HGF-MPG Group for Deep Sea Ecology and Technology, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany.
PLoS One. 2013;8(1):e53590. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0053590. Epub 2013 Jan 2.
Large organic food falls to the deep sea--such as whale carcasses and wood logs--are known to serve as stepping stones for the dispersal of highly adapted chemosynthetic organisms inhabiting hot vents and cold seeps. Here we investigated the biogeochemical and microbiological processes leading to the development of sulfidic niches by deploying wood colonization experiments at a depth of 1690 m in the Eastern Mediterranean for one year. Wood-boring bivalves of the genus Xylophaga played a key role in the degradation of the wood logs, facilitating the development of anoxic zones and anaerobic microbial processes such as sulfate reduction. Fauna and bacteria associated with the wood included types reported from other deep-sea habitats including chemosynthetic ecosystems, confirming the potential role of large organic food falls as biodiversity hot spots and stepping stones for vent and seep communities. Specific bacterial communities developed on and around the wood falls within one year and were distinct from freshly submerged wood and background sediments. These included sulfate-reducing and cellulolytic bacterial taxa, which are likely to play an important role in the utilization of wood by chemosynthetic life and other deep-sea animals.
大型有机食物（如鲸尸和原木）会沉入深海，已知它们是栖息在热液喷口和冷渗口的高度适应的化能合成生物扩散的踏脚石。在这里，我们通过在东地中海 1690 米深处进行为期一年的原木定殖实验，研究了导致硫化物生境形成的生物地球化学和微生物过程。蛀木双壳类 Xylophaga 属的贝类在原木的降解过程中发挥了关键作用，促进了缺氧区和硫酸盐还原等厌氧微生物过程的发展。与木材相关的动物群和细菌包括来自其他深海栖息地（包括化能合成生态系统）的报道类型，证实了大型有机食物落作为生物多样性热点和喷口及渗口群落的踏脚石的潜在作用。特定的细菌群落在原木坠落的一年内形成并围绕着原木发展，与新浸没的木材和背景沉积物明显不同。这些群落包括硫酸盐还原菌和纤维素分解菌，它们可能在化能合成生物和其他深海动物对木材的利用中发挥重要作用。
