A new study theorizes that Earth's deep-ocean floors hide undiscovered organisms that help the global climate regulate. The research was made possible through the DNA sequence that originated from deep-sea sediments in many parts of the world.
Unknown Biodiversity in Deep Seafloors
The research suggests that the biodiversity on seafloors exceeds the population of those on the higher depths of the oceanic waters by three times. In addition, the scientific community may have been missing nearly two-thirds of the collective marine life on Earth.
National Oceanography deep-sea biology expert and co-author of the study Andrew Gooday said in a LiveScience report that, since the 1960s, the world knew that the deep sea contains an extremely diverse species. Gooday explained that their study implies a lot of novel diversity at a higher economic level in the deepest region so the oceans.
The latest marine biology investigation shows a concept that there are remaining species unknown to our age, and they have been divulged into separate evolutionary lineage while hiding in the deep.
The deep-ocean floor was established as the sheet that holds over half of our planet's surface, but according to the study, it is composed of numerous ecosystems that are least discovered. The authors said that with their recent analysis, the initial findings of DNA sequences collected throughout the water column will be compared and may provide us a glance of the biodiversity hidden beneath what we can observe.
The DNA samples from sea sediments accumulated to a staggering 418 samples. Each specimen was extracted between 2010 and 2016 from major oceanic basins. The DNA samples were then compared with the rest of the oceans and categorized based on their characteristics, including dead organisms and native species of the seafloor.
Mysterious Identity of Deep Seafloor Lifeforms and the Possibility of Climate Regulation in Planktons
The team looked for sequence variants to categorize the organisms based on their taxonomy instead of identifying each species. Some species are truly baffling from their observations, as experts can not extract any clues about their species, family, or order.
Bigger animals were not sequenced in the study. This poses the idea that there are more animals than we know of just swimming under the deepest levels of the seas. Gooday emphasized that the DNA specimens were extracted from sediments only and not from other materials that organisms may have been living.
There is still much knowledge waiting for us at the deep-seas-like space. With the many unquantified oceans' mysteries, it is safe to say that other creatures are lurking in the regions. The seafloor houses complex environments compared to the oceans near the water surface.
Gooday said that species that live through a uniform ecosystem are more likely to adapt under the same habitat. However, the division between these habitats could form microhabitats, where a greater group of species can specialize.
Biological pumps were also highlighted in the study. This process shows how deep-sea organisms such as phytoplanktons collect carbon straight from the atmosphere in the water surface and dives down the deepest oceans, isolating the element to the sediments.
Future studies will be conducted to identify how the biological pump and the role of planktons contributed to global climate regulation. The study was published in the journal Microbial Ecology, titled "Patterns of eukaryotic diversity from the surface to the deep-ocean sediment."
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