Bacterial Mats With Vents

A and b filamentous sulfur mat formation on the trac at vent site m.

Bacterial mats with vents. These bacteria form the basis of the entire hydrothermal vent ecosystem. By supporting most of the major biogeochemical cycles these mats are largely self sufficient. A microbial mat is a multi layered sheet of microorganisms mainly bacteria and archaea and also just bacterial microbial mats grow at interfaces between different types of material mostly on submerged or moist surfaces but a few survive in deserts. The hydrothermal vent microbial community includes all unicellular organisms that live and reproduce in a chemically distinct area around hydrothermal vents these include organisms in the microbial mat free floating cells or bacteria in an endosymbiotic relationship with animals.

Microbial filamentous sulfur formation at a 9 n hydrothermal vent site and in shipboard laboratory culture. Like plants and algae on land and in shallow waters the vent microbes are the primary producers in their food web and are eaten by larger animals. They colonize environments ranging in temperature from 40 c to 120 c. Chemolithoautotrophic bacteria derive nutrients and energy from the geological activity at hydrothermal vents to.

Bottom feeders like limpets graze on microbial mats up to three centimeters thick and suspension feeders like mussels feed on bacteria floating in the water. A few are found as endosymbionts of animals.