Biogeography of hydrothermal vent communities along seafloor spreading centers

Compared to terrestrial and shallow-water habitats, deep-sea hydrothermal vents are unique environments characterized by their local insularity, global distribution, individual ephemerality, collective geological longevity, geochemical homogeneity, and their physical and energetic isolation from the catastrophic events implicated in the extinction and speciation of terrestrial and shallow-water forms. Development of vent communities has thus occurred in novel biogeographical contexts that challenge our ability to understand evolutionary processes in the deep sea. Recent field work by French, Canadian, German, Japanese and American scientists has revealed intriguing patterns in the taxonomic composition and distribution of vent organisms at geographically disjunct study sites.