Collaborative Research: Life after Death: Do Inactive Sulfides Fuel a Unique Ecosystem at the Deep Seafloor?

该项目正在调查深海热液喷口附近新发现的动物和微生物群落，这些喷口似乎只栖息着凉爽、不活跃的硫化物特征。主要目标是确定哪些物种生活在这些特征上，它们是否是科学上的新物种，以及它们在群落中如何发挥作用。这个新群落的发现可能是由栖息微生物的产生推动的，它可能会改变我们对不活跃的喷口及其对深海生物多样性和生产力的贡献的看法。该项目在四个不同领域产生了广泛影响：1)为非活性硫化物的可持续利用(采矿)政策提供信息；2)为全球数据系统和BCO-DMO的NSF资助的资源库做出贡献，使我们的数据可用于其他时间、空间和分类尺度的研究；3)通过加强德克萨斯州伊格尔帕斯纪念初中的科学教育，提高公众的科学素养，其中约98%的西班牙裔学生、2%的美国原住民学生和大量英语学习者和移民；以及4)通过邀请代表不足和边缘化群体的学生参加本科实习生计划，发展多样化的劳动力队伍。来自海底的加热、还原的流体在全球板块构造边界和板块中部热点地区发生热液喷发，一直是大量地质、化学和生物研究的主题。然而，这种喷发最终是短暂的，在流体流动停止后只留下富含硫化物的矿藏。这个项目调查了生活在这些较少研究的非活性硫化物特征上的有机体，以了解它们的生态学及其与矿物底物的联系。最近的发现表明，在海洋环境的其他地方没有发现一些栖息在非活动硫化物中的微生物和动物物种，这表明这些硫化物是一个独特的栖息地，有别于其他海底地形特征。项目的主要目标是描述所有三个生命领域(真核生物、细菌和古生物)的非活性硫化物生态系统的物种和功能多样性，确定哪些动物物种是特有的或主要与非活性硫化物有关，并探索支配这些联系的生物和地质特征。研究人员正在对东太平洋隆起北纬9-10度之间的轴状顶峰槽内的地点以及最近发现的远离现代喷发特征的轴外地点进行实地研究。这个新的生物群落栖息在热液喷口区域的非活动硫化物特征中，由栖息的化学营养微生物提供动力，这一发现可能会改变我们对这些生态系统在深海生物多样性和生产力中作用的看法。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project is investigating a newly discovered community of animals and microbes near deep-sea hydrothermal vents that appears to inhabit only cool, inactive sulfide features. The main objectives are to determine what species live on these features, whether they are new to science, and how they function in the community. The discovery of this novel community, which may be fueled by production of resident microbes, is likely to change the way we think about inactive vents and their contribution to deep-sea biodiversity and productivity. This project has broad impact in four different areas: 1) Informing policy for sustainable use (mining) of inactive sulfides; 2) Contributing to global data systems and the NSF-funded repository at BCO-DMO to make our data available for research use at other temporal, spatial, and taxonomic scales; 3) Increasing public scientific literacy by enhancing K-12 education in the sciences at Memorial Junior High in Eagle Pass TX with about 98% Hispanic and 2% Native American students and a high number of English Language Learners and migrants; and 4) Developing a diverse workforce by engaging students from under-represented and marginalized groups into undergraduate intern programs. Hydrothermal venting of heated, reduced fluids from the seafloor occurs globally at plate tectonic boundaries and mid-plate hotspots and has been the subject of vigorous geological, chemical and biological research. However, this venting is ultimately transient, leaving behind only the sulfide mineral-rich deposits after the fluid flow stops. This project investigates the organisms living on these lesser studied inactive sulfide features in order to understand their ecology and associations with the mineral substratum. Recent discoveries indicate that some microbial and animal species inhabiting inactive sulfides are not found elsewhere in the marine environment, suggesting the sulfides serve as a unique habitat, distinct from other seafloor topographic features. The main project objectives are to characterize the species and functional diversity of the inactive sulfide ecosystem across all three domains of life (eukaryotic, bacterial, and archaeal), determine which animal species are endemic or predominantly associated with inactive sulfides, and explore the biological and geological characteristics governing those associations. The investigators are conducting field studies between 9-10 degrees N on the East Pacific Rise at sites within the axial summit trough as well as at recently discovered off-axis sites away from modern day venting features. The discovery of this novel community of organisms inhabiting inactive sulfide features at hydrothermal vent fields, fueled by resident chemolithotrophic microorganisms, is likely to change the way we think about the role of these ecosystems in deep-sea biodiversity and productivity.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.