Unlike the adults, which lie on the seafloor, these microscopic larvae rise up into the water column and drift in the currents for weeks, months, or even years. They eventually settle to the seafloor, and if the conditions are right, develop into adults. Lauren and her group are investigating how these microscopic larvae are able to find suitable habitats and then colonize them. These vents are home to animals such as clams, mussels, limpets, and tubeworms that can survive nowhere else. But these homes are only temporary.
Hydrothermal vents remain active for a limited amount of time, perhaps ten to fifty years.
When an old vent becomes inactive, the organisms must somehow find new vents to colonize. To learn how the larvae disperse to new vent sites, Lauren and her group have dived in submersibles to vents thousands of meters deep. There they have sampled and collected larvae, measured the currents that carry the larvae away, and set up experiments on the seafloor where the larvae settle down in order to determine which factors may influence the larvae's survival. These experiments include transplanting substrates on the seafloor from one type of environment to another and putting down cages to exclude predators. They are also collaborating with colleagues who are placing the larvae in pressure vessels and studying the larvae's behavior and metabolism in order to learn how long the larvae can survive in the water column.