Chemosynthesic Life Sea Floor

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Chemosynthesic life sea floor.

This way of producing food is called chemosynthesis because the bacteria make food from chemicals not light. Some examples of chemosynthesis follow. Chemosynthesis occurs around hydrothermal vents and methane seeps in the deep sea where sunlight is absent. During chemosynthesis bacteria living on the sea floor or within animals use energy stored in the chemical bonds of hydrogen sulfide and methane to make glucose from water and carbon dioxide dissolved in sea water.

Kendall martin jannasch 1985 notes that as water moves through and from the earth s crust at the sea floor geothermal energy is converted into chemical energy by microbial life. Just a few decades ago submersibles and remote sensing technologies allowed scientists to visit the farthest reaches of the ocean for the very first time. Of the many wonders they discovered one of the most surprising was the existence of rich clusters of life flourishing in the darkness of the deep sea floor. Deep sea seeps and sanctuaries into this complex equation scientists have added new variables by discovering other deep sea habitats that foster chemosynthetic life.

The diversity of animals at deep sea hydrothermal vents is breathtaking. This work has advanced our understanding of the nature and factors controlling the biogeography and biodiversity of these ecosystems in four geographic locations. Cavanaugh later managed to confirm that this was indeed the method by which the worms could thrive and is generally credited with the discovery of. Various metals and minerals are absorbed by the water when it enters the earth s crust which are used by chemosynthetic bacteria to make organic compounds.

The bacteria can turn chemicals like hydrogen sulfide and methane into food. In deep sea hot hydrothermal vents entire ecosystems are supported by the oxidation of geothermal sulfides by chemosynthetic bacteria some of which are endosymbionts in invertebrates stewart et al. The atlantic equatorial belt aeb the new zealand region the arctic and antarctic and the se pacific. In shallower seafloor regions on continental margins for example naturally created methane and hydrogen sulfide seep from the seafloor.

Chemosynthesis occurs in environments where sunlight is not able to penetrate such as in hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the ocean coastal sediments volcanoes water in caves cold seeps in the ocean floor terrestrial hot springs sunken ships and within the decayed bodies of whales among many others. At about the same time then graduate student colleen cavanaugh proposed chemosynthetic bacteria that oxidize sulfides or elemental sulfur as a mechanism by which tube worms could survive near hydrothermal vents.