Hydrothermal vents are among the most diverse and biologically active ecosystems of the ocean. At these locations, seawater penetrates through the cracks in the crust until it reaches hot heated magma rock. The seawater is heated and converted into hydrothermal fluid. These hydrothermal fluids then rapidly diffuse through the seafloor as black jets of superheated fluid or water rising from cracks in the deep ocean seafloor. This interaction between superheated hot hydrothermal fluid from the crust and seawater supports microbial life that is independent of photosynthesis and is detached from the photosynthetic biosphere. “This microbial life alters the chemistry of hydrothermal vent habitats and provides nourishment for the vent fauna” (Holden 206). …show more content…
Around hydrothermal vents the growth rate of microbes is high due to the chemical energy present in the hydrothermal fluids. The energy found in the hydrothermal fluids is used by chemoautotrophic bacteria in the same way that photoautotrophic organisms in the photosynthetic biosphere use energy from the sun. The chemicals that constitute hydrothermal fluids are electron-rich. The electron-rich hydrothermal fluids react by transferring their electrons to oxygen-rich compounds. The oxidation reaction allows energy to be released and available for the microbes to convert into biological energy to fuel biological processes. Many of the chemoautotrophic bacteria present in hydrothermal vent ecosystems have differentiated to be unique in the usage of a specific electron donor. As a result, microbial ecosystems at hydrothermal vents are named according to the electron donor that sustains that ecosystem (Tebo
The rock pools studied should both contain organisms specially adapted to live in the intertidal environment of the rock pools. The organisms need to be adapted to the microenvironment of the rock pool, as conditions are considerably different to those of a ‘normal’ marine environment. The rock pools spend some of their time completely submerged by the sea and other times exposed to the air. When exposed the organisms of the rock pool are part of a much smaller body of water than normal. This smaller volume of exposed water is likely to be changed significantly, mostly as a result of heating by the sun (Brehaut, 1982).
Linking with the idea of hydrothermal vents being a 'reactor' for RNA hydrothermal vents rely on chemical energy from geothermal vents to sustain a organisms. Swarms of bacteria thrive in this environment which acts as an interface between the high temperature vents and cold oxygenated seawater. The bacteria thrive on gases produced by the vents such as methane and use these chemicals to produce simple organic molecules to support the local ecosystem in a similar way to plants using photosynthesis. Wachtershauser has proposed that a biochemical cycle grew and assembled the first living cell.
The reduction in photosynthesising biomass led to an increased reliance on the Worlds other carbon sink, Oceans. Between 26-44% of CO2 in the atmosphere is absorbed by oceans by photosynthesising organisms, mainly phytoplankton (Archer, D. and Pierrehumbert, R., 2011), seawater chemically reacts with aqueous Carbon Dioxide, one of the end products is Hydrogen ions (H+) (NOAA, 2013). The increased concentration of H+ results in the ocean becoming more acidic, since pH is determined by concentration of Hydrogen ions.
Yellowstone is a national park covering 3,468 square miles in Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana and it is elevated 8,000 feet from the ground on a plateau. But is there still present volcanic hazard in Yellowstone? The park is covered with over 10,000 geysers, hot springs, mud pots, and travertine terraces, perhaps caused by a ?hot spot? that it overlies. A violent history suggests equally as devastating future volcanic activity, underground forces are causing the landscape to change and geysers to become more active. The real question is, if a super volcanic explosion took place, would human life exist as we know it ever again?
... in anaerobic hydrothermal vents, with sulfur acting as their main energy source. Thermophiles can also have a preference for a particular pH such as the thermoacidophilic Picrophilus that can survive at a pH of -0.06 and has an optimum temperature of 60 degrees Celsius. In order to withstand high temperatures special chaperonin proteins are needed to refold proteins that become partly denatured during heat shock. These proteins allow the archaea Pyrolobus fumarii to survive and reproduce in an autoclave at 121 degrees Celsius (Blöchl, 1997), which was previously considered to be above the upper temperature for life.
The sea then turned back to a royal blue now rich w/ oxygen but to the bacteria oxygen was a toxin. The soft membrane bacteria learned to live avoiding oxygen and the hard shelled bacteria created enzymes to prevent damage caused by oxygen.
...hemical energy from cyanobacteria (the only bacteria that can perform photosynthesis) 2.4 billion years ago (Wernergreen). The first chloroplast came into being about one billion years ago when a single-celled protist and a cyanobacterium came together through endosymbiosis, and this first photosynthesizing eukaryotic lineage was the ancestor of land plants, green algae, and red algae. Cyanobacteria and algae endosymbionts have spread photosynthetic capabilities in such a broad range (Wernergreen). In other words, heterotrophic prokaryote cells had taken in autotrophic photosynthetic bacteria cells. The ingested cell continued to provide glucose and oxygen by photosynthesis. The host cell protected as well as provided carbon dioxide and nitrogen for the engulfed cell and overtime both cells lost the aptitude to survive without each other (Weber and Osteryoung).
