Only bacteria, worms worms lived

2011/07/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ekologia
• Zoologia

In the Beatrix gold mine in South Africa, 1.3 kilometers from the earth's surface, at a temperature depth of 40 ° C and in an environment where the oxygen concentration is quite lower than on the surface, four species of nematodes have been found. They were the first pluricellular beings found at that depth; until then, scientists believed that only bacteria could live there. One of the four species is also a nematode never described, known as Halicephalobus mephisto. The other three were known species, but were never found in environments of these conditions. The results of the discovery have been published in the journal Nature.

At that depth they feed on the biofilms that form the bacteria. When they were raised in the laboratory, scientists realized that they preferred to eat the bacteria that grow in their habitat, which has led them to think that they form solid communities and that ecosystems are absolutely functional.