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First published online March 31, 2005
Journal of Experimental Biology 208, 1551-1561 (2005)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2005
doi: 10.1242/jeb.01567

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Influence of environmental conditions on early development of the hydrothermal vent polychaete Alvinella pompejana

Florence Pradillon^1,*, Nadine Le Bris², Bruce Shillito¹, Craig M. Young³ and Françoise Gaill¹

¹ UMR CNRS 7138, Systématique, Adaptation et Evolution, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 7 quai Saint-Bernard, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France,
² IFREMER, Direction des Recherches Océaniques, Département Environnement Profond, BP 70, Plouzané F-29280, France
³ Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, University of Oregon, PO Box 5389, Charleston, OR 97420, USA

^* Author for correspondence at present address: Max-Planck-Institute for Marine Microbiology, Molecular Ecology Department, Celsiusstr. 1, 28 359 Bremen, Germany (e-mail: fpradill{at}mpi-bremen.de)

Accepted 2 March 2005

Dispersal and colonisation processes at deep-sea vents are still not fully understood, essentially because early life stages of vent species remain unknown. The polychaete worm Alvinella pompejana forms colonies on chimney walls at East Pacific Rise vent sites where the temperature can frequently exceed 20°C. In vitro studies in pressure vessels showed that the early embryos tolerate temperatures in a lower range (10–14°C), suggesting that they would have to escape the colony to develop. Pressure vessels offer the advantage that each parameter can be independently controlled, but they do not simulate the more complex and dynamic conditions naturally encountered at vent sites. Accordingly, in addition to incubations in pressure vessels, we incubated embryos directly at a vent site, in different habitats along a gradient of hydrothermal influence. Embryos incubated on an adult A. pompejana colony where temperature and H₂S concentrations were relatively high showed a very low survival rate and did not develop, whereas embryos incubated in a Riftia pachyptila clump environment with a lower hydrothermal signature, or at the base of the chimney where the influence of the hydrothermal activity was very weak, survived well and developed. Although the average temperature recorded in the A. pompejana colony was within the range tolerated by embryos (13°C), frequent peaks above 20°C were recorded. Estimated sulphide concentration at this site reached 200 µmol l^–1. Punctuated exposure to both high temperature and elevated sulphide levels probably explain the low survival of embryos within the A. pompejana colony. The in situ experiments further support the idea that embryos require conditions with moderate hydrothermal influence not generally found within an adult colony. However, as much more benign physicochemical conditions can be found within a few tens of cm of adult colonies, embryos do not necessarily have to leave their vent of origin to develop. Further analyses are needed to pinpoint the specific factors that affect the survival and development of embryos at vents.

Key words: hydrothermal vent, development, embryo, pressure vessel, polychaete, temperature tolerance, H₂S, environmental condition