TOPIC: Hydrothermal Vents
FOCUS: Students develop their understanding of chemosynthetic
ecosystems and dynamics through sense-making.
GRADE LEVEL: 9th-12th
TIME NEEDED: Two 45 or 50-minute class periods
PHENOMENON
(DRIVING QUESTION): How can ecosystems survive without sunlight?
OBJECTIVES/
LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students will:
• Ask questions to investigate what causes dynamic ecosystems to survive in the
absence of light.
• Identify patterns in ecosystems to develop a model to explain how components
in an ecosystem interact in the absences of light.
MATERIALS: Individual Student Materials
• Hydrothermal Vent Food Web Student Activity Sheet (page 12)
• Hydrothermal Vent Food Web Presentation
(food web organism cards and instructions for online learning)
• Whiteboards and Dry Erase Markers (or online jamboards)
EQUIPMENT • Video projection or online sharing capability
1
Investigation: Life on a Hydrothermal Vent
Overview
HS-LS2 Ecosystems:
Interactions, Energy, and
Dynamics
Performance Expectations
HS-LS 2-6
Disciplinary Core Ideas
LS2.C
Crosscutting Concepts
Stability and Change
Science & Engineering
Practices
Constructing Explanations and
Designing Solutions
Developing and Using Models
COMMON CORE CONNECTIONS
ELA/Literacy -
RST.9 -10.8
RST.11-12.1
RST.11-12.7
Mathematics – MP.2
OCEAN LITERACY ESSENTIAL PRINCIPLES
AND FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS
Principle 1 FC b; Principle 2 FC a; Principle 4 FC b;
Principle 5 FCs a, b, d, e, f, g; Principle 7 FC b
EDUCATOR | www.DeepOceanEducationProject.org
NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS (NGSS)
It is important to note that although these are the elements that are identied in the performance
expectation (PE), other elements of the science and engineering practices (SEPs), disciplinary core
ideas (DCIs), and crosscutting concepts (CCCs) are incorporated when appropriate. PEs are examples of
how the three dimensions could be assessed at the end of instruction and are meant as a guide to build
coherent learning progressions.
ROV shining light on a chimney.
Image courtesy of the NOAA Ocean
Exploration.
SET-UP INSTRUCTIONS: Cue up images and videos for student viewing (links provided throughout the investigation)
For in-person instruction:
• Copy the Hydrothermal Vent Food Web Student Activity Sheet (one per student)
• Print the Organism Cards
(slides 4-16 of the Hydrothermal Vent Food Web Presentation) (one per student group)
For online learning:
• Share the Hydrothermal Vent Food Web Presentation with students using an
online learning platform (remove the answer key before sharing)
Background
Hydrothermal vents are home to dynamic, diverse ecosystems that exist in the absence of light. Bacteria, not plants,
are at the base of the vent food webs (producers), harnessing energy from chemicals in the vent uids to produce
simple sugars through the process of chemosynthesis.
Chemosynthesis occurs under a wide temperature range and utilizes a number of different chemicals depending
on the ecosystem. Only a few decades ago, marine scientists were stunned to nd complex ecosystems based on
chemosynthesis ourishing around deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Because chemosynthetic organisms can function in
such harsh and hostile habitats on Earth as deep-sea hydrothermal vents, it seems possible that chemosynthesis may
also be occurring under the dicult conditions found on other worlds.
Educator Note
For this activity:
• Students should have a general idea of ecosystem dynamics from middle school, including ideas around the
interactions between food chains/webs, energy ow, the cycling of matter and photosynthesis.
• A variety of student interaction techniques are used
throughout this investigation to support equitable participation.
• Examples of student questions are provided throughout
this activity. Use these questions to engage student in the
process of sense-making to move their learning forward.
Overview cont.
2
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Investigation: Life on a Hydrothermal Vent
Mata Tolu Chimneys. Image courtesy of MARUM,
University of Bremen and NOAA-Pacic
Marine Environmental Laboratory.
Educator Guide
Chemosynthesis
Fact Sheet
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Hydrothermal
Vents
Fact Sheet
3
Educator Guide cont.
Investigation: Life on a Hydrothermal Vent
Introducing the Phenomenon
Engaging in Observation
Begin by asking students to think about and record what they know about ecosystems including food chains/webs
and interactions between organisms and their environment. Ask them to share their thinking with a partner and allow
students to add to or revise their list. As a full class, ask students to share what they know about ecosystems.
