What can hydrothermal vents tell us about life in the dark?
Reading: Chapter 4, pg. 103-104, chapter 16, pg 407-408 This is a text version of the notes presented in class. Feel free to email the instructor (dpalmer@kent.edu) with any comments about the format and ease of use of these online notes. Today we will… 1) Finishing up plate tectonics 2) Having a review for Exam I Finishing up Plate Tectonics-We will wrap up the whole section on the ocean floor and plate tectonics today. Briefly, there are two points to cover: 1. hydrothermal vent communities-These are communities living in the hot water vents that occur along the mid-ocean ridge system. These are complex communities with the following characteristics: a. The base of the food chain is chemosynthesis, not photosynthesis. That means that bacteria are busy splitting the hydrogen from sulfides in hydrogen sulfide molecules to obtain their energy to make carbon compounds. There is no need for sunlight in this process, as compared to the more common process of photosynthesis. b. The sizes
