@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 {Gartman2011,
	title = {{Sulfide Oxidation across Diffuse Flow Zones of Hydrothermal Vents}},
	journal = {Aquatic Geochemistry},
	volume = {17},
	number = {4-5},
	year = {2011},
	month = {sep},
	pages = {583{\textendash}601},
	publisher = {SPRINGER},
	address = {NEW YORK; 233 SPRING ST, NEW YORK, NY 10013 USA},
	abstract = {The sulfide (H(2)S/HS(-)) that is emitted from hydrothermal vents begins to oxidize abiotically with oxygen upon contact with ambient bottom water, but the reaction kinetics are slow. Here, using in situ voltammetry, we report detection of the intermediate sulfur oxidation products polysulfides [S(x)(2-)] and thiosulfate [S(2)O(3)(2-)], along with contextual data on sulfide, oxygen, and temperature. At Lau Basin in 2006, thiosulfate was identified in less than one percent of approximately 10,500 scans and no polysulfides were detected. Only five percent of 11,000 voltammetric scans taken at four vent sites at Lau Basin in May 2009 show either thiosulfate or polysulfides. These in situ data indicate that abiotic sulfide oxidation does not readily occur as H(2)S contacts oxic bottom waters. Calculated abiotic potential sulfide oxidation rates are},
	keywords = {ROV Jason (Remotely Operated Vehicle)},
	issn = {1380-6165},
	doi = {10.1007/s10498-011-9136-1},
	author = {Gartman, A and Yucel, M and Madison, A S and Chu, D W and Ma, S and Janzen, C P and Becker, E L and Beinart, R A and Girguis, P R and Luther, G W}
}
@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}
}