Record student ideas which may include:
• ecosystems contain both living and nonliving things
• ecosystems can change over time
• ecosystems contain food chains and food webs
• food chains/webs contain producers, consumers and decomposers
• plants “make their own food” from the Sun through photosynthesis
• the Sun provides energy for the ecosystem (all living things)
Next, introduce students to the phenomenon by rst sharing
three or four of these images of a hydrothermal vent
ecosystem in the Marianas.
If students don’t bring up the Sun and/or
photosynthesis, you might ask, “What is the
source of energy in an ecosystem? Why do
you say so?” and then direct students to turn
and talk with a partner. Listen for students
to share ideas about plants needing energy
from the Sun for photosynthesis; make sure
to call on these students rst when you
bring the class back together.
EDUCATOR GUIDANCE
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Active venting at a large chimney. Image courtesy of the NOAA Ofce of Ocean
Exploration and Research.
Vent covered in hairy snails. Image courtesy of the NOAA Ofce of Ocean
Exploration and Research.
Active venting, large chimney cluster covered in animals (blurry due to water temp).
Image courtesy of the NOAA Ocean Exploration.
Single black smoker chimney. Image courtesy of the NOAA Ocean Exploration.
Educator Guide cont.
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Investigation: Life on a Hydrothermal Vent
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Engaging in Observation cont.
Tell students they are looking at hydrothermal vents located in the region
of the Mariana Trench (a convergent plate boundary). Show the location
on the map provided and make sure to point out the hydrothermal vents
are located in an area of volcanoes (volcanic arc) associated with the
trench and not in the trench itself.
Give students time individually to record their observations and any
questions they may have, then have them share and compare with a
partner. Do not invite students to share ideas with the class at this time.
Show students the Hydrothermal Vent video (1:06 minutes) from the
NOAA Ocean Exploration 2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas
expedition. Again, ask students to make and record observations of
the hydrothermal vent ecosystem (this is the same ecosystem they
observed in the pictures). Encourage students to capture answers to
questions the video provides and to record new questions that arise.
After viewing the video, ask for someone to share the depth of the
hydrothermal vents that were observed (3275 meters). Quickly survey
students asking “Do you think sunlight reaches that far below
the ocean surface?” Then, show students the graphic
Distance Sunlight Travels in the Ocean and, if necessary,
ask the question again.
Students should now all agree sunlight does not travel
to that depth in the ocean.
Tell students you have another hydrothermal vent
ecosystem you would like them to observe and show
the location of this ecosystem on a map (maps from
NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2011 Galapagos Rift expedition).
Point out this hydrothermal vent ecosystem is located
in a volcanic area in the Cocos Ridge region
(divergent plate boundary) near the Galapagos Islands. Show the
Ocean Exploration Trust video Giant Black Smoker Hydrothermal Vent
(3:48 minutes). As with the rst video, ask students to make and record
observations as well as capture answers to questions the video provides
(and record any new questions).
In small groups, have students share their observations. Ask them to
identify observations most of the group members have in common
and observations only one or two group members noticed. Then,
ask students to choose two common observations and one less
common observation to share with the class. Record the shared
observations.
Map showing the locations of the Mariana Trench, Volcanic
Arc, and back-arc spreading center and remnant arc. Image
courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2016 Deepwater
Exploration of the Marianas.
Image courtesy NOAA NOS.
Giant Black Smoker Hydrothermal Vent
Video courtesy Ocean Exploration Trust - Nautilus Live.
Hydrothermal Vents
Video courtesy NOAA Ofce of Exploration and Research.
5
Educator Guide cont.
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Developing Common Questions and Ideas
Again in small groups, ask each group member to write their top three questions
on sticky notes (one question per sticky note) and share those questions with their
group. Ask each group to choose their top three questions to share with the class,
having each group member write their initials on their group’s sticky notes. Bring the
class back together and invite groups to ask their questions (either record student
questions or create a space for students to post them) and share why they elevated
these three questions in importance. Examples of student questions may include:
• Are there hydrothermal vents throughout the ocean? Do they all support life?
• What’s the black material coming out of the hydrothermal vents?
• Why is the water shimmering?
• How can animals live there when it is so hot (over 300˚ C)?
