Life and Death of Deep Sea Vents: Bacterial Diversity and Ecosystem Succession on

Inactive Hydrothermal SulfidesVirginia Collier

Kevin DavisKatelyn Hollingsworth

Marion Juren

What is a hydrothermal sulfide?There are both active and inactive sulfides.

Active sulfide:A superheated underwater geyser

Inactive sulfide:The structure that remains after venting is

ceased

Purpose of the ExperimentExploration of the Microbiology of Inactive

Hydrothermal SulfidesTo further study ecological succession on

hydrothermal sulfidesUse tag pyrosequencing to assess bacterial

diversity associated with inactive sulfide chimneys using samples from 9°N on the East Pacific Rise

(Sylvan et al.)

Ecological SuccessionLife on an Active Hydrothermal Sulfide

Life on an Inactive Hydrothermal Sulfide

http://eager2009.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/image_thumb13.png?w=244&h=184

http://www.mbari.org/expeditions/GOC12/legs/leg7/logbookL7/images/day5/D395_09_06_40_25.jpg

Ecological Succession

Sylvan J B et al. mBio 2012; doi:10.1128/mBio.00279-11

• Disturbance shifts species diversity on a macro and micro scale (Shank et al.)

• Rare biospheres succeed majority populations on inactive chimneys• Environmentally

favorable (Sylvan et al.)

Diversity• Simpson’s Index

for inactive sites is between 1.6 and 23.7• Active sites are

between 8.3 and 21.8 (Freeman, Sylvan et al.)

• Not all sample sites are comprised of the same populations or proportions

Sylvan J B et al. mBio 2012; doi:10.1128/mBio.00279-11

Phylogenetic Tree of Predominant Bacteria on Inactive Sulfides

Sylvan J B et al. mBio 2012; doi:10.1128/mBio.00279-11

ResultsEcological seccession causes population

magnitudes to be inverted on inactive sulfides

Diversity is not uniform across sample sitesDifferent sites have different seccessionary

pathways

(Sylvan et al.)

In Conclusion…

Inactive sulfides are an example of secondary succession and are

low-diversity environments compared to other deep-sea

ecosystems.

ReferencesFreeman, Scott. Biological Science. San Fransicso, CA:

Benjamin Cummings, 2011. Print.Shank, T., D. Fornari, K. Vondamm, M. Lilley, R. Haymon, and

R. Lutz. "Temporal and Spatial Patterns of Biological Community Development at Nascent Deep-sea Hydrothermal Vents (9°50′N, East Pacific Rise)." Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 45.1-3 (1998): 465-515.

Sylvan, Jason M., Brandy M. Toner, and Katrina J. Edwards. "Life and Death of Deep-Sea Vents: Bacterial Diversity and Ecosystem Succession on Inactive Hydrothermal Sulfides." MBio 3 (2012): n. pag. American Society for Microbiology, 24 Jan. 2012. Web. Sept. 2012.