Hydrodynamic flow and benthic boundary layer interactions shape the microbial community in Milos shallow water hydrothermal vents
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: In shallow-water hydrothermal vents, the dynamic interface between the discharged reduced hydrothermal fluids and the oxidized seawater allows the establishment of gradients capable of supporting diverse and complex microbial mats. Due to their shallow depths and proximity to land masses, shallow vents are heavily influenced by dynamic forcing, tidal fluctuations, and episodic events (e.g., storms, tides, etc.). Although several studies have investigated the microbial communities inhabiting shallow vents in the last decades, less is known about how microbial communities respond to episodic events and how the complex interplay of physical and chemical drivers shapes the establishment and structure of microbial biofilms in these systems. Here we present data combining the taxonomic and functional diversity of the white microbial mats commonly found in sulfide rich shallow-water hydrothermal vents in Paleochori Bay (Milos Island, Greece), using a combined approach of 16S rRNA transcript amplicon sequencing (from RNA) and shotgun metagenomic sequencing (from which 16S rRNA genes were retrieved). We show that the white microbial mats of Milos shallow-water hydrothermal vents are dominated by Epsilonproteobacteria, now classified as Campylobacterota, with metabolic functions associated with chemolithoautotrophic lifestyles and exposed to a diverse array of viral communities. Taxonomic names follow the classification available at the time of analysis (2012). We explore how dynamic forcing and storm events influence microbial community restructuring and turn-over, and provide evidence that dynamic interactions with the benthic boundary layer play a key role in controlling the spatial distribution of taxa. Overall, our results show diverse processes through which geodynamic events influence microbial taxonomic and functional diversity.
Source: Frontiers in Microbiology
Authors: Ana Clara Pelliciari Silva, Flavia Migliaccio, Bernardo Barosa, Luigi Gallucci, Mustafa Yücel, Dionysis Foustoukos, Nadine Le Bris, Stuart J. Bartlett, Valerio D’Alessandro, Costantino Vetriani, Donato Giovannelli
Institutions: University of Naples Federico II, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Middle East Technical University, Carnegie Institution for Science, Earth and Planets Laboratory, Sorbonne Université, Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité, California Institute of Technology, Marche Polytechnic University, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Tokyo Institute of Technology, National Research Council, Institute for Marine Biological Resources and Biotechnology, Earth-Life Science Institute, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life below water
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
Awards: Collaborative Research: Microbial hydrogen oxidation at high pressure: Role of hydrogenases and interspecies hydrogen transfer, Collaborative: The Predictive Nature of Microbial Biofilms for Cuing Larval Settlement at Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents, Collaborative Research: Autotrophic carbon fixation at a shallow-water hydrothermal system: Constraining microbial activity, isotopic and geochemical regimes, G434337789, G5350642880, G6752308677, G7599633752, Transdisciplinary Doctoral Program in Microbiome Science at the University of Naples Federico II
OpenAlex ID: W4413803594