Manman Li

Hainan Institute of Biotechnology, Haikou, 570206, Hainan, China
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Molecular Ecology and Conservation, 2026, Vol. 16, No. 1   
Received: 10 Jan., 2026    Accepted: 08 Feb., 2026    Published: 28 Feb., 2026

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

This study systematically analyzes the formation process and ecological succession stages of whale falls, including initial descent, mobile scavenger stage, enrichment opportunist stage, sulfophilic stage, and reef stage, elucidating their roles in maintaining deep-sea biodiversity and nutrient cycling. Key findings highlight that whale falls not only significantly enhance local productivity and species richness but also share ecological and evolutionary links with other deep-sea chemosynthetic environments such as hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, serving as “stepping stones” for species dispersal and adaptive radiation. The crucial functions of whale falls in biogeochemical processes, including carbon sequestration, sulfur cycling, and nitrogen and phosphorus cycling, are also emphasized. However, with the intensification of anthropogenic activities such as whaling, deep-sea mining, bottom trawling, and climate change, the frequency and ecological functions of whale falls are increasingly under threat.

 

Whale falls; Deep-sea ecosystems; Biodiversity; Nutrient cycling; Biogeochemistry