Sir
US funding agencies' call for ocean exploration should lead to exciting discoveries, with light being shed on some of the least known portions of our biosphere. But contrary to the details given in the News feature “To boldly go” (Nature 412, 672–673; 2001), scientists involved in the study of Blake Ridge methane seeps have no intention of studying plant life supported by methane at 2,000 metres.
Sunlight penetrates only a few hundred metres into the water column. Although there has been speculation that light generated by thermal radiation from deep-sea hot springs might be sufficient to sustain facultative photoheterotrophic bacteria, the Blake Ridge seeps have no thermal source of light. It would be a surprise, indeed, to discover multicellular plants living in 2,000 metres of water anywhere in the oceans.
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The author intended to say that the researchers would study any life that exists around the Blake Ridge methane seeps. The phrase “plant life” was incorrectly introduced during editing — Correspondence Editor, Nature
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Lee Van Dover, C. To boldly go where no plant has yet been found. Nature 413, 16 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35092701
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35092701
