Ocean hills yield secret ecosystems

• Autores: Bob Holmes
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3033, 2015, pág. 14
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • A treasure trove of biodiversity has been hiding several kilometers below the ocean surface. Only a handful of people have ever seen these enigmatic animals--until now. About two-thirds of this "abyssal" seabed is made up of gentle rolling hills a few hundred meters high, says Jennifer Durden at the University of Southampton in UK. The Porcupine Abyssal Plain in the Atlantic Ocean, just south-west of Ireland, has both hills and flat regions. To survey the area's biology, Durden and her team used a towed submersible camera and looked at eight sites, four in the abyssal plain and four atop nearby hills, between 4,000 and 5,000 m deep.