Counts of faunal colonists found on experimental settlement surfaces deployed at Tica Vent in East Pacific Rise on R/V Atlantis cruise AT42-21 and R/V Roger Revelle cruise RR2102 from Dec 2019 to Apr 2021

These data include counts of faunal colonists found on experimental settlement surfaces (termed “sandwiches” – comprised of 6 stacked polycarbonate plates separated by spacers) deployed at Tica Vent in the 9°50’ N region of the East Pacific Rise and details of the colonization experiment deployments and recoveries (e.g., dive numbers, deployment and recovery times, temperature measurements, etc.).
Some sandwiches were originally deployed on cruise AT42-21 (R/V Atlantis, December 2019) and additional sandwiches were deployed and all were recovered on cruise RR2102 (R/V Roger Revelle, March-April 2021). Deployment and recovery of sandwiches utilized deep submergence vehicles HOV Alvin and ROV Jason. Sandwiches were deployed in three biogenic zones (Alvinella-dominated, Riftia-dominated, and mussel-dominated) and had either an established microbial biofilm or no biofilm upon the start of the colonization experiment. It was hypothesized that established microbial biofilms may be indicators of suitable habitat for faunal colonists, specifically larvae, in hydrothermal vent environments characterized by high spatial and temporal variability in abiotic conditions. These short-term (~2 week) colonization experiments thus tested whether the age of the microbial biofilm influenced faunal communities that colonized surfaces across a gradient of habitat conditions.
These data were collected as part of a collaborative project involving the personnel associated with the labs of Dr. Shawn Arellano (Western Washington University), Dr. Lauren Mullineaux (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), and Dr. Costantino Vetriani (Rutgers University). This dataset is published in Ladd et al., 2024 (DOI: 10.1016/j.dsr.2024.104314).