Vents
In the catalog of habitats on earth, chemosynthetic ecosystems at deep-sea hydrothermal vents are singularly decoupled from climatic variations and from anthropogenic activities. Furthermore, chemosynthetic ecosystems are tightly coupled to the geophysical properties of tectonism and volcanism. As a consequence, one can look to tectonic history and volcanic periodicity as fundamental predictors of the boundaries of biogeographic provinces and of species richness within provinces. Chemosynthetic systems support endemic faunas, are globally distributed, and are insular habitats. In such putatively simple systems, hydrographic and topographic controls on biodiversity and biogeography of microbial and metazoan communities may be much more readily resolved than in systems where climate and human activities obscure their role. Systematic study of diversity in chemosynthetic systems within the context of planetary-scale processes will lead to an increased understanding of fundamental controls on biodiversity and biogeography within oceans (on Earth and other planetary bodies) where propagules are waterborne and subject to dispersal in an open system.
