Edwards Katrina J, Fisher Andrew T, Wheat C Geoffrey
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Front Microbiol. 2012 Feb 3;3:8. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2012.00008. eCollection 2012.
We discuss ridge flank environments in the ocean crust as habitats for subseafloor microbial life. Oceanic ridge flanks, areas far from the magmatic and tectonic influence of seafloor spreading, comprise one of the largest and least explored microbial habitats on the planet. We describe the nature of selected ridge flank crustal environments, and present a framework for delineating a continuum of conditions and processes that are likely to be important for defining subseafloor microbial "provinces." The basis for this framework is three governing conditions that help to determine the nature of subseafloor biomes: crustal age, extent of fluid flow, and thermal state. We present a brief overview of subseafloor conditions, within the context of these three characteristics, for five field sites where microbial studies have been done, are underway, or have been proposed. Technical challenges remain and likely will limit progress in studies of microbial ridge flank ecosystems, which is why it is vital to select and design future studies so as to leverage as much general understanding as possible from work focused at a small number of sites. A characterization framework such that as presented in this paper, perhaps including alternative or additional physical or chemical characteristics, is essential for achieving the greatest benefit from multidisciplinary microbial investigations of oceanic ridge flanks.
我们探讨大洋地壳中的洋脊侧翼环境作为海底微生物生命的栖息地。大洋中脊侧翼，即远离海底扩张岩浆和构造影响的区域，是地球上最大且最少被探索的微生物栖息地之一。我们描述了选定的洋脊侧翼地壳环境的性质，并提出了一个框架，用于勾勒出一系列对于定义海底微生物“区域”可能至关重要的条件和过程。该框架的基础是有助于确定海底生物群落性质的三个主导条件：地壳年龄、流体流动范围和热状态。我们在这三个特征的背景下，简要概述了五个已开展、正在进行或已提议进行微生物研究的实地考察地点的海底条件。技术挑战依然存在，并且可能会限制微生物洋脊侧翼生态系统研究的进展，这就是为什么选择和设计未来研究至关重要，以便从聚焦于少数地点的研究中尽可能多地汲取一般性认识。像本文所呈现的这样一个表征框架，或许包括其他或额外的物理或化学特征，对于从大洋中脊侧翼的多学科微生物研究中获得最大益处至关重要。
