Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-12T19:35:46.873Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Chemosynthesis and Chemosymbiosis in the Fossil Record: Detecting Unusual Communities Using Isotope Geochemistry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2017

Emily A. Cobabe
Emily A. Cobabe*
Affiliation:
Biogeochemical Laboratory, Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
Get access

Extract

The exploration of chemosynthetic communities in the geologic record over the last ten years has generated a series of sedimentological, tectonic and geochemical criteria that help define a continuum of environments from hot hydrothermal vents to nearshore geothermal deposits. Many of these studies have used stable isotope geochemistry to uncover a depleted carbon signature that characterizes most fossil chemosynthetically derived deposits. Isotope geochemistry (carbon, nitrogen and sulfur) as been an important thread in the story of the discovery of modern chemosynthetic communities, as well, adding to understanding of the biogeochemistry of these ecosystems. With increasing awareness of the prominence of these communities, not just as a biological novelty, but as a fundamental component of life on Earth (and perhaps elsewhere), the drive to develop geochemical proxies for chemosynthetic taxa in the fossil record intensifies. Increased ability to recognize these communities provides access to a second tier of paleobiological questions, including ideas of evolutionary history and selective advantage.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Paleontological Society Papers , Volume 4: Isotope Paleobiology and Paleoecology , October 1998 , pp. 255 - 285
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 by The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, C.B. 1852. Catalogue of species of Lucina, which inhabit the West Indian Sea. Contributions to Conchology 12:242–247.Google Scholar
Aharon, P. 1991. Recorder of reef environment histories: stable isotopes in corals, giant clams, and calcareous algae. Coral Reefs 10:71–90.Google Scholar
Banks, D.A. 1985. A fossil hydrothermal worm assemblage from the Tynagh lead-zinc deposit in Ireland. Nature 313:128–131.Google Scholar
Baross, J.A. and Deming, J.W. 1995. Growth at high temperatures: isolation and taxonomy, physiology, and ecology. p. 169–217. in, Karl, D.M., (ed.), The microbiology of deep-sea hydrothermal vents, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.Google Scholar
Beauchamp, B., Krouse, H.R., Harrison, J.C., Nassichuk, W.W. and Eluik, L.S. 1989. Cretaceous cold-seep communities and methane-derived carbonates in the Canadian Arctic. Science 244:53–56.Google Scholar
Beauchamp, B. and Savard, M. 1992. Cretaceous chemosynthetic carbonate mounds in the Canadian Arctic. PALAIOS 7:434–450.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooks, J.M., Kennicut, M.C., Fisher, C.R., et al. 1987. Deep-sea hydrocarbon seep communities: Evidence for energy and nutritional carbon sources. Science 238:1138–1142.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Campbell, K.A. 1992. Recognition of a Mio-Pliocene cold seep setting from the Northeast Pacific convergent margin, Washington, U.S.A. PALAIOS 7:422–433.Google Scholar
Campbell, K.A. and Bottjer, D.J. 1995. Brachiopods and chemosymbiotic bivalves in Phanerozoic hydrothermal vent and cold seeps environments. Geology 23:321–324.Google Scholar
Campbell, K.A. and Bottjer, D.J. 1995. Peregrinella: an Early Cretaceous cold-seep-restricted brachiopod. Paleobiology 21:461–478.Google Scholar
