Slide 1
Food can be produced where sunlight does not reach
Hydrothermal vent communities can support food production where sunlight cannot drive local photosynthesis.
More to Read
Hydrothermal vent communities live beyond the reach of sunlight needed for local photosynthesis. Yet darkness does not mean an absence of food production. Certain microbes use chemical energy to make organic matter that supports other organisms.
Slide 2
Chemical reactions supply another source of energy
Chemosynthesis uses energy from chemical reactions to produce organic matter. It provides a different route to food production.
More to Read
Chemosynthesis links energy released by chemical reactions to the production of organic matter. At vents, substances such as hydrogen sulfide can supply part of that chemical system. The explanation is not that animals eat heat or that hot water alone produces food.
Slide 3
Tubeworms host microbes that use this route
Vent tubeworms host microbes that carry out chemosynthesis inside the animal. The microbes connect chemical energy with the host’s nutrition.
More to Read
Vent tubeworms are a striking example of symbiosis, a close relationship between different kinds of organisms. Microbes living inside the tubeworm use chemosynthesis to produce organic matter, linking chemical conditions outside the animal to its nutrition.
Slide 4
Microbial production supports a wider food web
Organic matter made by vent microbes can support hosts, grazers and organisms farther along a food web. The effects extend beyond one host.
More to Read
Microbial production can support hosts, grazers and organisms feeding farther along the web. The food web extends beyond any one conspicuous animal beside a vent. Chemical reactions support microbial production of organic matter, which connects to other organisms through their feeding relationships.
Slide 5
No photosynthesis at the vent does not mean total independence
Vent communities can function without photosynthesis at the vent. They are not wholly independent of surface processes.
More to Read
These communities do not depend on photosynthesis occurring at the vent itself. That does not make them wholly disconnected from surface processes: oxygen can link their chemistry to photosynthesis elsewhere. The alternative energy pathway is remarkable without claiming total ecological independence.
Sources
- How do deep-sea organisms get energy?
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution