Ralph White/Getty Images
Hydrothermal vents teem with life on a lifeless seabed. How are they colonised?
Mike Follows, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, UK
Hydrothermal vents occur at hotspots on the ocean floor, often at mid-ocean ridges where two oceanic plates are moving apart.
Vents in the deep ocean are beyond the reach of sunlight yet support a diverse ecosystem and appear like oases in a desert. Creatures living in this environment obtain their energy via chemosynthesis from the chemicals dissolved in the vents instead of the photosynthesis that is essential to life on Earth’s surface. The discovery that ecosystems can be hosted by…
