Hydrothermal activity, functional diversity and chemoautotrophy are major drivers of seafloor carbon cycling.

ABSTRACT: Hydrothermal vents are highly dynamic ecosystems and are unusually energy rich in the deep-sea. In situ hydrothermal-based productivity combined with sinking photosynthetic organic matter in a soft-sediment setting creates geochemically diverse environments, which remain poorly studied. Here, we use comprehensive set of new and existing field observations to develop a quantitative ecosystem model of a deep-sea chemosynthetic ecosystem from the most southerly hydrothermal vent system known. We find evidence of chemosynthetic production supplementing the metazoan food web both at vent sites and elsewhere in the Bransfield Strait. Endosymbiont-bearing fauna were very important in supporting the transfer of chemosynthetic carbon into the food web, particularly to higher trophic levels. Chemosy

SUBMITTER: Bell JB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5607325 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature