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One example of primary succession takes place after a volcano has erupted. The lava flows into the ocean and hardens into new land. The resulting barren land is first colonized by pioneer organisms, like algae, which pave the way for later, less hardy plants, such as hardwood trees, by facilitating pedogenesis, especially through the biotic acceleration of weathering and the addition of ...
In 1980 Daniel Desbruyères and Lucien Laubier, just a few years after the discovery of the first hydrothermal vent system, identified one of the most heat-tolerant animals on Earth — Alvinella pompejana, the Pompeii worm. [1] It was described as a deep-sea polychaete that resides in tubes near hydrothermal vents, along the seafloor.
Animal life also exhibits changes with changing communities. In the lichen stage, fauna is sparse. It comprises a few mites, ants, and spiders living in cracks and crevices. The fauna undergoes a qualitative increase during the herb grass stage. The animals found during this stage include nematodes, insect larvae, ants, spiders, mites, etc.
Organic matter produced by autotrophic bacteria is then used to support the upper trophic levels. The hydrothermal vent fluid and the surrounding ocean water is rich in elements such as iron , manganese and various species of sulfur including sulfide , sulfite , sulfate , elemental sulfur from which they can derive energy or nutrients. [ 9 ]
The lugworm Arenicola marina Gobies keeping watch outside a shrimp burrow. The evaluation of the ecological role of bioturbators has largely been species-specific. [8] However, their ability to transport solutes, such as dissolved oxygen, enhance organic matter decomposition and diagenesis, and alter sediment structure has made them important for the survival and colonization by other ...
Organic matter, organic material, or natural organic matter refers to the large source of carbon-based compounds found within natural and engineered, terrestrial, and aquatic environments. It is matter composed of organic compounds that have come from the feces and remains of organisms such as plants and animals . [ 1 ]
The bright colors of Grand Prismatic Spring and Yellowstone National Park, are produced by thermophiles, a type of extremophile.. An extremophile (from Latin extremus 'extreme' and Ancient Greek φιλία (philía) 'love') is an organism that is able to live (or in some cases thrive) in extreme environments, i.e., environments with conditions approaching or stretching the limits of what known ...
A biogeochemical cycle, or more generally a cycle of matter, [1] is the movement and transformation of chemical elements and compounds between living organisms, the atmosphere, and the Earth's crust. Major biogeochemical cycles include the carbon cycle , the nitrogen cycle and the water cycle .