Highly structured populations of copepods at risk to deep-sea mining: Integration of genomic data with demogenetic and biophysical modelling.

Copepoda is the most abundant taxon in deep-sea hydrothermal vents, where hard substrate is available. Despite the increasing interest in seafloor massive sulphides exploitation, there have been no population genomic studies conducted on vent meiofauna, which are known to contribute over 50% to metazoan biodiversity at vents. To bridge this knowledge gap, restriction-site-associated DNA sequencing, specifically 2b-RADseq, was used to retrieve thousands of genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from abundant populations of the vent-obligate copepod Stygiopontius lauensis from the Lau Basin.

Highly structured populations of deep-sea copepods associated with hydrothermal vents across the Southwest Pacific, despite contrasting life history traits.

Hydrothermal vents are extreme environments, where abundant communities of copepods with contrasting life history traits co-exist along hydrothermal gradients. Here, we discuss how these traits may contribute to the observed differences in molecular diversity and population genetic structure. Samples were collected from vent locations across the globe including active ridges and back-arc basins and compared to existing deep-sea hydrothermal vent and shallow water data, covering a total of 22 vents and 3 non-vent sites.