Ecosystem status of the deep Black Sea, soft sediment, benthic community

Patrick C. Collins*, Jens Carlsson, Petrina Rowcroft, Brian Tibbles

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

The deep soft sediment Black Sea benthic community is dominated by cold seep habitats formed by the microbial breakdown of phytoplankton. The deep Black Sea benthic ecosystem is chemosynthetic with methanogenesis and the sulfate-driven anaerobic oxidation of methane acting as the primary metabolic pathways. Due to the depth and lack of metazoan life the deep Black Sea benthic ecosystem is generally regarded to be at low risk from anthropogenic impact and has little legislation pertaining directly to the preservation of the chemosynthetic habitats. The principal ecosystem services provided by the Black Sea include carbon sequestration and preservation of historical artefacts. Compared to other ecosystems, information on microbial biodiversity and ecosystem services in the deep Black Sea is lacking, and we highlight a need to plan and implement research programmes to address significant gaps and to enhance scientific understanding of this environment.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)216-223
Number of pages8
JournalMarine Policy
Volume73
Early online date30 Aug 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2016

Keywords

  • Anoxic
  • Chemosynthetic
  • Ecosystem services
  • Methane oxidizing
  • Sulfur reducing

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Aquatic Science
  • General Environmental Science
  • Economics and Econometrics
  • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
  • Law

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