A microbial consortium couples anaerobic methane oxidation to denitrification

Modern agriculture has accelerated biological methane and nitrogen cycling on a global scale. Freshwater sediments often receive increased downward fluxes of nitrate from agricultural runoff and upward fluxes of methane generated by anaerobic decomposition. In theory, prokaryotes should be capable of using nitrate to oxidize methane anaerobically, but such organisms have neither been observed in nature nor isolated in the laboratory. Microbial oxidation of methane is thus believed to proceed only with oxygen or sulphate. Here we show that the direct, anaerobic oxidation of methane coupled to denitrification of nitrate is possible. A microbial consortium, enriched from anoxic sediments, oxidized methane to carbon dioxide coupled to denitrification in the complete absence of oxygen. This consortium consisted of two microorganisms, a bacterium representing a phylum without any cultured species and an archaeon distantly related to marine methanotrophic Archaea. The detection of relatives of these prokaryotes in different freshwater ecosystems worldwide indicates that the reaction presented here may make a substantial contribution to biological methane and nitrogen cycles.     

Significant contribution of Archaea to extant biomass in marine subsurface sediments

Deep drilling into the marine sea floor has uncovered a vast sedimentary ecosystem of microbial cells. Extrapolation of direct counts of stained microbial cells to the total volume of habitable marine subsurface sediments suggests that between 56 Pg (ref. 1) and 303 Pg (ref. 3) of cellular carbon could be stored in this largely unexplored habitat. From recent studies using various culture-independent techniques, no clear picture has yet emerged as to whether Archaea or Bacteria are more abundant in this extensive ecosystem. Here we show that in subsurface sediments buried deeper than 1 m in a wide range of oceanographic settings at least 87% of intact polar membrane lipids, biomarkers for the presence of live cells, are attributable to archaeal membranes, suggesting that Archaea constitute a major fraction of the biomass. Results obtained from modified quantitative polymerase chain reaction and slot-blot hybridization protocols support the lipid-based evidence and indicate that these techniques have previously underestimated archaeal biomass. The lipid concentrations are proportional to those of total organic carbon. On the basis of this relationship, we derived an independent estimate of amounts of cellular carbon in the global marine subsurface biosphere. Our estimate of 90 Pg of cellular carbon is consistent, within an order of magnitude, with previous estimates, and underscores the importance of marine subsurface habitats for global biomass budgets.     

Preservation of organic matter in sediments promoted by iron

The biogeochemical cycles of iron and organic carbon are strongly interlinked. In oceanic waters, organic ligands have been shown to control the concentration of dissolved iron. In soils, solid iron phases shelter and preserve organic carbon, but the role of iron in the preservation of organic matter in sediments has not been clearly established. Here we use an iron reduction method previously applied to soils to determine the amount of organic carbon associated with reactive iron phases in sediments of various mineralogies collected from a wide range of depositional environments. Our findings suggest that 21.5?±?8.6 per cent of the organic carbon in sediments is directly bound to reactive iron phases. We further estimate that a global mass of (19-45)?×?10(15)?grams of organic carbon is preserved in surface marine sediments as a result of its association with iron. We propose that these associations between organic carbon and iron, which are formed primarily through co-precipitation and/or direct chelation, promote the preservation of organic carbon in sediments. Because reactive iron phases are metastable over geological timescales, we suggest that they serve as an efficient 'rusty sink' for organic carbon, acting as a key factor in the long-term storage of organic carbon and thus contributing to the global cycles of carbon, oxygen and sulphur.     

海洋牧场海草床生境构建技术

海洋牧场的基石是丰富的初级生产,大型底栖植被群落的构建是海洋牧场生境修复的优选途径之一。本文主要阐述海草场构建在海洋牧场建设中的重要性及其构建方法。海草床在海洋牧场中的重要性与功能,包括食物供给、栖息地(包括产卵场、育幼场和庇护场所)、营养盐调控、固碳(气候调节)等方面。海草是海洋中唯一一类高等植物。海草床的构建包括种类选择、移植(或播种)及养护等方面。移植和种植,在海草(如鳗草)床构建中都很重要。     

古菌研究及其展望

古菌是目前生物地球化学研究的热点之一,不仅能在高温、强酸/碱性条件、高盐度、缺氧等极端条件下存在,而且能在普通海洋环境中存活.其含量巨大,在全球的生物地球化学作用中正扮演重要角色.该领域研究对阐明生命运动的基本规律,揭示生命起源和物种进化,生物圈与地圈环境的相互作用具有重要意义,并可为外太空生命问题的探讨和推测提供依据.本文评述了近30年来古菌基本研究成果和研究现状,展望有待解决的前沿研究内容及解决思路,旨在建立一个较为清晰的古菌基本概念及研究思路,以利于地质学、生物学界了解这一交叉领域.     

