For the last few decades, trophic ecology has usually been investigated by using stable isotopes. However, the isotopic signatures of potential food sources in hydrothermal vent ecosystems are often unknown and so their relative contribution to the consumers’ diet, as well as resource partitioning, are then difficult to estimate. Here, we used a recent B ayesian mixing model (stable isotope analysis in R , SIAR ) based on δ 13...

Summary The shrimp Rimicaris exoculata from hydrothermal vents on the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge (MAR) harbours bacterial epibionts on specialized appendages and the inner surfaces of its gill chamber. Using comparative 16S rRNA sequence analysis and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), we examined the R. exoculata epibiosis from four vents sites along the known distribution range of the shrimp on the MAR. Our results show that...

Two trawl samples of natural sunken wood collected near Vanuatu were identified based on histological studies. Detailed descriptions were made and microphotographs of the cell types were taken, using the three classical sections (cross, tangential and radial). The botanical characters were compared first to the native flora of Vanuatu, then also to the introduced species. The possibility of transportation by ocean currents wit...

Summary A pluri‐disciplinary in situ colonization experiment was performed to study early stages of colonization in deep‐sea vent Alvinella spp. worm habitats. Four colonization devices were deployed onto Alvinella spp. colonies of different chimneys of the East‐Pacific Rise (EPR 13°N), for two different periods: a short (less than a week) and a longer one (3 weeks). Video imagery and monitoring of the thermal and physico‐chem...