ArticleScientific reports2016
Threatened by mining, polymetallic nodules are required to preserve abyssal epifauna.
Article in Scientific reports, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Biological responses to disturbance from simulated deep-sea polymetallic nodule mining.PloS one · 2017Pooled it
- Different Ferromanganese Concretion Morphologies Host Distinct Microbial Communities and Metal Accumulation Patterns in the Baltic Sea.Environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Ecological Impacts of Deep-Sea Mining Waste on Marine Algae and CopepodEnvironmental science & technology · 2025Article
- Marine constraints as philosophical opportunities: the Krogh principle and the benefits of philosophical engagement with the sea.History and philosophy of the life sciences · 2025Article
- Article
- Biodiversity monitoring in bamboo coral assemblages in the North Aegean Sea, eastern Mediterranean Basin.Biodiversity data journal · 2025Article
- Microbes as marine habitat formers and ecosystem engineers.Nature ecology & evolution · 2024Review
- Metal Release from Manganese Nodules in Anoxic Seawater and Implications for Deep-Sea Mining Dewatering Operations.ACS ES&T water · 2024Article
- Carbonate compensation depth drives abyssal biogeography in the northeast Pacific.Nature ecology & evolution · 2023Article
- An automated image-based workflow for detecting megabenthic fauna in optical images with examples from the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Investigating the benthic megafauna in the eastern Clarion Clipperton Fracture Zone (north-east Pacific) based on distribution models predicted with random forest.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Restoration experiments in polymetallic nodule areas.Integrated environmental assessment and management · 2022Article
- Article
- Microbial Associations of Abyssal Gorgonians and Anemones (>4,000 m Depth) at the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone.Frontiers in microbiology · 2022Article
- Potential impacts of polymetallic nodule removal on deep-sea meiofauna.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Copper-binding ligands in deep-sea pore waters of the Pacific Ocean and potential impacts of polymetallic nodule mining on the copper cycle.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Polymetallic nodules are essential for food-web integrity of a prospective deep-seabed mining area in Pacific abyssal plains.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Megafauna of the German exploration licence area for seafloor massive sulphides along the Central and South East Indian Ridge (Indian Ocean).Biodiversity data journal · 2021Article
- Environmental DNA surveys detect distinct metazoan communities across abyssal plains and seamounts in the western Clarion Clipperton Zone.Molecular ecology · 2020Article
- Giant, highly diverse protists in the abyssal Pacific: vulnerability to impacts from seabed mining and potential for recovery.Communicative & integrative biology · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Polymetallic nodule mining at abyssal depths in the Clarion Clipperton Fracture Zone (Eastern Central Pacific) will impact one of the most remote and least known environments on Earth. Since vast areas are being targeted by concession holders for future mining, large-scale effects of these activities are expected. Hence, insight into the fauna associated with nodules is crucial to support effective environmental management. In this study video surveys were used to compare the epifauna from sites with contrasting nodule coverage in four license areas. Results showed that epifaunal densities are more than two times higher at dense nodule coverage (>25 versus ≤10 individuals per 100 m(2)), and that taxa such as alcyonacean and antipatharian corals are virtually absent from nodule-free areas. Furthermore, surveys conducted along tracks from trawling or experimental mining simulations up to 37 years old, suggest that the removal of epifauna is almost complete and that its full recovery is slow. By highlighting the importance of nodules for the epifaunal biodiversity of this abyssal area, we urge for cautious consideration of the criteria for determining future preservation zones.
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