Biodiversity and biosynthetic potential of the Southern California Borderland's deep sea

The deep-sea environment off the coast of California harbors valuable natural resources, such as phosphorite minerals and ferromanganese crusts. Both minerals are potentially subject to future exploitation as deep-sea mining becomes economically feasible. However, other valuable natural resources such as animals, microbial communities, and the natural products they produce could be lost in the process, resulting in potentially large biodiversity loss and long-lasting ecological destruction. Currently, the Southern California Borderland (SCB) is very poorly explored, and the animal and microbial communities associated to these mineral-rich substrates are mostly unknown. In a mission to explore the SCB and collect baseline information prior to exploitation, we analyzed microbial biodiversity and biosynthetic potential associated to a wide range of invertebrate animals, minerals and sediments collected from an area spanning approximately 39 000 km2. We discover large biodiversity and vastly unexplored biosynthetic diversity with minimal overlap between biomes.These results will contribute to providing a basis for future decision making and impact assessments should these resources be considered for development.