The microbial community along the Indian Ridge is being investigated through phylogenetic analyses (high through put sequencing, Illumina), incubation and cultivation experiments. The role of different inorganic electron donors (primarily hydrogen and iron(II)) for carbon cycling is being studied in relation to local environmental parameters.
One of the experimental procedures includes deposition of incubation colonization devices containing different sulfide minerals. The first incubators were deployed at different hydrothermally influenced sites and sediments during the INDEX 2019 cruise and will be recovered during the INDEX 2020 cruise. After recovery, the composition of the microbial community that developed on the different sulfide minerals after one year of incubation and its functionality will be assessed.
Dr. Katja Laufer-Meise 鈭� Dr. Nicole Adam-Beyer
Adam, N., Kriete, C., Garbe-Sch枚nberg, D., Gonnella, G., Krause, S., Schippers, A., Kurtz, S., Schwarz-Schampera, Han, Y., Indenbirken, D., & M. Perner (2019) Microbial community compositions and geochemistry of sediments with increasing distance to the hydrothermal vent outlet in the Kairei field. Geomicrobiology Journal, DOI:
Han, Y., Adam, N., Gonnella, G., Schippers, A., Burkhards, L., Kurtz, S., Schwarz-Schampera, U., Franke, U., & Perner, M.* (2018)
Hydrothermal chimneys host habitat-specific microbial communities: analogues for studying the possible impact of mining seafloor massive sulfide deposits. Scientific Reports DOI:
