Collaborative research at the Lau ISS: integrating microbial diversity with geochemistry using heat and mass transport models

海底热液喷口排出温度在2ºC至400ºC之间的流体，为各种微生物提供栖息地，这些微生物依靠地球内部的地球化学通量而不是利用阳光制造食物而生存。 许多喷口微生物以减少喷口流体与海底含氧海水相互作用和混合而产生的化学不平衡所产生的能量为食。 因此，热液喷口烟囱形成了重要和不寻常的生境，维持了大量的微生物多样性。 这项研究结合了微生物多样性的数据，在现场获得的喷口沉积物在岭2000年，劳盆地综合研究网站与计算机计算，代表的物理和地球化学环境的样本。 这两个分子指纹数据和一个小子集的454（柴堆）测序数据（V6区的16S reran基因）从热液烟囱和法兰存款结合计算机模型的排气热和质量输运产生的温度梯度估计，孔隙流体成分，和当地的平流率存在于烟囱和法兰。 测量的外部和内部通风烟囱温度，矿物成分和纹理（包括孔隙度）被用作约束条件。这项工作有助于提高我们对这些独特而多产的海底生态系统的理解。 这项工作的更广泛影响包括重大的公众宣传，学生培训，以及支持两个在科学领域性别代表性不足的PI。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Seafloor hHydrothermal vents that expel fluids with temperatures from ~2ºC to 400ºC, provide habitats for a diversity of microbes that subsist off geochemical fluxes from Earth's interior as opposed to making food from sunlight. Many vent micro-organisms feed off the energy from chemical disequilibria that results when reduced vent fluids interact and mix with oxic seawater on the seafloor. As a result hydrothermal vent chimneys form important and unusual habitats that sustain significant microbial diversity. This research combines microbial diversity data obtained in the field from vent deposits at the Ridge 2000, Lau Basin Integrated Study Site with computer calculations that represent the physical and geochemical environments from which the samples were taken. Both molecular finger printing data and a small subset of 454 (pyre) sequencing data (V6 region of the 16S reran gene) from hydrothermal chimney and flange deposits are combined with computer models of vent heat and mass transport to produce estimates of temperature gradients, pore fluid compositions, and local advection rates present in the chimneys and flanges. Measured exterior and interior vent chimney temperatures, mineral compositions and textures (including porosity) are used as constraints. The work helps improve our understanding of these unique and productive seafloor ecosystems. Broader impacts of the work include significant public outreach, student training, and support of two PIs whose gender is under-represented in the sciences.