• Question: are you worried about the recent news about the mining near the under sea hydrovents and do you think it will effect some species of bacteria that live there?

    Asked by ibelieveinkarma to Jimmy, Niall on 22 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Niall Crawford

      Niall Crawford answered on 22 Mar 2013:

      … a bit worried. I think a lot of the time humans will go into to exploit a resource without thinking twice about the consequences. Dust from the work could kill off tons of species we still don’t know a lot about, and landslides from excavation could bury entire ecosystems.

    • Photo: James Holloway

      James Holloway answered on 22 Mar 2013:

      Are the bacteria you’re thinking about these guys?:

      (If you haven’t seen these strange vents on the ocean floor then basically there are a type of bacteria that love very hot water, they build big tubes along the vents)

      If we mine near these then we could stem the floor, stop it completely or have no effect. The problem is is that we don’t know because it hasn’t been done before.

      So yes I’ll worry for the little guys! This type of bacteria are especially important because they give us a glimpse into what the first life on earth may have been like. And they also give us an idea of the more extreme conditions life can live in.

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