Chemoautotrophic Flora!
Chemoautotroph Flora
In a world where there is not much sunlight, I still want to have life. Specifically, I want to capitalize on chemoautotrophs so much that the alien schoolchildren learn something like "the source of life is volcanic vents" and flora which use photosynthesis is considered the odd method of deriving energy for life.
What properties would you expect in chemoautotrophic flora? Specifically:
How would the common root/stem/leaf pattern we know in most plants today be altered? What are likely energy sources for chemoautotrophic flora? (We need not limit ourselves to aquatic vent communities.)
Some relevant definitions:
Chemoautotroph: an organism which obtains energy via the oxidation of inorganic compounds, but not using photosynthesis
Flora: plant life lacking the power of locomotion
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1 answer
I think such plants would have no use for leaves. Leaves are basically solar energy collectors, and since your plants do not do photosynthesis, they have no use for them. I'd expect all the energy production to happen inside the roots. So the roots would be the most important parts of the plant; I could even imagine that some plants would never actually leave earth (exposure gives risk for little reward).
Indeed, we already have organisms which share such characteristics, although they don't live off volcanic activity, but off organic material: Fungi. So I'd expect chemoautotrophic plants to look and live very similar to fungi/mushrooms. Of course you'll also have real mushrooms because there will be organic material to decompose, but I guess you'd be hard pressed to optically distinguish both; the main way to distinguish them would be to watch where they live.
With a dense root/mycelium network, the plants could also expand a bit beyond the volcanic sources, by carrying the raw material along the network. Since the places would be filled with plants, this might give a competitive advantage.
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