How does chemosynthesis work

So the animals that live around hydrothermal vents make their living from the chemicals coming out of the seafloor in the vent fluids! Because they are a local food source, hydrothermal vents typically have high biomass, in stark contrast to the very sparse distribution of animals outside of vent areas where animals are dependent on food dropping down from above. Chemosynthetic microbes provide the foundation for biological colonization of vents.

In , NOAA identified bubble plumes during mapping cruises in the region, which are indicative of active methane release. Both of these areas were populated by the same species of seep mussels Bathymodiolus childressi , which have chemosynthetic bacteria in their tissues. These animals are endemic to seeps and cannot live on normal soft sediment.

Although the mussels occurred at both seeps, the other fauna differed between sites. Summary Chemosynthesis is a process in which some organisms use chemical energy instead of light energy to produce "food. Explore More Use this resource to answer the questions that follow. What is chemosynthesis? What are hydrothermal vents? Why do hydrothermal vent regions have high biomass? What type of organisms are found in a hydrothermal vent region?

Review What is chemosynthesis? Describe the habitats of extremophiles?