TY - JOUR
T1 - The Evolutionary Ecology of Animals Inhabiting Hydrogen Sulfide-Rich Environments
AU - Tobler, Michael
AU - Passow, Courtney N.
AU - Greenway, Ryan
AU - Kelley, Joanna L.
AU - Shaw, Jennifer H.
PY - 2016/11/1
Y1 - 2016/11/1
N2 - Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a respiratory toxicant that creates extreme environments tolerated by few organisms. H2S is also produced endogenously by metazoans and plays a role in cell signaling. The mechanisms of H2S toxicity and its physiological functions serve as a basis to discuss the multifarious strategies that allow animals to survive in H2S-rich environments. Despite their toxicity, H2S-rich environments also provide ecological opportunities, and complex selective regimes of covarying abiotic and biotic factors drive trait evolution in organisms inhabiting H2S-rich environments. Furthermore, adaptation to H2S-rich environments can drive speciation, giving rise to biodiversity hot spots with high levels of endemism in deep-sea hydrothermal vents, cold seeps, and freshwater sulfide springs. The diversity of H2S-rich environments and their inhabitants provides ideal systems for comparative studies of the effects of a clear-cut source of selection across vast geographic and phylogenetic scales, ultimately informing our understanding of how environmental stressors affect ecological and evolutionary processes.
AB - Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a respiratory toxicant that creates extreme environments tolerated by few organisms. H2S is also produced endogenously by metazoans and plays a role in cell signaling. The mechanisms of H2S toxicity and its physiological functions serve as a basis to discuss the multifarious strategies that allow animals to survive in H2S-rich environments. Despite their toxicity, H2S-rich environments also provide ecological opportunities, and complex selective regimes of covarying abiotic and biotic factors drive trait evolution in organisms inhabiting H2S-rich environments. Furthermore, adaptation to H2S-rich environments can drive speciation, giving rise to biodiversity hot spots with high levels of endemism in deep-sea hydrothermal vents, cold seeps, and freshwater sulfide springs. The diversity of H2S-rich environments and their inhabitants provides ideal systems for comparative studies of the effects of a clear-cut source of selection across vast geographic and phylogenetic scales, ultimately informing our understanding of how environmental stressors affect ecological and evolutionary processes.
KW - Convergent evolution
KW - Ecological opportunity
KW - Extreme environments
KW - Physiological adaptation
KW - Speciation
KW - Symbiosis
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U2 - 10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-121415-032418
DO - 10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-121415-032418
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84994528725
SN - 1543-592X
VL - 47
SP - 239
EP - 262
JO - Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics
JF - Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics
ER -