• Why are so many of the animals white?
• What do the animals eat? Where do the animals get their food?
• What’s the white and brown material growing there?
• Are plants/algae growing there without sunlight?
• Does light come from somewhere else since sunlight doesn’t go that deep?
Ask students what they think they should gure out rst. Many students will want to
know more about the organisms living on and around the hydrothermal vents they
observed and if other organisms live there. Use their curiosity to navigate to the next
part of the investigation.
Figuring It Out
Ask students to return to their small groups and brainstorm ideas about how life
can exist and survive at a hydrothermal vent without sunlight. Listen for groups to
discuss the following ideas and invite these groups to share with the class when you
bring them back together:
• Organism living on and around the vents eat things (like dead plants and algae) that oat
down from the surface so light isn’t necessary. (“Marine snow” does fall to the seaoor and
feeds benthic organisms but not enough to sustain the amount life found at vents.)
• Something besides plants/algae must be the producer in the food chain/web (or “be at the
beginning” of the food chain/food web).
At this point students have to grapple with big science ideas, some of which seem
contradictory to ideas they learned in previous grades. Students have gured out:
• Organisms live deep in the ocean by hydrothermal vents that are really hot - around 300 to
400 degrees Celsius. Hotter than boiling water.
• Hydrothermal vents occur near tectonic plate boundaries (near trenches and
spreading centers).
• Sunlight doesn’t reach that far beneath the ocean surface, so the hydrothermal vent food
webs do not depend on plants and algae.
Investigation: Life on a Hydrothermal Vent
EDUCATOR GUIDANCE
Some common
misconceptions students
may share as they
experience this
phenomenon include:
• algae are plants
• plants and algae can
photosynthesize in the dark
• animals in the
hydrothermal vent
ecosystem survive by only
eating dead things that
sink to the sea oor
• vent animals are white
so they can be seen in
the dark
At this point it is important
not to try to correct these
misconceptions. The lesson
is designed to allow students
to gure out the important
science ideas over time and
to change their thinking
based on new evidence.
Constructing a Hydrothermal Vent Food Web
Tell students the struggle for food is one of the most important and
complex activities to occur in an ecosystem. In small groups, have
students explore the Food Web Organism Cards provided. Their task
is to build a hydrothermal vent food web using the cards and Student
Activity Sheet (page 12) provided. Once they have lled in all the spots
in their food web and drawn the connections, show them the complete
food web with all connections illustrating how these animals interact.
Next, ask students to share their food web observations with a partner
and then with the class. Student observations could include:
• Many more organisms live at hydrothermal vents than we thought.
• The food web seems to start with chemicals.
• Bacteria are the beginning of the food chain/web (primary producers) and
not plants.
• There are many different interactions between the organisms just like other
food webs we have experienced/observed in the past.
Give students some time to reason through what they have gured
out and synthesize this new information. Ask students if they have
everything they need to explain how an ecosystem can exist and
survive at a hydrothermal vent like we are able to for ecosystems driven
by photosynthesis. (Answers here will vary; some students will be
condent they can while others think they need more information.)
Have students work in their small groups to develop an initial
explanation of the interactions between organisms within the
hydrothermal vent ecosystem.
Encourage them to either create and compare lists of components/
interactions in ecosystems with sunlight and deep sea vent ecosystems
or draw models of the two systems and compare them side-by-side to
look for familiar patterns.
As students work on their explanations, tell them to record any new
questions they have. New questions may include:
• How do bacteria that live at vents make their own food?
• Plants make their food using CO
2
from the air. Do bacteria (and other
vent microbes) need CO
2
? Where do they get CO
2
?
• If bacteria don’t need CO
2
to make their own food, what do they need and
where do they get it? From the uid coming out of the hydrothermal vent?
• What is this process where energy is being created without sunlight?
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Investigation: Life on a Hydrothermal Vent
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Educator Guide cont.
Figuring It Out cont.
Tell students that developing an initial
explanation at this point is to help
them synthesis ideas and organize
their thinking; they should not worry
about getting the “right” answer.
EDUCATOR GUIDANCE
Educator Guide cont.
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Investigation: Life on a Hydrothermal Vent
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Educator Guide cont.
Figuring It Out cont.
What is Chemosynthesis? Are Chemosynthesis and Photosynthesis Similar, but Different?
