|
Participant
Interview:
Craig Moyer
Assistant Professor
Western Washington University
Jeff: What research are
you conducting at Axial Volcano?
Craig: I'm studying the microbial ecology of the communities that are
associated with the vents. I'm also comparing the new vent field communities
from the eruption of '98 with the established vent communities at Ashes.
Jeff: What kind of differences
are you looking for?
Craig: First and foremost is community diversity. I'm researching who
are the dominant members of each of the microbial (bacteria and archaea)
communities from the different habitats found down there.
Jeff: Why all the excitement
about the bacteria and archaea at hydrothermal vents?
Craig: The microbes at hydrothermal vents use a completely different type
of metabolic pathway than photosynthesis. They use smelly sulfur compounds
and other minerals to make their living. This process, chemosynthesis,
is completely exclusive of any kind of photosynthetic light source. In
some ways they are uncoupled from the biology that exists up here. But
in other ways, they are closely coupled because the majority of microbes
at the vents are oxidizers. There's an energetic boost when oxygen is
used for metabolism. The microorganisms in the subsurface floor, which
are growing anaerobically (without oxygen), might be the only ones not
relying on oxygen. These subsurface anaerobes can't produce nearly as
much biomass as the aerobic ones near the vents. There are microbiologists
investigating if there's photosynthesis at the vents from the infra-red
region of the spectrum. Even if they are, it's not the main game in town.
Photosynthetic microbes aren't the dominant geochemical movers and shakers
down there at hydrothermal vents.
Jeff: What is the significance
of your work to the field of science?
Craig: The impact on mankind could possibly be an industrial grade enzymatic
process that could possibly be used for manufacturing antibiotics.
|
