ed by a number of bacteria through the process of chemosynthesis. The ability to live in the vents by all animals that call it home is directly dependent on the existence of bacteria and the process of chemosynthesis. Without the bacteria and chemosynthesis, none of the life forms of the vents would be able to survive. In contrast to photoautotroph bacteria, vent ecosystems are home to chemoautotrophic bacteria, “able to use the energy of chemicals within the vent water to synthesize the carbon compounds they require to grow and reproduce” (Chamberlin 2). This analysis will examine hydrothermal vent ecosystems, particularly the role play by chemoautotrophic bacteria. A conclusion will address why the study of hydrothermal vents and the bacteria that live there may lead to important scientific discoveries.
The Columbia Encyclopedia defines bacteria as “microscopic unicellular prokaryotic organisms, characterized by the lack of a membrane-bound nucleus and membrane-bound organelles”. The Columbia Encyclopedia defines hydrothermal vent as a “crack along a rift or ridge in the deep ocean floor that spews out water heated to high temperatures by the magma under the earth’s crust”. A hydrothermal event ecosystem contains a number of living organisms, typically giant tubeworms, vent crabs, Pompeii worms and bacteria. A hydrothermal event also exhibits a number of complex chemical reactions that help sustain life and create mineral-rich deposits that collect in big black smoking mounds that lend hydrothermal vents their nickname, black smokers (SEE FIG. ONE).
There are circulation zones within hydrothermal vents that create the different chemical reactions that occur within them. Within the circulation zone process there are three phases: the recharge zone, the high-temperature reaction zone, and the upflow zone (Circulation 1). It is during the upflow zone that a variety of chemical and microbial processes occu...