...However, (click here) seafloor mining also has the potential to take a toll on the life in the sea. Anytime the seafloor is disturbed, so too are its fragile ecosystems—though the mining industry maintains that it is using and developing environmentally sensitive techniques, and many ocean habitats often appear to recover from damage. At the same time, the interest in mining is helping scientists study both the oceans’ chemistry and clues about how the planet formed.
Biologists are particularly concerned about the potential for mining to disrupt or destroy unique communities of exotic life forms, such as those at hydrothermal vents and seamounts. The result could be the subsea equivalent of replacing an old-growth forest with a field of dandelions. On the other hand, animals similar to those that originally inhabited the vent site could eventually return. Too little research has been conducted to know for sure.
The argument for protecting species is the same as that on land—diversity is at the heart of functioning ecosystems; it helps life adapt to changing conditions.
No two vents discharge exactly the same mixes of fluids, so no two vents are colonized by exactly the same life forms. Researchers continue to find new vent species just about every time they look for more. What each deep-sea vent ecosystem has in common are conditions that would be incredibly hostile to most other life: extremes of temperature, intense ocean pressure, hot acidic fluids. Yet they foster rich communities, including extraordinary microbes that harness energy from chemicals rather than from sunlight as plants do. These strange life forms may hold clues to how life started on Earth. So little is known about them that if vents are mined, we may never know what species have been lost....