Cary, C., Fry, B., Felbeck, H. and Vetter, R.D. 1989a. Multiple trophic resources for a chemoautotrophic community at a cold water brine seep at the base of the Florida Escarpment. Marine Biology 100:411–418.Google Scholar
Cary, S.C., Vetter, R.D. and Felbeck, H. 1989b. Habitat characterization and nutritional strategies of the endosymbiont-bearing bivalve Lucinoma aequizonata . Marine Ecology Progress Series 55:31–45.Google Scholar
Cavanaugh, C.M. 1983. Symbiotic chemoautotrophic bacteria in marine invertebrates from sulphide-rich habitats. Nature 302:58–61.Google Scholar
Cavanaugh, C.M. 1992. Methanotroph-invertebrate symbioses in the marine environment: Ultrastructureal, biochemical and molecular studies. p. 313–328. in, Murrell, J.C. and Kelly, D.P., (eds.), Microbial growth on C1 compounds, Intercept, Andover, U.K. Google Scholar
Cavanaugh, C.M. 1994. Microbial symbiosis: Patterns of diversity in the marine environment. American Zoologist 34:79–89.Google Scholar
Cavanaugh, C.M., Gardiner, S.L., Jones, M.L., Jannasch, H.W. and Waterbury, J.B. 1981. Prokaryotic cells in the hydrothermal vent tube work Riftia pachyptila Jones: Possible chemoautotrophic symbionts. Science 213:340–341.Google Scholar
Childress, J.J., Fisher, C.R., Brooks, J.M., Kennicutt, M.C., Bidigare, R. and Anderson, A.E. 1986. A methanotrophic marine molluscan (Bivalvia, Mytilidae) symbiosis: Mussels fueled by gas. Science 233:1306–1308.Google Scholar
CoBabe, E.A. Lipids in fossil skeletons: preservation and dietary information. (in review Paleobiology) CoBabe, E.A. Lucinid bivalve evolution and the detection of chemosymbiosis in the fossil record. unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1991. pp. 31–45.Google Scholar
CoBabe, E.A. and Pratt, L.M. 1995. Molecular and isotopic compositions of lipids in bivalve shells: A new prospect for molecular paleontology. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 59:87–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conway, N., Capuzzo, J. and Fry, B. 1990. The role of endosymbiotic bacteria in the nutrition of Solemya velum: Evidence from a stable isotope analysis of endosymbionts and host. Limnology and Oceanography 34:249–255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corliss, J.B., Dymond, J., Gordon, L.I., et al. 1979. Submarine thermal springs of the Galapagos Rift. Science 203:1073–1083.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Craig, H., Welman, J.A., Kim, K., Poreda, R., and Lupton, J.E. 1980. Geochemical studies of the 21°N EPR hydrothermal fluids. EOS 61:992.Google Scholar
Dando, P.R., Southward, A.J., Southward, E.C., Terwilliger, N.B. and Terwilliger, R.C. 1985. Sulphur-oxidising bacteria and haemoglobin in gills of the bivalve mollusc Myrtea spinifera . Marine Ecology Progress Series 23:85–98.Google Scholar
deBurgh, M.E., Juniper, S.K. and Singla, C.L. 1989. Bacterial symbiosis in Northeast Pacific Vestimentiferans: a TEM study. Marine Biology 101:97–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Des Marais, D.J. 1996, Stable light isotope biogeochemistry of hydrothermal systems. p. 83–94. in, Bock, G.R. and Goode, J. A., (eds.), Evolution of Hydrothermal Ecosystems on Earth (and Mars?), John Wiley and Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Distel, D.L., Lane, D.J., Olsen, G.J., et al. 1988. Sulfur-oxidizing bacterial endosymbionts: Analysis of phylogeny and specificity of 16S rRNA sequences. Journal of Bacteriology 170:2506–2510.Google Scholar
Distel, D.L., Lee, H.K.-W. and Cavanaugh, C.M. 1995. Intracellular coexistence of methano- and thioautotrophic bacteria in a hydrothermal vent mussel. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States 92:9598–9602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durand, P. and Gros, O. 1996. Bacterial host specificity of Lucinacea endosymbionts: Interspecific variation in 16S rRNA sequences. FEMS Microbiology Letters 140:193–198.Google Scholar
