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April 30, 2002 marks the
start of the PHARE(1) campaign, a vast cross-disciplinary
research program conducted by researchers from CNRS and Ifremer, the French
National Institute for Oceanic Research and Exploitation. This campaign
is part of the history of the discovery of life in the ocean's depths.
PHARE will be conducted off the Mexican coast on board Ifremer's ship
L’Atalante, which is equipped with the remotely operated vehicle
(ROV) Victor 6000. The mission will be completed on June 2, 2002.
Already 20 years old
The researchers' objective as they embark on this long-term mission is
to improve understanding of the workings of the biological communities
living in the vicinity of hydrothermal springs(2). The
site chosen for the scientific dives was discovered exactly twenty years
ago by French researchers on the East Pacific Ridge. The site is known
to specialists as "EPR 13° North." Six campaigns to explore
and describe the biological communities were conducted from 1982 to 1992.
Then, more recently, three more targeted campaigns from 1996 to 1999 were
dedicated to the biology and microbiology of these populations which,
according to current scientific knowledge, live under the most extreme
conditions on our planet in terms of high temperatures and high sulfur
and metal concentrations. PHARE will be concerned more particularly with
the development of life under such extreme conditions.
Inter-disciplinarity and
… technical innovation
The PHARE campaign is based on cooperation between a number of disciplines
such as biology, microbiology, ecology, and chemistry. It brings together
scientists from Ifremer, CNRS, and Université Pierre et Marie Curie
(Paris 6). Their scientific method is based on an integrated approach
to the biological organization system at various levels: gene, organism,
ecosystem. The interactions between organisms, microorganisms and the
surrounding environment that control the development of the biological
communities in space and in time will be identified by experiments on
the ocean floor (in situ) and in the laboratory on board the ship (in
vivo).
The campaign will make use of innovative instrumentation, mainly developed
by the campaign participants themselves. Certain instruments will be carried
to depths of 2,600 m by the ROV Victor 6000 for chemical and thermal mapping,
for optical imaging, and for collecting larvae, bacteria, particles, and
fluids; other equipment will be used on board the ship, including pressurized
aquariums and enclosures enabling in vitro fertilization to be performed.
The PHARE project is part of the national program DORSALES, which is the
French component of the international program INTERRIDGE, an international
initiative that aims to improve our knowledge of ocean ridges and the
biological communities that live near them. PHARE is also part of the
new CNRS project GEOMEX (Géomicrobiologie des milieux extrêmes,
Geomicrobiology of extreme environments).
(1) PHARE: "Peuplements Hydrothermaux,
leurs Associations et Relations avec l'Environnement" (Hydrothermal Populations,
their Associations and Relations with the Environment).
(2)
The discovery of these hot springs along ridges in the late nineteen seventies
revealed a very rich and original ecosystem made up of previously unknown
species.
Press contacts
:
CNRS
Magali Sarazin
Tel : +33 1 44 96 46 06
e-mail : magali.sarazin@cnrs-dir.fr
IFREMER:
Françoise Auribault
tel. +33 1 46 48 22 40
e-mail: francoise.auribault@ifremer.fr
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