Refer students back to the list of ecosystem components and interactions they created at the beginning of the
activity, highlighting the ideas they shared about the Sun, plants and photosynthesis. Ask students, “What are the
inputs and outputs of the process of photosynthesis?” Allow students to briey discuss in their small groups and
then take three shares from the class. Students will likely say sunlight and carbon dioxide are inputs and oxygen is
an output. Students may or may not include water as an input and sugar as an output.
Next, present the chemical equation for photosynthesis. In the presence of sunlight, carbon dioxide + water +
energy from sunlight produces glucose and oxygen.
6CO
2
+ 6H
2
O C
6
H
12
O
6
+ 6O
2
Ask students to individually record what they notice, share with a partner and then have them share with the class.
Observations may include:
• The chemical equation involves carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O)
• Each side of the equation has two compounds (two reactants and two products)
• The compounds on the left side are carbon dioxide and water and the right side is oxygen and sugar
(students may or may not know this formula is sugar).
• The total number of elements on each side are the same even though the numbers are in different places.
• Energy from the Sun is needed to start this chemical reaction.
Students will likely come to the conclusion that they need to take a closer look at the chemicals in the water coming
out of the hydrothermal vent and the ocean water around the vent. Students may recall seeing “simple chemicals”
listed on their food webs. Have them revisit the bacteria card, specically the ‘what do they eat’ section.
Carbon
dioxide
Water
+
Sugar Oxygen
+
Show students this illustration of vent development. Have them
continue their observations and guide them to noticing the
chemicals and heavy metals coming out of the vent.
Ask students if it makes sense to compare the chemicals
identied in the food web activity to the chemicals in the chemical
equation representing photosynthesis.
Graphic of a vent at a spreading center forming a hydrothermal
plume as adapted from Massoth et al., 1988 (not to scale).
Image courtesy of Schmidt Ocean Institute.
Students should have prior knowledge gained in middle school about
chemical reactions including reactants (inputs), products (outputs),
and that matter is conserved. However, if students do not have
this prior knowledge it is not necessary that you stop and teach it
directly. Instead, have students share what they notice.
EDUCATOR GUIDANCE
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
Educator Guide cont.
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Investigation: Life on a Hydrothermal Vent
Figuring It Out cont.
Looking for Patterns
In small groups, have students identify the components, inputs and outputs of chemosynthesis. Then ask them to
compare the processes of chemosynthesis and photosynthesis. As you move around the room, listen for students to
share ideas about the compound consisting of C, H and O. Depending on the class’ background knowledge, students
may recognize the formula as simple sugar. Be sure to call on these students rst when you bring the class back together
to share their observations.
Students should notice:
• Chemosynthesis involves the same components as photosynthesis, but also,
in this instance, involves hydrogen sulde.
• Carbon dioxide is a reactant in both chemical reactions.
• Both chemical equations involve water, but in photosynthesis water is a reactant and in
chemosynthesis water is a product.
• Both chemical equations involve oxygen; in photosynthesis, oxygen is a product and in
chemosynthesis oxygen is a reactant.
• Both chemical equations include a compound made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen as a
product. Some students may also notice the ratio of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen is
1:2:1 in both chemical equations and that these compounds represent simple sugar.
Revoice student shares about the processes of chemosynthesis and photosynthesis
both producing simple sugar. Prompt students to share what they know or think
they know about how plants and animals use simple sugar. Students will likely
share that plants produce sugar, and both plants and animals use the sugar for
energy. Next, prompt students to think about how bacteria use simple sugar.
Students will likely say bacteria must use the sugar they produce through
chemosynthesis the same way plants use the sugar they produce by photosynthesis.
Share the How Giant Tube Worms Survive at Hydrothermal Vents video (by
I Contain Multitudes and PBS) with students to provide additional information
about how chemosynthetic bacteria support food webs in hydrothermal vent
communities. Reiterate from the video - the bacteria ingest and process hydrogen
suldes from the vents, excrete sulfur and release energy to make food
(for themselves and, if applicable, their symbionts).
Carbon
dioxide
Hydrogen
Suide
Sugar
+
Oxygen
+
Water
+
Sulfur
+
CO
2
+ 4H
2
S + O
2
CH
2
O + 4S + 3H
2
O
Now that students have used a chemical equation (model) to identify the components (elements and
compounds), inputs (reactants) and outputs (products) of photosynthesis, introduce them to the chemical equation
for chemosynthesis.
