You might think that the current geographic state of the Earth has been like this for at least a few million years, but surprisingly this is not the case. In the vast ocean, islands appear and disappear at the pleasure of volcanic activity, although it is very rare to be able to study any of them. When an underwater volcano in the South Pacific erupted in 2015, the force was such that it created the island of Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai and with it a biological laboratory to study the very origin of ecosystems. But just as it emerged from nowhere, the island has disappeared leaving researchers confused.
The birth of an island
The Hunga Tonga island Hunga Ha’apai was born in 2015 as a result of underwater volcanic activity in the Pacific Ocean. In that year one of the underwater volcanoes in the South Pacific had entered and the impetuous lava made a new island emerge practically from nowhere. This is how volcanologists and geologists had the opportunity to investigate the birth of volcanic islands and their characteristics, but in addition, biologists and ecologists joined the adventure and found an unprecedented opportunity to study the genesis of ecosystem formation.
This type of , but they do not usually produce islands. “We had an incredibly unique opportunity,” said microbial ecologist Nick Dragone, lead author of the research.
The research team led by Dragone from the University of Colorado Boulder took the rare opportunity to analyze the island’s emergence from the beginning and found the genesis of life itself. They observed the first microbial colonizers of the newly formed island, a fact that perfectly illustrates the birth of more complex beings such as animals or plants before they appear.
The genesis of ecosystems
The biggest discovery was finding a microbial community never before observed that is capable of metabolizing sulfur and atmospheric gases, which caught the researchers’ attention since similar organisms have been found in deep-sea vents or in hot springs.
“We didn’t see what we expected,” says Dragone. “We thought we would see organisms found when a glacier retreats, or cyanobacteria, more typical early colonizing species, but instead we found a unique group of them that metabolize sulfur and atmospheric gases,” he added.
Dragone and his team believe that one of the reasons they observed these types of unique microbes is due to the properties associated with volcanic eruptions that involve a lot of sulfur and hydrogen sulfide gas, which likely fuels the unique taxa found.
“The microbes were very similar to those found in hydrothermal vents, hot springs like Yellowstone and other volcanic systems. “Our best guess is that the microbes came from those types of sources.”
The researchers had plans to return to the island to continue microbial studies, however, in early 2022 the underwater volcano erupted, which even It was then that the island that years ago had emerged practically from nowhere, now saw its end and disappeared without a trace.
“Of course, we are disappointed that the island has disappeared, but now we have many predictions about what happens when islands form,” Dragone stated. “If something were to form again, we would love to go there and collect more data. We would have a game plan on how to study it,” he concluded.