Edmund, J.M., Measures, C., MacDuff, R.E., Chan, L.H., Collier, R., Grant, B., Gordon, L.I., and Corliss, J.B. 1979. Ridge crest hydrothermal activity and the balances of major and minor elements in the ocean: The Galapagos data. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 46:1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erez, J. 1978. Vital effects on stable isotope compositions seen in foraminifera and coral skeletons. Nature, 273:199–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farmer, J.D. 1996. Hydrothermal systems on Mars: an assessment of present evidence. p. 272–294. in, Bock, G.R. and Goode, J. A., (eds.), Evolution of Hydrothermal Ecosystems on Earth (and Mars?), John Wiley and Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Felbeck, H. 1981. Chemoautotrophic potential of the hydrothermal vent tube worm, Riftia pachyptila Jones (Vestimentifera). Science 213:336–338.Google Scholar
Felbeck, H. 1983. Sulfide oxidation and carbon fixation by the gutless clam Solemya reidi: an animal-bacteria symbiosis. Journal of Comparative Physiology 152:3–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Felbeck, H., Childress, J.J. and Somero, G.N. 1981. Calvin-Bensen cycle and sulphide oxidation enzymes in animals from sulphide-rich habitats. Nature 293:291–293.Google Scholar
Felbeck, H., Childress, J.J. and Somero, G.N. 1983. Biochemical interactions between molluscs and their algal and bacterial symbionts. p. 331–358. In: (Hochachka, P.W., ed.) The Mollusca. Volume 2. Environmental Biochemistry and Physiology, Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Felbeck, H. and Somero, G.N. 1982. Primary production of deep-sea hydrothermal vent organisms: roles of sulfide-oxidizing bacteria. Trends in Biochemical Sciences 7:201–204.Google Scholar
Fisher, C.R. 1990. Chemoautotrophic and methanotrophic symbionts in marine invertebrates. Aquatic Sciences 2:399–436.Google Scholar
Fry, B., Gest, H. and Hayes, J.M. 1983. Sulfur isotopic composition of deep-sea hydrothermal vent animals. Nature 306:51–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaillard, C., Bourseau, J.-P., Boudeulle, M., Pailleret, P., Rio, M. and Roux, M. 1985. Les pseudo-biohermes de Beauvoisin (Drome): un site hydrothermal sur la marge tethysienne a l'Oxfordien? Bulletin de Societe Geologique de France 1:69–78.Google Scholar
Gaillard, C., Rio, M., Rolin, Y. and Roux, M. 1992. Fossil chemosynthetic communities related to vents or seeps in sedimentary basins: The pseudobioherms of southeastern France compared to other world examples. PALAIOS 7:451–465.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gearing, J.N., Gearing, P.J., Rudnick, D.T., Requejo, A.G. and Hutchins, M.J. 1984. Isotopic variability of organic carbon in a phytoplankton-based temperate estuary. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 48:1089–1098.Google Scholar
Giere, O., Felbeck, H., Dawson, R. and Liebzeit, G. 1984. The gutless oligochaete Phallodrillus leukodermatus Giere, a tubificid of structural, ecological and physiological relevance. Hydrobiologia 115:83–89.Google Scholar
Gottschalk, G. 1986. Bacterial metabolism, New York:Springer-Verlag. 2nd ed. p.359.Google Scholar
Gregory, R.P.F. 1989. Biochemistry of Photosynthesis. John Wiley and Sons, New York. 3rd ed. p.257.Google Scholar