Tell students this equation represents only one of a few different chemical reactions for chemosynthesis
(the inputs and outputs for chemosynthesis vary depending on the environment in which it occurs).
CHEMOSYNTHESIS
EDUCATOR GUIDANCE
Students who understand
energy from the Sun drives
photosynthesis in plants
may wonder if energy is
needed for chemosynthesis
to occur and/or where the
energy comes from. In this
activity, it is adequate to
tell students the energy
needed for chemosynthesis
is stored in the chemical
compounds represented
on the left side of the
equation (reactants) and
released when these
compounds chemically
react. If students have
the appropriate chemistry
background, you might
choose to introduce (and/
or review) endothermic
and exothermic reactions
and bond energy and
distinguish between the
mechanisms driving
photosynthesis and
chemosynthesis.
Educator Guide cont.
9
Investigation: Life on a Hydrothermal Vent
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Educator Guide cont.
Now that students have gured out more about hydrothermal vent ecosystems, ask them to create a “comic strip”
model to explain how ecosystems exist and thrive in the absence of sunlight and predict what would happen if the
hydrothermal vent became extinct (stopped ejecting hot, mineral-rich water). Students can create their models
individually or in small groups.
Instruct students to divide a sheet of paper into 3 sections. Explain that the sections, or frames, of the comic strip
represent the hydrothermal vent ecosystem over time:
FRAME 1: The hydrothermal vent is active and ejecting large amounts of hot,
mineral-rich water (present time).
FRAME 2: The hydrothermal vent has just become extinct and is no longer ejecting hot,
mineral-rich water (days after extinction).
FRAME 3: The hydrothermal vent has been extinct for a long period of time
(years after extinction).
Remind students their models should represent the ecosystem components including organisms, interactions
between the components, and explain how the components are interacting (mechanisms). Remind students to
use science terms when appropriate and explain their ideas using words, symbols and/or pictures.
As you move around the class, you might ask students the following questions to move their thinking deeper:
• Which components are represented in all of the frames? Which components are unique to each frame?
• How are component A and component B interacting? How might you represent this interaction?
• Where does organism A (B, C, etc.) get its energy? Or where would this organism fall in the food web?
• Where is matter coming from that enters this ecosystem?
• What happens to matter as it moves within the ecosystem?
• Where does matter go that leaves the ecosystem?
Once students have completed their initial models individually, you might have them work in small groups to create a
group consensus model.
Engage the class in a gallery walk to observe other individual or group models. As students observe each model, have
them use sticky notes to post one thing they like about the model (a component they didn’t include in their own model,
the way an interaction between components is represented, etc.) and one question they have about the model. When
the gallery walk is complete, allow time for students to reect on the feedback provided by their peers and add to or
change their models.
While students revise their models, identify two or three models that reect a range of predictions for what will happen
when the vents become extinct. Predictions will vary. Some students may think the hydrothermal vent ecosystem
will die as soon as the hydrothermal vent becomes extinct because the bacteria won’t have a source of chemicals for
chemosynthesis. Others may think “unused” chemicals oating in the water after the vent is extinct will continue to
support chemosynthesis. Bring the class back together and ask the groups whose models you’ve identied to share
their predictions with the class. As the groups share their predictions, prompt students (both sharers and listeners) to
use evidence and/or reasoning (science ideas/principles) to support their claims.
Show students the Ocean Exploration Trust video, Smoking Chimney and Pompeii Worms, of a hydrothermal
vent nearing extinction. Then ask them to read the NOAA Ocean Exploration Galapagos Rift Expedition Mission log
from 2002, Life Cycles of Vent Communities – So Much to Learn.
Ask students, “Does this new information support or refute your predictions?” Allow students time to review and revise
their models based on the information gathered from the video and mission log.
Synthesizing Our Thoughts
1
2
3
Educator Guide cont.
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Investigation: Life on a Hydrothermal Vent
Putting the Pieces Together
What Did We Figure Out? (Making Sense)
Prompt students to use their models to explain why
hydrothermal vent ecosystems change when the vent becomes
extinct. Providing sentence starters may also benet students
that need more language support.
