- The bacteria, that represent the bottom trophic level
of
all the communities, use chemicals (e.g. sulfate or methane) to create
organic
molecules
- Some of the same bacteria species exist in multiple
communities. For example, the same
bacteria species lives
on whale falls and hydrothermal vents.
- Many of the small invertebrates have symbiotic
bacteria
inside them. Moreover, the symbiotic
bacteria are the same species or are very closely related to the same
bacteria
that form the large bacterial mats.
- Convergent evolution may explain the similarities of
the
macrofaunas. This will need to be
evaluated in the future.
- Communities change with a somewhat predictable
succession of different communities. The
succession of communities
can be separated by depth (sediments) or time (whales falls).
- Most of the faunas (maybe even including the microbes)
have
opportunistic life strategies.
- The different communities last different temporal
lengths. For example, the whale fall
communities last less than a thousand while the deep sediment bacteria
communities may live up to tens of million years.
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