What is the difference between chemosynthetic autotrophs and photosynthetic autotrophs

Some vent fields may remain active for 10, years, but individual vents are much shorter-lived. A vent will remain active for usually one or two years. Under the sea, hydrothermal vents can form features called black smokers and white smokers. Hydrothermal vents provide both a thermocline and a chemocline; the areas closer to the vent are both hotter and more chemically rich, while areas further from the vent are cooler and less chemically rich. Within the hydrothermal vents are seafloor massive sulfides SMS , whereby the vents create sulfide deposits containing valuable metals such as silver, gold, manganese, cobalt, and zinc.

Mining will remove surface sediments and chunks of the seafloor, uprooting organisms living there. Vehicles extracting minerals will also generate large sediment plumes that can travel well beyond the mining site, smothering animals in their wake. Discovered only in , hydrothermal vents are home to dozens of previously unknown species. Huge red-tipped tube worms, ghostly fish, strange shrimp with eyes on their backs and other unique species thrive in these extreme deep ocean ecosystems found near undersea volcanic chains.

Chemosynthesis is a process special bacteria use to produce energy without using sunlight. Clams, worms, oysters, shrimp-like crustaceans and mussels are all examples of benthic organisms.

The ocean ecosystem is divided into four distinct zones. The deepest zone of this marine ecosystem, the abyssal zone, has cold, highly-pressurized water with high oxygen but low nutrient levels. Similarly, different chemosynthetic bacteria utilize different inorganic substances to obtain energy.

Photosynthetic bacteria carry out photosynthesis and produce their own food, utilizing the energy from sunlight. Meanwhile, chemosynthetic bacteria carry out chemosynthesis and produce their own food, obtaining energy from the oxidation of inorganic substances. So, this is the key difference between photosynthetic and chemosynthetic bacteria. Moreover, photosynthetic bacteria live in places where there is sunlight while chemosynthetic bacteria live in places where there is no sunlight.

Also, another difference between photosynthetic and chemosynthetic bacteria is that photosynthetic bacteria have pigments to trap sunlight while chemosynthetic bacteria do not have pigments. The below infographic summarizes the difference between photosynthetic and chemosynthetic bacteria.

Photosynthetic bacteria are a group of bacteria that can produce their own food by photosynthesis. They are also called cyanobacteria. Meanwhile, chemosynthetic bacteria are a group of bacteria that carry out chemosynthesis in order to produce their own foods. In short, photosynthetic bacteria utilize energy from sunlight for carbohydrate production, while chemosynthetic bacteria obtain energy from the oxidation of inorganic substances such as sulfur, hydrogen sulfide, methane, etc.

Thus, this summarizes the difference between photosynthetic and chemosynthetic bacteria. Gutierrez, Jose Juan. Samanthi Udayangani holds a B.

Degree in Plant Science, M. Other bacteria make organic matter by reducing sulfide or oxidizing methane. Our knowledge of chemosynthetic communities is relatively new, brought to light by ocean exploration when humans first observed a vent on the deep ocean floor in and found a thriving community where there was no light.

Since then, chemosynthetic bacterial communities have been found in hot springs on land and on the seafloor around hydrothermal vents, cold seeps, whale carcasses, and sunken ships. No one had ever thought to look for them, but these communities were there all along.

Continental Margin. Ganong's light screen 2. Test tube and funnel experiment. Plant Mode of nutrition. Chemosynthesis - Chemosynthetic autotrophs and heterotrophs. Plant Respiration and structure of ATP. Plant Respiration : Glycolysis. Plant Respiration : Krebs cycle and Significance of Krebs cycle. Plant Respiration : Electron transport chain. Plant Respiration : Pentose phosphate pathway.