Effect of evaporite deposition on Early Cretaceous carbon and sulphur cycling

The global carbon and sulphur cycles are central to our understanding of the Earth's history, because changes in the partitioning between the reduced and oxidized reservoirs of these elements are the primary control on atmospheric oxygen concentrations. In modern marine sediments, the burial rates of reduced carbon and sulphur are positively coupled, but high-resolution isotope records indicate that these rates were inversely related during the Early Cretaceous period. This inverse relationship is difficult to reconcile with our understanding of the processes that control organic matter remineralization and pyrite burial. Here we show that the inverse correlation can be explained by the deposition of evaporites during the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean basin. Evaporite deposition can alter the chemical composition of sea water, which can in turn affect the ability of sulphate-reducing bacteria to remineralize organic matter and mediate pyrite burial. We use a reaction-transport model to quantify these effects, and the resulting changes in the burial rates of carbon and sulphur, during the Early Cretaceous period. Our results indicate that deposition of the South Atlantic evaporites removed enough sulphate from the ocean temporarily to reduce biologically mediated pyrite burial and organic matter remineralization by up to fifty per cent, thus explaining the inverse relationship between the burial rates of reduced carbon and sulphur during this interval. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the effect of changing seawater sulphate concentrations on the marine subsurface biosphere may be the key to understanding other large-scale perturbations of the global carbon and sulphur cycles.     

Polar ocean ecosystems in a changing world

Polar organisms have adapted their seasonal cycles to the dynamic interface between ice and water. This interface ranges from the micrometre-sized brine channels within sea ice to the planetary-scale advance and retreat of sea ice. Polar marine ecosystems are particularly sensitive to climate change because small temperature differences can have large effects on the extent and thickness of sea ice. Little is known about the interactions between large, long-lived organisms and their planktonic food supply. Disentangling the effects of human exploitation of upper trophic levels from basin-wide, decade-scale climate cycles to identify long-term, global trends is a daunting challenge facing polar bio-oceanography.     

荒漠地区土壤表层固碳作用研究进展

 干旱、半干旱地区的生态环境条件脆弱,光能自养生物在荒漠地区地表的物质循环和能量流动中起着重要作用。藻类和苔藓是荒漠地区地表普遍存在的固碳生物,不仅能够改善土壤的物理性质,起到保护土壤的作用,同时能够通过特定蓝藻的固氮作用增加土壤的氮含量,最重要的是这些固碳生物能够通过光合作用固定空气中的CO₂,是荒漠地区土壤表层固碳的主要贡献者。荒漠地区生态系统固碳量的研究也是研究全球气候变化的重要组成部分,固碳量的大小不仅受自然条件的约束,也与土壤表层固碳生物（主要是藻类和苔藓）的组成密切相关。当土壤中仅有丝状蓝藻存在时固碳速率较低,随着绿藻等高等藻类和苔藓的出现,固碳速率快速增加。本文综述了荒漠地区土壤表层固碳生物组成和影响地表固碳的因素,回顾和展望了地表固碳的研究方法。     

Marine microorganisms and global nutrient cycles

The way that nutrients cycle through atmospheric, terrestrial, oceanic and associated biotic reservoirs can constrain rates of biological production and help structure ecosystems on land and in the sea. On a global scale, cycling of nutrients also affects the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Because of their capacity for rapid growth, marine microorganisms are a major component of global nutrient cycles. Understanding what controls their distributions and their diverse suite of nutrient transformations is a major challenge facing contemporary biological oceanographers. What is emerging is an appreciation of the previously unknown degree of complexity within the marine microbial community.     

A new phylum of Archaea represented by a nanosized hyperthermophilic symbiont

According to small subunit ribosomal RNA (ss rRNA) sequence comparisons all known Archaea belong to the phyla Crenarchaeota, Euryarchaeota, and--indicated only by environmental DNA sequences--to the 'Korarchaeota'. Here we report the cultivation of a new nanosized hyperthermophilic archaeon from a submarine hot vent. This archaeon cannot be attached to one of these groups and therefore must represent an unknown phylum which we name 'Nanoarchaeota' and species, which we name 'Nanoarchaeum equitans'. Cells of 'N. equitans' are spherical, and only about 400 nm in diameter. They grow attached to the surface of a specific archaeal host, a new member of the genus Ignicoccus. The distribution of the 'Nanoarchaeota' is so far unknown. Owing to their unusual ss rRNA sequence, members remained undetectable by commonly used ecological studies based on the polymerase chain reaction. 'N. equitans' harbours the smallest archaeal genome; it is only 0.5 megabases in size. This organism will provide insight into the evolution of thermophily, of tiny genomes and of interspecies communication.     

