Hydrothermal Vent Ecology

1. On tectonic plate boundaries, magma seeps from the mantle into layers of rock closer to the crust.

SHAZAM!

WHOA!

COOLIO!

over 750 degrees F!

Smokers:

• larger chimneys
• hotter temperatures
• release iron, sulfur

4

2. Ocean water seeps into cracks in the ocean floor.

BLACK vs. WHITE

Hydrothermal Vent Ecology

5

• smaller chimneys
• cooler temperatures
• release barium, calcium, silicon

3. Percolating water is superheated by underlying magma; at the same time, it dissolves minerals in the surrounding rock layer.

2

3

4. Water and dissolved minerals are expelled from the vent in a plume of scorching liquid.

Where can you find them?

1

Along plate boundaries in the oceanic crust . . .

5. Minerals and compounds settle on the ocean floor, creating structures called "chimneys" and providing an energy source for local life.

Molly Cunningham

Hydrothermal Vent Geology

all consumers

Chemosynthesis

In the absence of sunlight, deep sea producers must use alternative processes to build organic matter.

VULCANOCTOPI

More energy produced from oxidative phosphorylation

COPEPODS

BUT

AEROBIC

Higher energy cost to synthesize carbohydrates

AEROBIC

ANAEROBIC

ENERGY TRADEOFFS

PHOTO

Comparing

EXCEPT . . .

The bacterium GSB1, which photosynthesizes off of the light given off by its black smoker . . .

ANAEROBIC

• Found in virtually all plant life

The only organism known to photosynthesize with anything other than solar light!

• Uses solar energy

Less energy produced from electron transport chain with less electronegative acceptor

• Occurs in chloroplasts (eukaryotes) and cytoplasm (prokaryotes)

. . .not photosynthesis!

BUT

In environments where oxygen is present. . .

Lower energy cost to synthesize carbohydrates

• Utilizes but does not depend on symbiosis

• convert energy into usable compounds
• use an electron transport chain
• found in bacteria and archaea

CHEMO

• Found in only bacteria and archaea

CO + H O + H S + O CH O + H SO

2

4

Electron Transport Chain

• Harnesses geothermal energy
• Occurs in only prokaryotes

• consume crabs, tubeworms
• can reach over one meter in length
• demonstrate convergent evolution with eels

Electron donor:

Electron acceptor:

• Requires symbiosis to create a functional ecosystem

H S + 6H O + CO C H O + 6O

2

6

12

6

2

O

Sulfide ions

• parasites to vulcanoctopi and zoarcid fish
• latch on to flesh of hostith claws on antennae

2

in the oxygen-free environment characteristic of black smokers . . .

Electron Transport Chain

• named so because of activity with hydrothermal vents (which are technically a type of volcano)
• sightless--use arms to detect, wrangle, and eat crustaceans
• translucent--never evolved crypsis (color-changing camouflage trait)
• engage in commensalism with tubeworms, using them for shelter

Carbon Fixation

Calvin Cycle

-7 ATP

Electron acceptor:

Electron donor:

CO to make sugars

2

fumarate

3+

Fe

Well . . .

sulfide ions

ZOARCID FISH (EELPOUTS)

NO

3

4+

Reductive TCA Cycle = a reverse Krebs cycle

Mn

CO + H O = organic compounds

2

-2 ATP

SO

Wood-Ljungdahl Pathway = reductive carboxylation

Carbon Fixation

2

• CO to make Acetyl CoA
• adds carboxyl end to compounds to produce pyruvate

-1 ATP

SHRIMP

• blind
• detect dead material with feelers on the ocean floor

• actually several small, tube-like organisms that travel in clusters
• evolutionarily related to jellyfish
• use long tentacles to detect food, anchor unit on rocks, move
• usually the last to arrive to a vent site--lots of dead material, usually signifies "dying" vent

DECOMPOSERS

SQUAT LOBSTERS

CONSUMERS

SEA DANDELIONS

THERMOTOGALES BACTERIA

• actually crabs
• secondary consumers--scavengers
• engage in commensalism with tubeworms, using them for shelter

• single-unit lipid membrane
• consume carbohydrates and produce hydrogen gas
• possible biofuel source

LIMPETS

MUSSELS

TUBEWORMS

• snail-like organisms
• consume algae

CLAMS

Why are

HYDROTHERMAL VENT COMMUNITIES

THANK YOU!

SOURCES

• http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/deep-sea-tubeworms-get-versatile-inside-help
• http://divediscover.whoi.edu/vents/biology.html
• http://scienceblogs.com/deepseanews/2007/04/11/from-the-desk-of-zelnio-vulcan/ file:///C:/Users/molly_000/Downloads/HuglerSeifert10_AnnRevMar.pdf
• https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/parasitology/article/deepsea-hydrothermal-vent-parasites-why-do-we-not-find-more/CBBFCF40571670549A6F4DA7762F7708
• http://www.vims.edu/~jeff/biology/2005%20Hoeg%20et%20al.%20Ecol.%20Mar.%20Parasites%20-%20parasitic%20crustaceans.pdf
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18664307
• http://aem.asm.org/content/71/4/1694.fullfile:///C:/Users/molly_000/Downloads/HuglerSeifert10_AnnRevMar.pdf

They give insight on life in the absence of oxygen and sunlight!

• very similar to mussels--main difference is rounded, white shell
• bacteriophytes
• gills and filter-feeding
• share special enzyme with mussels and tubeworms that allow for thriotrophic endosymbiosis--evolutionary connection

significant to biology?

They provide a completely closed and isolated system for ecological study!

some endosymbionts in tubeworms have even demonstrated the ability to switch carbon fixation cycles depending on oxygen availability!

• have no digestive tract, must live completely off of endosymbiosis with bacteria
• bacteria enter the "tube" via trophosomes on the surface of the skin
• red plumes = gills, hemoglobin (responsible for red color) transports absorbed nutrients to endosymbionts

They present opportunities in biofuel research!

They demonstrate the ability of life to thrive even at extreme temperature and under extreme pressure!

• live off of filter-feeding and endosymbiosis
• house endosymbionts in gills in membrane-enclosed vacuoles called "bacteriophytes"
• appear at a hydothermal vent site after tubeworm colonies have developed

THEY'RE F***ING SICK!!!!!!!!!!!

PRODUCERS

ARCHAEA

all producers

• methanotrophic or thriotrophic prokaryotes
• organisms like these are hypothesized to be the origin of life

BACTERIA

• also methanotrophic or thriotrophic prokaryotes