Sulfide tolerance: Physiological mechanisms and ecological implications

Abstract

The discovery of macrofauna associated with sulfide-emitting deep-sea hydrothermal vents has stimulated research on physiological adaptations to sulfide in aerobic marine organisms. However, sulfide also occurs in marine sediments so that adaptations to sulfide are likely to be a very common phenomenon in the marine environment. The adaptations to sulfide in metazoans from the two types of habitats are discussed in terms of physiological mechanisms with special emphasis on animals without symbiotic sulfur bacteria. The physiological mechanisms are grouped into a hierarchy of sulfide defenses. The ecological implications of sulfide tolerance are discussed in terms of animal distribution and the fauna is suggested divided into sulfide tolerant and sulfide non-tolerant species.