Finally, revisit students’ questions and ask them which
questions they can now answer. Ask students to discuss their
answers with a partner or small group, and then invite them to
share their answers (or a partner or group member’s answers)
with the class. As students share what they’ve learned,
encourage them to think about what they still haven’t gured
out about these ecosystems and use this discussion to help
guide possible further investigations.
Option
Wrap up this hydrothermal vent investigation with this
3:36 minute video that expands on the activity introductory
video, Oases of Life, from NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2016
Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas; and/or the 5:40
minute video 40 Years of Hydrothermal
Vent Exploration from Ocean Exploration Trust.
Extensions
• Many students will want to know if ecosystems like this exist in other places on Earth. Consider providing
students opportunities to investigate other extreme environments in which chemosynthesis supports life
such as cold seeps, mining waste run-off, and hot springs.
• This investigation can also be used as a starting point to guring out
several big science ideas. In future activities students could:
• dig deeper into plate tectonics and Earth processes that form hydrothermal vents
(HS-ESS1-5 or HS-ESS2-1)
• explore the chemistry needed to explain the process of chemosynthesis
(HS-PS1-1 or HS-PS1-7)
• make sense of how hydrothermal vent ecosystems maintain equilibrium
(with some modication to the following performance expectations:
HS-LS2-3, HS-LS2-4, and HS-LS2-5).
• To learn more about vent ecosystems, the organisms that live there
and their spacial distribution on a vent, try the Ocean Exploration
Trust Activity Living on a Chimney.
Video courtesy of Ocean Exploration
Trust - Nautilus Live.
Video courtesy of NOAA Ocean
Exploration.
Oases of Life 40 Years of Hydrothermal...
SAMPLE STUDENT RESPONSE
When the chemicals stop coming out of the
vent the ecosystem will die. The bacteria
use chemicals spewed out from the vent
to make food by chemosynthesis. Without
the chemicals they die. Since bacteria are
the primary producers, when they die there
is nothing for the primary consumer to eat.
When the primary consumers die, the rst
order carnivores don’t have anything to eat
and they die. This keeps happening up the
food chain until all the living things are gone
from the site.
Educator Guide cont.
Investigation: Life on a Hydrothermal Vent
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Educator Guide cont.
Scientic Terms
As these terms are new to most students, introduce them as they come up throughout the activity after
the concept is made clear.
• Chemosynthesis: The synthesis of organic compounds by bacteria or other living organisms using energy derived
from reactions involving inorganic chemicals, typically in the absence of sunlight.
• Hydrothermal vent: Opening on the ocean oor from which heated, mineral-rich water emerges.
Assessment
Opportunities for formative assessment are embedded throughout
the activity. The student models that are developed at the end of the
activity could be used as an opportunity for summative assessment
of learning. For this purpose, you may want to collect models or take
pictures of student work.
Suggested model elements to assess include:
Developing and Using Models (SEP)
• Developed, revise, and/or use a model based on evidence to
illustrate and/or predict the relationships between systems or
between components of a system.
Stability and Change (CCC)
• Much of science deals with constructing explanations of how
things change and how they remain stable.
LS2.C Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience (DCI)
• Ecosystems are dynamic in nature; their characteristics can vary
overtime. Disruptions to any physical or biological component of
an ecosystem can lead to shifts in all its populations. (MS-LS2-4)
ONLINE
LEARNING
• Image and video links can be provided through a preferred online platform with students divided into small online breakout
groups to work through elements of the activity.
• Resources are provided for the food web activity to be executed through a preferred online platform.
• Guidance based on student background as well as possible extensions are provided within the Educator Guide.
• Some students may benet from having a transcript of the video to both reference and highlight.
The transcript can also be used to remind students of key points to develop questions and ideas for investigation.
Adaptations
DIFFERENT
GRADE/
LEARNING
LEVELS
LOOK FORS IN STUDENT MODELS:
• Chemicals coming from the vent
• Bacteria feeding on the chemicals to
produce food for the worms and
other organisms
• A food chain/web using the
information from that activity
• Models should be labeled (both
component and interactions)
• Frame 1 should demonstrate stability
• Frames 2 should demonstrate small
changes (vent closing – no
chemicals – bacteria dying)
• Frame 3 should demonstrate large
change (mostly barren vent system)
Students may also explain what
is happening in terms of
cause-and-effect relationships.
