Asteroid collision to devastate marine life in equal measure as on land

A global catastrophe brought about by a meteorite strike would equally affect marine life forms living two miles below the sea, as on land, according to a new study by a researcher from the University of Southampton.

Washington, Sept 11 : A global catastrophe brought about by a meteorite strike would equally affect marine life forms living two miles below the sea, as on land, according to a new study by a researcher from the University of Southampton.

Scientists had earlier believed that bacteria, shrimp, snails and mussels that live around deep-sea hydrothermal vents would be safe from such destruction.

These creatures have flourished since the time life evolved on this planet, despite the fact that they do not receive any sunlight.

These colonies get nutrition from the minerals dissolved in the superheated water that spews out from the vents.

Researchers believed that since the food source of the creatures living around the vents was independent from the world above, a catastrophe such as a giant asteroid collision, which can kick up a cloud of debris that blocks the Sun for months or years, wouldn't affect the vent ecosystems.

Now, a new study by Jon Copley has found that the offspring of some of these creatures grow up away from the life-sustaining vents and depend for food on whatever material sinks down from the sunlit surface waters.

In fact, the vent inhabitants time the birth of their offspring with the seasons -even though they cannot see the Sun. They time the release of their young to the spring bloom of the microscopic plant life that grows on the ocean's surface - stuff that sinks after it dies, the study revealed.

"I used to think these deep-sea communities would be safe from whatever havoc happens up here. But finding seasonality down there shows that life beneath the waves is far more connected than we realized," said Copley.

Copley further said, deep sea vent communities could be adversely impacted due to climate change induced alteration in surface waters, although till date no evidence has been found of this.

The study was presented at the British Association for the Advancement of Science's Festival of Science, reports LiveScience.

ANI