Whale falls produce remarkable organic-and sulfide-rich habitat islands at the seafloor. The
past decade has seen a dramatic increase in studies of modern and fossil whale remains …

Sediments associated with hydrothermal venting, methane seepage and large organic falls
such as whale, wood and plant detritus create deep-sea networks of soft-sediment habitats …

Whales are the giants of the ocean, with the eight largest cetacean species attaining body
weights of 30 t to 160 t (Lockyer 1976). A sunken whale carcass provides a massive food fall …

Dead whale carcasses that sink to the deep seafloor introduce a massive pulse of energy
capable of hosting dynamic communities of organisms in an otherwise food-limited …

The carcasses of large pelagic vertebrates that sink to the seafloor represent a bounty of
food to the deep-sea benthos, but natural food-falls have been rarely observed. Here were …

Deep-sea whale falls create sulfidic habitats supporting chemoautotrophic communities, but
microbial processes underlying the formation of such habitats remain poorly evaluated …

Organic detritus (ie, nonliving organic matter) plays fundamental roles in the structure and
dynamics of all marine ecosystems. The importance of a particular type of organic detritus in …

Sunken parcels of macroalgae and wood provide important oases of organic enrichment at
the deep-sea floor, yet sediment community structure and succession around these habitat …

Whale carcasses create remarkable habitats in the deep-sea by producing concentrated
sources of organic matter for a food-deprived biota as well as places of evolutionary novelty …

Biogeography of macro-and micro-organisms in the deep sea is, in part, shaped by naturally
occurring heterogeneous habitat features of geological and biological origin such as seeps …