Products of the early diagenesis of sediments as a source of energy in the food chain of the Gonchocoele bottom community (Bivalvia) near gas-hydrate seeps off Paramushir Island, Sea of Okhotsk.

Abstract

Isotopic analysis of organic matter from bottom sediments and soft tissues of bivalve Conchocoele from a community near the gas-hydrate seep off the Paramushir Island indicates that the intramolecular energy of energy-rich compounds H2S and methane, which are products of early diagenesis, is used for chemical synthesis by free-living symbiotic sulfur-oxidizing, sulfur reducing, and methane-oxidizing bacteria in the community.