mexico lower-slope cold seeps}},
	journal = {Deep-Sea Research. Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography},
	volume = {57},
	number = {21-23},
	year = {2010},
	pages = {1870{\textendash}1881},
	abstract = {Efforts to understand and preserve the seep communities of the deep Gulf of Mexico (GOM) begin with a comprehensive survey of the biodiversity of these communities. Previous studies have provided a conceptual model of the physiology, population, and community ecology of upper continental slope seeps. However, seeps at water depths below 1000 m in the Gulf of Mexico remain relatively unknown. In this study, data from 47 samples of tubeworm- and mussel-associated communities at depths of 1005{\textendash}2750 m are examined. Other than tubeworms and mussels, 66 taxa of macro- and megafauna were collected, 43 of which appear to be restricted to water depths of over 1000 m, and 39 that have not been reported previously from the Gulf of Mexico. Diversity in mussel beds was highest at mid-slope depths, but tubeworm-associated communities did not show clear bathymetric trends in diversity. Diversity was higher in tubeworm aggregations at the alpha level (per sample), but higher in mussel beds at the beta level (species turnover among collections). Although both community types were often numerically dominated by the endemic shrimp Alvinocaris muricola, broad differences in the communities hosted by tubeworm aggregations and mussel beds were apparent. The most important factors explaining community similarity within community type were the depth, relative abundance of different mussel species in a bed, and the average size of tubeworms in an aggregation. The high proportion of deep-seep species that were found for the first time in the Gulf of Mexico emphasizes the importance of conservation efforts for these patchy communities.},
	keywords = {HOV Alvin (Human Occupied Vehicle), ROV Jason (Remotely Operated Vehicle)},
	issn = {0967-0645},
	doi = {10.1016/j.dsr2.2010.05.010},
	url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr2.2010.05.010},
	author = {Cordes, E E and Becker, E L and Hourdez, S 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}
}
