Basalt biofilms at hydrothermal vents Targeted Locus (Loci). hydrothermal vent metagenome

Clarifying the progression of early microbial succession is key to understanding how diffuse flow vent communities establish and develop. The goal of this study is to examine how the composition of microbial communities change over time scales of a few days to 9 months on newly exposed surfaces at and adjacent to diffuse-flow venting at the 9o50’N vent field on the East Pacific Rise (EPR) (Figure 1). We hypothesized that the microbial communities colonizing new surfaces at diffuse-flow vents would: 1) follow a predictable successional pattern and 2) be similar among vent sites, but substantially different from non-vent habitats, as a result of species sorting from the fluid-associated source microbial community. To address these hypotheses, we compared the microbial succession both after an eruption (‘natural re-colonization’) and on basalt blocks placed within an established diffuse-flow vent community prior to the eruption (‘experimental re-colonization’).