Iarlaith Kirrane (an IRCSET summer student from NUI Galway), Katie Murphy (an SFI summer student from the University of Illinois), and their UCD mentors (Drs Julia Sigwart and Jon Yearsley) take advantage of a low spring tide at Howth beach to search for an elusive mollusc, the chiton, whilst another mollusc, the predatory dog whelk, watches on.
The students were part of a research project studying deep-sea ecosystems of the south-western Pacific Ocean. Chitons are our window onto these inaccessible ecosystems. The chitons at Howth, which resemble immobile woodlice, are related to species of chiton that have been found down to depths of several kilometres. Little is known about the habitats where these deep-sea chitons and other deep-sea organisms live. Data on these habitats are rare.
This research aims to estimate the probability that chitons can travel between the known deep-sea habitats. Chitons disperse by letting their larvae drift with the ocean currents. Our chiton species at Howth provide valuable biological data about their larvae, such as the time they can survive adrift in the water. The researchers combine this biological data with mathematical models of the deep ocean currents to recreate the paths of these deep-sea mollusc larvae as they are swept across the ocean seabed.
Based upon the research results, it is highly unlikely that a single generation of chiton larvae can travel between the chiton habitats that have been discovered in the south-western Pacific. This implies that there are many more of these habitats waiting to be discovered, and our research identifies some potential locations. The abundance of these habitats, and the ability of organisms to travel between them, is important information for the conservation of deep-sea ecosystems.
Dr Julia Sigwart