Arctic hydrology during global warming at the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum

The Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum represents a period of rapid, extreme global warming 55 million years ago, superimposed on an already warm world. This warming is associated with a severe shoaling of the ocean calcite compensation depth and a >2.5 per mil negative carbon isotope excursion in marine and soil carbonates. Together these observations indicate a massive release of 13C-depleted carbon and greenhouse-gas-induced warming. Recently, sediments were recovered from the central Arctic Ocean, providing the first opportunity to evaluate the environmental response at the North Pole at this time. Here we present stable hydrogen and carbon isotope measurements of terrestrial-plant- and aquatic-derived n-alkanes that record changes in hydrology, including surface water salinity and precipitation, and the global carbon cycle. Hydrogen isotope records are interpreted as documenting decreased rainout during moisture transport from lower latitudes and increased moisture delivery to the Arctic at the onset of the Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum, consistent with predictions of poleward storm track migrations during global warming. The terrestrial-plant carbon isotope excursion (about -4.5 to -6 per mil) is substantially larger than those of marine carbonates. Previously, this offset was explained by the physiological response of plants to increases in surface humidity. But this mechanism is not an effective explanation in this wet Arctic setting, leading us to hypothesize that the true magnitude of the excursion--and associated carbon input--was greater than originally surmised. Greater carbon release and strong hydrological cycle feedbacks may help explain the maintenance of this unprecedented warmth.     

Recent patterns and mechanisms of carbon exchange by terrestrial ecosystems.

Knowledge of carbon exchange between the atmosphere, land and the oceans is important, given that the terrestrial and marine environments are currently absorbing about half of the carbon dioxide that is emitted by fossil-fuel combustion. This carbon uptake is therefore limiting the extent of atmospheric and climatic change, but its long-term nature remains uncertain. Here we provide an overview of the current state of knowledge of global and regional patterns of carbon exchange by terrestrial ecosystems. Atmospheric carbon dioxide and oxygen data confirm that the terrestrial biosphere was largely neutral with respect to net carbon exchange during the 1980s, but became a net carbon sink in the 1990s. This recent sink can be largely attributed to northern extratropical areas, and is roughly split between North America and Eurasia. Tropical land areas, however, were approximately in balance with respect to carbon exchange, implying a carbon sink that offset emissions due to tropical deforestation. The evolution of the terrestrial carbon sink is largely the result of changes in land use over time, such as regrowth on abandoned agricultural land and fire prevention, in addition to responses to environmental changes, such as longer growing seasons, and fertilization by carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Nevertheless, there remain considerable uncertainties as to the magnitude of the sink in different regions and the contribution of different processes.     

"海底黑烟囱"与生命起源述评

海底黑烟囱及相关生物群体的发现是近20年来全球海洋科学取得的最重要的科学成就之一.在海底黑烟囱周围高温、高压、黑暗、缺氧、含硫等极端环境中,生活着特殊的深海生物群落,它们的初级生产者嗜热细菌和古细菌,在基因组序列上最接近地球上原始的祖先,生活环境也与生命起源时地球上的高温、缺氧环境非常类似.地球历史早期热液系统曾经在地球表面广泛分布,因而嗜热微生物有着广泛的生存空间.通过对生命起源必须具备的物质条件、环境条件、能量条件、安全条件等方面考虑,现代海底黑烟囱周围的水热环境是探索生命起源的理想场所.     

柴达木盆地西部第三系碳酸盐岩层的古生物特征

柴达木盆地西部第三系的碳酸盐岩层中发现有藻类、介形虫、有孔虫、腹足类、多毛类等化石.除藻类外各种生物的数量都比较少.生物具有个体小,壳体构造简单,多样性低等特点.所有生物都属于广盐性生物.根据该区古生物特征分析和与其它地区的对比,认为当时该区生物生长于内陆半咸化湖至咸化湖环境,而不是海相或海陆过渡相环境.参11.     