Gros, O., Darrasse, A., Durand, P., Frenkiel, L. and Moueza, M. 1996. Environmental transmission of a sulfur-oxidizing bacterial gill endosymbiont in the tropical lucinid bivalve Codakia orbicularis . Applied and Environmental Microbiology 62:2324–2330.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grossman, E. 1993. Evidence that inoceramid bivalves were benthic and harbored chemosynthetic symbionts: Comment. Geology 21:94–95.Google Scholar
Hare, P.E., Fogel, M.L., Stafford, T.W., Mitchell, A.D., and Hoering, T.C. 1991. The isotopic composition of carbon and nitrogen in individual amino acids isolated from modern and fossil proteins. Journal of Archeological Science 18:1–15.Google Scholar
Hart, S.R. and Blusztajn, J. 1998. Clams as records of ocean ridge volcanism and hydrothermal vent field activity. Science 280:883–886.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haymon, R.M., Koski, R.A. and Sinclair, C. 1984. Fossils of hydrothermal vent worms from Cretaceous sulfide ores of the Samail Ophiolite, Oman. Science 223:1407–1409.Google Scholar
Hickman, C.S. 1984. Composition, structure, ecoogy and evolution of six Cenozoic deep-water mollusk communities. Journal of Paleontology 58:1215–1234.Google Scholar
Hickman, C.S. 1994. The genus Parvilucina in the eastern Pacific: Making evolutionary sense of a chemosymbiotic species complex. The Veliger 37:43–61.Google Scholar
Howe, B. and Kauffman, E. 1986. The lithofacies, biofacies, and depositional settings of tepee-buttes, Cretaceous submarine springs, between Colorado Springs and Boone, Colorado. p. 155–175. in, Kauffman, E., (ed.) Cretaceous Biofacies of the Central Part of the Western Interior Seaway: A Field Guidebook, 4th North American Paleontological Congress, Boulder.Google Scholar
Jannasch, H.W. and Mottl, M.J. 1985. Geomicrobiology of deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Science 229:717–725.Google Scholar
Jannasch, H.W. and Wirsen, C.O. 1979. Chemosynthetic primary production at East Pacific sea floor spreading centers. BioScience 29:592–598.Google Scholar
Jones, M.L. 1981. Riftia pachyptila Jones: Observations on the vestimentiferan worm from the Galapagos rift. Science 213:333–336.Google Scholar
Karl, D.M., Wirsen, C.O. and Jannasch, H.W. 1980. Deep-sea primary production at the Galapagos hydrothermal vents. Science 207:1345–1347.Google Scholar
Kauffman, E.G., Villamil, T., Harries, P.J. and Meyer, C.A. 1992. The flat clam controversy: Where did they come from? Where did they go? North American Paleontological Congress Abstracts, 159.(Abstract).Google Scholar
Kennicutt, M.C., Brooks, J.M., Bidigare, R.R., Fay, R.R., Wade, T.L. and McDonald, T.J. 1985. Vent-type taxa in a hydrocarbon seep region on the Lousiana slope. Nature 317:351–353.Google Scholar
Kennicutt, M.C., Burke, R.A., MacDonald, I.R., Brooks, J.M., Denoux, G.J. and Macko, S.A. 1992. Stable isotope partitioning in seep and vent organisms: chemical and ecological significance. Chemical Geology 101:293–310.Google Scholar
Krueger, D.M., Dubilier, N. and Cavanaugh, C.M. 1996. Chemoautotrophic symbiosis in the tropical clam Solemya occidentalis (Bivalvia: Protobranchia): ultrastructural and phylogenetic analysis. Marine Biology 126:55–64.Google Scholar
Linné, C. von. 1758. Systema naturae. 12th ed., v. 1, Renum animale, pt. 2. Stockholm. p. 533–1327.Google Scholar
Lonsdale, P. 1977. Clustering of suspension-feeding macrobenthos near abyssal hydrothermal vents at oceanic spreading centers. Deep Sea Research 24:857–863.Google Scholar
MacLeod, G., McKeown, C., Hall, A.J. and Russell, M.J. 1994. Hydrothermal and oceanic pH conditions of possible relevance to the origin of life. Orig. Life Evol. Biosphere 23:19–41.Google Scholar
MacLeod, K.G. and Hoppe, K.A. 1992. Evidence that inoceramid bivalves were benthic and harbored chemosynthetic symbionts. Geology 20:117–120.Google Scholar
McConnaughey, T. 1989. 13C and 18O isotopic disequilibrium in biological carbonates. I. Patterns. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 53:151–162.Google Scholar
Montagu, G. 1808. Testacea Britannica, Supplement. London. 183 p.Google Scholar
Moore, D.W., Young, L.E., Modene, J.S. and Plahuta, J.T. 1986. Geologic setting and genesis of the Red Dog zinc-lead-silver deposit, Western Brooks Range, Alaska. Economic Geology 81:1696–1727.Google Scholar
Niitsuma, N., Matsushima, Y. and Hirata, D. 1989. Abyssal molluscan colony of Calyptogena in the Pliocene strata of the Miura Peninsula, central Japan. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 71:193–203.Google Scholar
Paull, C.K., Chanton, J.P., Neumann, A.C., Coston, J.A., Martens, C.S. and Showers, W. 1992. Indicators of methane-derived carbonates and chemosynthetic organic carbon deposits: Examples from the Florida Escarpment. PALAIOS 7:361–375.Google Scholar
Paull, C.K., Jull, A.J.T., Toolin, L.J. and Linick, T. 1985. Stable isotope evidence for chemosynthesis in an abssal seep community. Nature 317:709–711.Google Scholar
Paull, C.K., Martens, C.S., Chanton, J.P., et al. 1989. Old carbon in living organisms and young CaCO3 cements from abyssal brine seeps. Nature 342:166–168.Google Scholar
Polz, M.F. and Cavanaugh, C.M. 1995. Dominance of one bacterial phylotype at a Mid-Atlantic Ridge hydrothermal vent site. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States 92:7232–7236.Google Scholar
Rau, G. 1985. 13C/12C and 15N/14N in hydrothermal vent organisms: ecological and biogeochemical implications. Bulletin of the Biological Society of Washington 6:243–247.Google Scholar
Rau, G.H. 1981. Hydrothermal vent clam and tube worm 13C/12C: Further evidence of nonphotosynthetic food sources. Science 213:338–339.Google Scholar
Rau, G.H. and Hedges, J.I. 1979. Carbon-13 depletion in a hydrothermal vent mussel: Suggestion of a chemosynthetic food source. Science 203:648–649.Google Scholar
Rio, M. Roux, M., Renard, M., Dewvault, Y., Davanzo, F., and Clauser, S. 1986. Fractionnement isotopique du carbone chez les bivalves dependent d'une production primaire chimo-autotrophe en milieu abyssal et littoral. Compte Rendue des l'Academie des Sciences, Serie II 303:1553–1556.Google Scholar
Rio, M., Roux, M., Renard, M. and Schein, E. 1992. Chemical and isotopic features of present day bivalve shells from hydrothermal vents or cold seeps. PALAIOS 7:351–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruby, E.G., Jannasch, H.W. and Deuser, W.G. 1987. Fractionation of stable carbon isotopes during chemoautotrophic growth of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 53:1940–1943.Google Scholar
Ruby, E.G., Wirsen, C.O. and Jannasch, H.W. 1981. Chemolithoautotrophic sulfur oxidizing bacteria from the Galapagos rift hydrothermal vents. Applied Environmental Microbiology 42:317–324.Google Scholar
Russell, M.J., Hall, A.J., Cairns-Smith, A.G. and Braterman, P.S. 1988. Submarine hot springs and the origins of life. Nature 336:117.Google Scholar
Saino, T. and Ohta, S. 1989. 13C/12C and 15N/14N ratios of vesicomyid clams and a vestimentiferan tube worm in the subduction zone east of Japan. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 71:169–178.Google Scholar
Schoell, M. 1983. Genetic classification of natural gas. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 67:2225–2238.Google Scholar
Schweimanns, M. and Felbeck, H. 1985. Significance of the occurrence of chemoautotrophic bacterial endosymbionts in lucinid clams from Bermuda. Marine Ecology Progress Series 24:113–120.Google Scholar
