4 ms·

Would be more about total energy

• ceejayoz 2y ago
  The article says otherwise: > even at depths where the energy supply is orders of magnitude lower than enjoyed by organisms in habitats that see the sun > Something unexpected that caught Ruff’s attention was how total diversity went up with depth. This was surprising because less energy is available at deeper levels of the subsurface. For archaea, diversity went up with the increase in depth in terrestrial environments but not marine environments. The same happened with bacteria, except in marine instead of terrestrial environments.
  • jvanderbot 2y ago
    I wonder if fewer reliable energy gradients means hyperspecialization around smaller niches.
    • dathinab 2y ago
      that and collaboration between different very specialized micro organisms Also a additional "wild" theory (from me, wield as in not properly researched/fact based): Mono cultures or quasi monopolization of resources of one species rarely survive long term in nature (as in either they kill themself or them or the situation changes enough to remove the "monopoly". And if you go very deep underground you have increasing slower interchange/mixing between localities, and in general live is slower acting (to preserve energy). So over fit species (which risk themself due to monopolization) might in such bioms die out or fix themself before they can widely spread.