Student Activity
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STUDENT | www.DeepOceanEducationProject.org
Investigation: Life on a Hydrothermal Vent
Constructing a Hydrothermal Vent Food Web
Working individually or in small groups, use the Food Web Organism Cards provided to construct a hydrothermal
vent food web using the layout illustrated below. Once you have lled in all the spots in the food web, connect the
organisms with arrows to illustrate who eats whom. Review the completed model your teacher will provide to check
your work and see how these animals interact in the food web.
Simple
Chemicals
Primary
Producers
Primary
Consumers
First Order
Carnivores
Top Order
Carnivores
H
2
S
C0
2
0
2
CH
4
Blind Crab
Dandelion Siphonophore
Eelpout
Octopus
Ratsh
Riftia Tubeworm
Squat Lobster
Symbiotic Bacteria
Vent Bacteria
Vent Mussel
Vent Shrimp
Zooplankton
ORGANISMS
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We value your feedback on this activity, including how you use it in your formal/informal education settings. Please send your comments to:
[email protected]. If reproducing this activity, please cite NOAA as the source, and provide the following URL: https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov.
Information and Feedback
Partners
Page 1: ROV/chimney (image): https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1605/dailyupdates/media/june24-hires.jpg
Hydrothermal Vent Food Web Presentation (editable PowerPoint): https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/edu/materials/vent-food-web.ppt
Hydrothermal Vent Food Web Presentation (pdf): https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/edu/materials/vent-food-web.pdf
Page 2: Mata Tolu Chimneys (image): https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12fire/logs/sept23/media/various-chimneys-hires.jpg
Chemosynthesis Fact Sheet: https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/edu/materials/chemosynthesis-fact-sheet.pdf
Hydrothermal Vents Fact Sheet: https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/edu/materials/hydrothermal-vents-fact-sheet.pdf
Page 3: ROV/chimney (image): https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1605/dailyupdates/media/june24-hires.jpg
Vent/snails (image): https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1605/logs/jun25/media/1605chimney-hairy-snails-hires.jpg
Active venting (image): https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1605/dailyupdates/media/may2-hires.jpg
Black smoker (image): https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1605/logs/may11/media/1605vent-hires.jpg
Page 4: Convergent plate boundary (webpage): https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1605/logs/photolog/welcome.html#cbpi=/
okeanos/explorations/ex1605/logs/jul3/media/1605mariana-cross-section.html
Marianas Map (image): https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1605/logs/jul11/media/1605mariana-trench-map-hires.jpg
Hydrothermal Vent (video): https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/edu/themes/vents-and-volcanoes/multimedia.html#cbpi=media/video/multimedia-hydrothermal.html
2016 Marianas expedition (webpage): https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1605/welcome.html
Light in the Ocean (diagram):
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/light_travel.html#:~:text=Sunlight%20entering%20the%20water%20may,200%20meters%20(656%20feet)
Maps from NOAA Ocean Exploration 2011 Galapagos Rift expedition (webpage): https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1103/logs/leg1/leg1.html
Divergent plate boundary (webpage): https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/facts/plate-boundaries.html
Giant Black Smoker Hydrothermal Vent (video): youtube.com/watch?v=KtFFmDGIsa4&feature=youtu.be
Page 6: Hydrothermal Vent Organism Cards (editable PowerPoint): https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/edu/materials/vent-food-web.ppt
Hydrothermal Vent Organism Cards (pdf): https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/edu/materials/vent-food-web.pdf
Page 7: Vent development (illustration): https://schmidtocean.org/wp-content/uploads/fk151121-guam-20151123-baker-plume.jpg
Page 8: How Giant Tube Worms Survive at Hydrothermal Vents (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W_ywzhkR90&feature=youtu.be
Page 9: Smoking Chimney and Pompeii Worms (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xIUSewbokc&feature=youtu.be
Life Cycles of Vent Communities – So Much to Learn (webpage): https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/02galapagos/logs/may31/may31.html
Page 10: Oases of Life (video): https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1605/logs/may12/media/video/vents-1280x720.mp4
40 Years of Hydrothermal Vent Exploration (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVzBjY8oLkk
Living on a Chimney (activity): https://nautiluslive.org/resource/living-chimney
Created in cooperation with the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation
under federal award NA19OAR0110405 for the Deep Ocean Education Project.
Investigation: Life on a Hydrothermal Vent Links and Resources
Investigation: Life on a Hydrothermal Vent