川西地区中二叠统-下三叠统碳酸盐岩碳氧同位素特征

 针对川西地区中二叠统-下三叠统碳酸盐岩,通过分析3 个剖面的碳氧同位素数据,计算Z 值及古温度,并结合沉积相、古生物等,对该区域碳酸盐岩碳氧同位素演化特征及古环境进行了系统研究。结果表明,川西地区中二叠统-下三叠统碳酸盐岩的δ¹³C 值为-3.90‰~2.80‰,主要值域为-2.80‰~2.80‰,均值为-0.04‰;δ¹⁸O 值为-9.70‰~-1.80‰,主要值域为-8‰~-4‰,均值为-6.60‰。研究区古环境基本处于海相环境,东北边缘水体相对较深,西南边缘水体相对较浅,海水温度为8.8~68.4℃,主要值域为16~33℃,属于温暖或炎热的亚热带气候,经历了栖霞期-茅口期、吴家坪期-长兴期、飞仙关期-嘉陵江期3 次大的海平面变化旋回,且其间各有若干次次级旋回。     

The influence of rivers on marine boron isotopes and implications for reconstructing past ocean pH

Ocean pH is particularly sensitive to atmospheric carbon dioxide content. Records of ocean pH can therefore be used to estimate past atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. The isotopic composition of boron (delta11B) contained in the carbonate shells of marine organisms varies according to pH, from which ocean pH can be reconstructed. This requires independent estimates of the delta11B of dissolved boron in sea water through time. The marine delta11B budget, however, is still largely unconstrained. Here we show that, by incorporating the global flux of riverine boron (as estimated from delta11B measurements in 22 of the world's main rivers), the marine boron isotope budget can be balanced. We also derive ocean delta11B budgets for the past 120 Myr. Estimated isotope compositions of boron in sea water show a remarkable consistency with records of delta11B in foraminiferal carbonates, suggesting that foraminifera delta11B records may in part reflect changes in the marine boron isotope budget rather than changes in ocean pH over the Cenozoic era.     

Indirect radiative forcing of climate change through ozone effects on the land-carbon sink

The evolution of the Earth's climate over the twenty-first century depends on the rate at which anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions are removed from the atmosphere by the ocean and land carbon cycles. Coupled climate-carbon cycle models suggest that global warming will act to limit the land-carbon sink, but these first generation models neglected the impacts of changing atmospheric chemistry. Emissions associated with fossil fuel and biomass burning have acted to approximately double the global mean tropospheric ozone concentration, and further increases are expected over the twenty-first century. Tropospheric ozone is known to damage plants, reducing plant primary productivity and crop yields, yet increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations are thought to stimulate plant primary productivity. Increased carbon dioxide and ozone levels can both lead to stomatal closure, which reduces the uptake of either gas, and in turn limits the damaging effect of ozone and the carbon dioxide fertilization of photosynthesis. Here we estimate the impact of projected changes in ozone levels on the land-carbon sink, using a global land carbon cycle model modified to include the effect of ozone deposition on photosynthesis and to account for interactions between ozone and carbon dioxide through stomatal closure. For a range of sensitivity parameters based on manipulative field experiments, we find a significant suppression of the global land-carbon sink as increases in ozone concentrations affect plant productivity. In consequence, more carbon dioxide accumulates in the atmosphere. We suggest that the resulting indirect radiative forcing by ozone effects on plants could contribute more to global warming than the direct radiative forcing due to tropospheric ozone increases.     

Phosphorus limitation of nitrogen fixation by Trichodesmium in the central Atlantic Ocean

Marine fixation of atmospheric nitrogen is believed to be an important source of biologically useful nitrogen to ocean surface waters, stimulating productivity of phytoplankton and so influencing the global carbon cycle. The majority of nitrogen fixation in tropical waters is carried out by the marine cyanobacterium Trichodesmium, which supplies more than half of the new nitrogen used for primary production. Although the factors controlling marine nitrogen fixation remain poorly understood, it has been thought that nitrogen fixation is limited by iron availability in the ocean. This was inferred from the high iron requirement estimated for growth of nitrogen fixing organisms and the higher apparent densities of Trichodesmium where aeolian iron inputs are plentiful. Here we report that nitrogen fixation rates in the central Atlantic appear to be independent of both dissolved iron levels in sea water and iron content in Trichodesmium colonies. Nitrogen fixation was, instead, highly correlated to the phosphorus content of Trichodesmium and was enhanced at higher irradiance. Furthermore, our calculations suggest that the structural iron requirement for the growth of nitrogen-fixing organisms is much lower than previously calculated. Although iron deficiency could still potentially limit growth of nitrogen-fixing organisms in regions of low iron availability-for example, in the subtropical North Pacific Ocean-our observations suggest that marine nitrogen fixation is not solely regulated by iron supply.