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Feeling Hot Hot Hot: Extreme Chemosynthetic Communities

Hydrothermal vents in the North Guaymas Basin of the Gulf of California create a perfect opportunity for the Corps of Exploration to investigate this dynamic ecosystem. Being cut off from sunlight poses unique challenges and results in complex interactions among the organisms living down in the deep. Vent communities rely on converting chemicals from the vents into a food source in a process known as chemosynthesis.

Contributed by Science Communciation Fellows Alfonso Garcia Arriola, Jennifer Runyan, and Lead Science Communication Fellow Elizabeth Fahy.