Deepest Known Plant Life Discovered on an Uncharted Seamount

Abstract

The discovery of abundant autotrophic macrophytes living below 200 meters indicates their importance to primary productivity, food webs, sedimentary processes, and as reef builders in clear oceanic waters. Estimates concerning minimum light levels for macroalgal photosynthesis and macrophytic contributions to the biology and geology of tropical insular and continental borderlands must now be revised.