Microbial taxonomic and functional diversity of the Aeolian Islands shallow-water hydrothermal vents

Shallow-water hydrothermal vents are unique marine environments ubiquitous along the coast of volcanically active regions of the planet. In contrast to their deep-sea counterparts, primary production at shallow-water vents relies on both photoautotrophy and chemoautotrophy. Such processes are supported by a range of geochemical regimes driven by different geological settings. The Aeolian archipelago (Italy), located in the southern Tyrrhenian sea, is characterized by intense hydrothermal activity and harbors some of the best sampled shallow-water vents of the Mediterranean Sea. Despite this, the correlation between microbial diversity, geochemical regimes and geological settings of the different volcanic islands of the archipelago is largely unknown. Here we investigate the interplay between the geology, geochemistry and microbiology of the shallow-water hydrothermal vents of the Aeolian islands.

浅水环境热液喷口（Shallow-water hydrothermal vents）是一类独特的海洋生境，广泛分布于全球火山活动活跃区域的沿岸地带。与深海热液喷口同类生境不同，浅水环境热液喷口的初级生产力同时依赖光能自养与化能自养过程。这类过程由不同地质背景驱动的多样地球化学体系所支撑。位于第勒尼安海南部的埃奥利群岛（Aeolian archipelago，意大利）以强烈的热液活动为特征，拥有地中海地区采样最为充分的浅水环境热液喷口之一。尽管如此，学界对该群岛各火山岛的微生物多样性、地球化学体系与地质背景三者间的关联仍知之甚少。本研究针对埃奥利群岛浅水环境热液喷口的地质、地球化学与微生物学之间的相互作用展开探究。