Unlike the
chemoautotrophic nitrifiers, which do not grow below pH 5, the heterotrophic nitrifiers are active in acid soils, particularly forest soils.
They present different feeding modes (carnivores, herbivores, omnivores, deposit-feeders, symbiotic
chemoautotrophic bacteria), this plasticity could be the reason of their success in many environments (Beesley et al.
Chemoautotrophic bacteria, such as those that live associated with the vents of the ocean ridges, are the only benthic primary producers that are not photosynthetic.
In Thiobacillus ferrooxidans, an acidophilic
chemoautotrophic bacterium sensitive to mercury ions, a group of mercury-resistant strains, which volatilize mercury, has been isolated.
Desulfovibrio and other
chemoautotrophic bacteria produce sulfuric and nitric acid' which increase limestone dissolution.
However, the discovery on the ocean floors of entire communities of organisms that utilize
chemoautotrophic bacteria to extract energy from the hydrogen sulfides which are spewed out of hydrothermal vents reminds us that there are also significant exceptions.
He does, however, discuss other deposit feeding bivalves and bivalves with
chemoautotrophic symbionts.
Although a few cave communities depend on
chemoautotrophic production (Sarbu et al.
Here sulfide-rich effluents support dense communities of free-living bacteria, as well as tube worms and mollusks living in symbiosis with
chemoautotrophic bacteria (internal bacteria that fix organic carbon using chemical energy from reduced compounds such as sulfide).
Inorganics are also present, and some of them, such as ammonia, promote the growth of
chemoautotrophic bacteria.
In deep-sea hydrothermal vents and seeps, symbiotic associations between invertebrates and
chemoautotrophic bacteria are common (Cavanaugh et al.
High species richness in deep-sea
chemoautotrophic whale skeleton communities.
