Microbial ecology of hydrothermal plumes

Because event plumes represent the sudden injection of exploitable reducing chemical substrates, as well as inhibitory constituents, they are likely to induce successional changes in the microbial community structure and activity within plume waters over time (Cowen etal., 1998). For example, in studies following the 1998 Axial Volcano eruption, abundant putative bacterial sulphur filaments were observed in August 1998 (Feely etal., 1999), though they were not initially found in plumes in February 1998 (Cowen etal., 1999). 

The origin of microbes present in hydrothermal plumes is believed to be either from a subsurface biosphere maintained by the rapid mixing processes that take place during plume formation or from entrained seawater microbes (Winn etal., 1995 Cowen etal., 1998,1999). In the latter case, most of the organisms would not be able to grow, but a small segment of the population may thrive and multiply as plumes move away from the ridge crest. Similar forms to plume bacteria are common on rock surfaces near vents and on sulphide structures (Jannasch  

Wirsen, 1981 Juniper Tebo, 1995). To date, however, little phylogenetic or culture work has been done specifically on plume microbes. 

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