There are microbes, known as barophiles, which live in pressures that are extremely high. “The microbes live at the bottom of the ocean, where pressures can be 16,000 lbs per square inch”. These microbes could not survive on the surface on the surface of the water, because they require the constant pressure to stay alive. How creatures like this able to live in such astonishing pressure? “Dr. Jiasong Fang of Iowa State University and Dr. Tonya Peeples of the University of Iowa studied samples from the deepest point on Earth, the Mariana trench”. Fang and Peeples are trying to prove the hypothesis that “polyunsaturated fatty acids in the lipids help piezophiles adapt to permanent cold and pressurized environments”. However, there is no consensus on how these microbes are able to thrive and grow under these extreme pressures. Unlocking this mystery will go a long way for us to understand how life first began on Earth, and also in helping us understand the possibility of life on other
The deep sea is one of the most hostile environments in the world, which a living organism is subjected to. As you progress from the surface (the epipelagic zone) through to the abyssopelagic zone near the basin of the ocean; the environmental characteristics begin to alter dramatically. Light, pressure, oxygen, temperature and food are abiotic factors that have all led to the fascinating adaptations of deep sea life. Pressure alone increases by 1 atmosphere for each 10m in depth which is an astonishing rate. The deep sea temperature remains between 2-4°c, which is just another factor inhabitants must overcome in order to survive, along with a reduced quantity and accessibility of essential factor’s like ;oxygen, food and light[3].
The concept of the microbial loop first began in 1926 by Vernadskii, who studied heterotrophic and phototrophic microbial metabolism; and understood that these systems represented a major part of total metabolism in the oceans (Pomeroy, 1988). Older techniques that scientists used for enumerating marine bacteria were by plate counts, serial dilutions and phase-contrast microscopy. These numbers represented about 10% of actual numbers and are no longer used (Azam et al, 1983). Scientists were unable to completely understand the microbial loop until recently when ultrafiltration techniques, applied electronic microscope techniques; and genomic techniques were developed to quantify biomass in oceans to study the bacteria and microorganisms that are important in oceanic processes. It was by these techniques, that a study in 1983 by Azam et al, discovered the trend that with an increase in bacterial numbers and biomass there is an increase in primary productivity. This was one of the key findings that led scientists to understand the microbial loop.
ECOSYSTEMS: Microbes obtain energy from their environment. Like humans, many microbes do this by eating plant and animal material. A typical microbe buffet consists of waste from humans and other animals, dead plants and animals, and food scraps. Bacteria, fungi and algae all take part in decomposing — or breaking down — this waste material. Without them, the world would quickly be overrun with discarded food scraps, raw sewage and dead organisms.
Geothermal energy is one of the oldest sources of energy. It is simply using and reusing (reusable energy) heat from the inside of the earth. Most of the geothermal energy comes from magma, molten or partially molten rock. Which is why most geothermal resources come from regions where there are active volcanoes. Hot springs, geysers, pools of boiling mud, and fumaroles are the most easily exploited sources. The ancient Romans used hot springs to heat baths and homes, and similar uses are still found in Iceland, Turkey, and Japan. The true source of geothermal energy is believed to come from radioactive decay occurring deep within the earth.
Abstract: Ladakh is a high-elevation cold desert, which makes it an extraordinary extreme environment. It provides a suitable habitat some wildly adapted microbes. Due to the high elevation a person can experience freezing cold temperatures and the burning nuisance of the sun all the same time. There is an abundance of cold adapted microbes in Ladakh, some which are thought to have application as inoculants and biocontrol agents in crops not only growing at low temperatures but at high elevation as well. The remote mountains of Ladakh that are situated in the rain shadow of the Great Himalayas provide a harsh environment that includes, strong winds, high UV radiation, diurnal temperature fluctuations and sparse vegetation. These conditions favor the extensive development of biological soil crusts as well as increase the importance of the cyanobacterial community. Aside from extremely cold temperature and high elevation, there is also an abundance of hot springs in Ladakh. These hot springs provide an incredible opportunity for scientists to examine microbial diversity not only at high temperatures but at high elevation as well.
Hydropower, the use of water to power machinery or produce electricity, provides the most renewable energy in the United States, and uses alternating current in most modern plants ("Hydropower…”). Hydropower relies on the water cycle and is a clean fuel source; it doesn’t pollute the environment like plants that burn fossil fuels. It is by far the most efficient way to generate electricity, being half the cost of using nuclear power, two-fifths the cost of using fossil fuels, and a quarter the cost of using natural gas ("Wind and Water…”). Also, hydropower is not subject to market fluctuations of embargos, and the average lifespan of a facility is 100 years. Hydropower also has many non-energy benefits such as water supply, flood control, navigation, irrigation, and recreation. However, it does face many environmental challenges such as impacts to aquatic habitats, aesthetic alterations of landscapes, changes to water quality, and interruptions of marine life ("Hydropower…”).
These PGPR (e.g., Rhizobium, Azospirillum, Pseudomonas, Flavobacterium, Arthrobacter and Bacillus) utilize osmoregulation; oligotrophic, endogenous metabolism; resistance to starvation; and efficient metabolic processes to adapt under dry and saline environments (Lugtenberg et al., 2001; Egamberdiyeva and Islam 2008). The bacteria, with their physiological adaptation and genetic potential for increased tolerance to drought, increasing salt concentration, and high temperatures, could improve plant production in degraded sites (Maheshwari et al., 2012; Yang et al., 2009).