Question

Write a paragraph Now that you have learned about chemosynthetic organisms, revise your explanation.b) Below your original explanation, create another paragraph explaining what you learned andhow this new information impacts your original explanation.• Do not delete or change your original explanation.• Give reasoning for how and why you would change your original explanation in lightof the new information.

Answer 1

Chemosynthesis is a process where organisms use chemical energy from inorganic molecules to produce food, essential in ecosystems devoid of sunlight. These chemosynthetic bacteria are fundamental to unique ecosystems like deep ocean vents, potentially even extraterrestrial environments.

Step-by-step explanation:

Photosynthesis provides over 99 percent of the energy for life on earth. A much smaller group of autotrophs - mostly bacteria in dark or low-oxygen environments - produce food using the chemical energy stored in inorganic molecules such as hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, or methane. While photosynthesis transforms light energy to chemical energy, this alternate method of making food transfers chemical energy from inorganic to organic molecules. It is therefore called chemosynthesis, and is characteristic of the tubeworms shown in Figure below. Some of the most recently discovered chemosynthetic bacteria inhabit deep ocean hot water vents or "black smokers."

There, they use the energy in gases from the Earth's interior to produce food for a variety of unique heterotrophs: giant tube worms, blind shrimp, giant white crabs, and armored snails. Some scientists think that chemosynthesis may support life below the surface of Mars, Jupiter's moon, Europa, and other planets as well. Ecosystems based on chemosynthesis may seem rare and exotic, but they too illustrate the absolute dependence of heterotrophs on autotrophs for food.