Seilacher, A. 1990. Aberrations in bivalve evolution related to photo- and chemosymbiosis. Historical Biology 3:289–311.Google Scholar
Shock, E.L. 1996. Hydrothermal systems as environments for the emergence of life. p. 40–51. in, Bock, G.R. and Goode, J.A., (eds.), Evolution of Hydrothermal Ecosystems on Earth (and Mars?), John Wiley and Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Southward, A.J. and Southward, E.C. 1980. The significance of dissolved organic compounds in the nutrition of Sibloglinum ekmani and other small species of Pogonophora. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 60:1005–1034.Google Scholar
Southward, A.J., Southward, E.C., Dando, P.R., Rau, G.H., Felbeck, H. and Flugel, H. 1981. Bacterial symbionts and low 13C/12C ratios in tissues of Pogonophora indicate unusual nutrition and metabolism. Nature 293:616–620.Google Scholar
Southward, E.C. 1986. Gill symbionts in thyasirids and other bivalve molluscs. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 66:889–914.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Southward, E.C. 1987. Contribution of symbiotic chemoautotrophs to the nutrition of benthic invertebrates. p. 83–118. in, Sleigh, M.A., (ed.), Microbes in the Sea, Ellis Horwood Ltd., Chichester, England.Google Scholar
Spero, B., Greenwood, P.B., Southward, A.J. and Dando, P.R. 1986. 13C/12C ratios in marine invertebrates from reducing sediments: confirmation of nutritional importance of chemoautotrophic endosymbiotic bacteria. Marine Ecology Progress Series 28:233–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stahl, D.A., Lane, D.J., Olsen, G.J. and Pace, N.R. 1984. Analysis of hydrothermal vent-associated symbionts by ribosomal RNA sequences. Science 224:409–411.Google Scholar
Stein, J.L., Cary, S.C., Hessler, R.R., et al. 1988. Chemoautotrophic symbiosis in a hydrothermal vent gastropod. Biological Bulletin 174:373–378.Google Scholar
Swart, P.K. 1983. Carbon and oxygen isotopic fractionation in scleractinian corals: a review. Earth-Sciences Reviews 19:51–90.Google Scholar
Trewin, N.H. 1996. The Rhynie cherts: an early Devonian ecosystem preserved by hydrothermal activity. p. 131–144. in, Bock, G.R. and Goode, J.A., (eds.), Evolution of Hydrothermal Ecosystems on Earth (and Mars?), John Wiley and Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Tuross, N., Fogel, M., and Hare, P. 1988. Variability in the preservation of the isotopic composition of collagen from fossil bone. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 52:929–935.Google Scholar
Van Dover, C.L. and Fry, B. 1989. Stable isotopic compositions of hydrothermal vent organisms. Marine Biology 102:257–263.Google Scholar
Van Dover, C.L., Grassle, J.F., Fry, B., Garritt, R.H. and Starczak, V.R. 1992. Stable isotope evidence for entry of sewage-derived organic material into a deep-sea food web. Nature 360:153–155.Google Scholar
von Bitter, P.H., Scott, S.D. and Schenk, P.E. 1990. Early Carboniferous low-temperature hydrothermal vent communities from Newfoundland. Nature 344:145–148.Google Scholar
von Bitter, P.H., Scott, S.D. and Schenk, P.E. 1992. Chemosynthesis: An alternate hypothesis for Carboniferous biotas in bryozoan/microbial mounds, New Foundland, Canada. PALAIOS 7:466–484.Google Scholar
Williams, A.B. and Rona, P.A. 1986. Two new cariean shrimps (Bresiliidae) from a hydrothermal field on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Journal of Crustacean Biology 2:136–147.Google Scholar
Williams, P.M., Smith, K.L., Druffel, E.M. and Linick, T.W. 1981. Dietary carbon sources of mussels and tubeworms from Galapagos hydrothermal vents determined from tissue 14C activity. Nature 292:448–449.Google Scholar