Fossil benthic foraminifera are used to trace past methane release linked to climate change. However, it is still debated whether isotopic signatures of living foraminifera from methane-charged ...sediments reflect incorporation of methane-derived carbon. A deeper understanding of isotopic signatures of living benthic foraminifera from methane-rich environments will help to improve reconstructions of methane release in the past and better predict the impact of future climate warming on methane seepage. Here, we present isotopic signatures (δ
C and δ
O) of foraminiferal calcite together with biogeochemical data from Arctic seep environments from c. 1200 m water depth, Vestnesa Ridge, 79° N, Fram Strait. Lowest δ
C values were recorded in shells of Melonis barleeanus, - 5.2‰ in live specimens and - 6.5‰ in empty shells, from sediments dominated by aerobic (MOx) and anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM), respectively. Our data indicate that foraminifera actively incorporate methane-derived carbon when living in sediments with moderate seepage activity, while in sediments with high seepage activity the poisonous sulfidic environment leads to death of the foraminifera and an overgrowth of their empty shells by methane-derived authigenic carbonates. We propose that the incorporation of methane-derived carbon in living foraminifera occurs via feeding on methanotrophic bacteria and/or incorporation of ambient dissolved inorganic carbon.
Large quantities of methane are stored in hydrates and permafrost within shallow marine sediments in the Arctic Ocean. These reservoirs are highly sensitive to climate warming, but the fate of ...methane released from sediments is uncertain. Here, we review the principal physical and biogeochemical processes that regulate methane fluxes across the seabed, the fate of this methane in the water column, and potential for its release to the atmosphere. We find that, at present, fluxes of dissolved methane are significantly moderated by anaerobic and aerobic oxidation of methane. If methane fluxes increase then a greater proportion of methane will be transported by advection or in the gas phase, which reduces the efficiency of the methanotrophic sink. Higher freshwater discharge to Arctic shelf seas may increase stratification and inhibit transfer of methane gas to surface waters, although there is some evidence that increased stratification may lead to warming of sub-pycnocline waters, increasing the potential for hydrate dissociation. Loss of sea-ice is likely to increase wind speeds and sea-air exchange of methane will consequently increase. Studies of the distribution and cycling of methane beneath and within sea ice are limited, but it seems likely that the sea-air methane flux is higher during melting in seasonally ice-covered regions. Our review reveals that increased observations around especially the anaerobic and aerobic oxidation of methane, bubble transport, and the effects of ice cover, are required to fully understand the linkages and feedback pathways between climate warming and release of methane from marine sediments.
Two ∼6m long sediment cores were collected along the ∼300m isobath on the Alaskan Beaufort Sea continental margin. Both cores showed distinct sulfate-methane transition zones (SMTZ) at 105 and 120cm ...below seafloor (cmbsf). Sulfate was not completely depleted below the SMTZ but remained between 30 and 500μM. Sulfate reduction and anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) determined by radiotracer incubations were active throughout the methanogenic zone. Although a mass balance could not explain the source of sulfate below the SMTZ, geochemical profiles and correlation network analyses of biotic and abiotic data suggest a cryptic sulfur cycle involving iron, manganese and barite. Inhibition experiments with molybdate and 2-bromoethanesulfonate (BES) indicated decoupling of sulfate reduction and AOM and competition between sulfate reducers and methanogens for substrates. While correlation network analyses predicted coupling of AOM to iron reduction, the addition of manganese or iron did not stimulate AOM. Since none of the classical archaeal anaerobic methanotrophs (ANME) were abundant, the involvement of unknown or unconventional phylotypes in AOM is conceivable. The resistance of AOM activity to inhibitors implies deviation from conventional enzymatic pathways. This work suggests that the classical redox cascade of electron acceptor utilization based on Gibbs energy yields does not always hold in diffusion-dominated systems, and instead biotic processes may be more strongly coupled to mineralogy.
To date, the longevity of plastic litter at the sea floor is poorly constrained. The present study compares colonization and biodegradation of plastic bags by aerobic and anaerobic benthic microbes ...in temperate fine-grained organic-rich marine sediments. Samples of polyethylene and biodegradable plastic carrier bags were incubated in natural oxic and anoxic sediments from Eckernförde Bay (Western Baltic Sea) for 98days. Analyses included (1) microbial colonization rates on the bags, (2) examination of the surface structure, wettability, and chemistry, and (3) mass loss of the samples during incubation. On average, biodegradable plastic bags were colonized five times higher by aerobic and eight times higher by anaerobic microbes than polyethylene bags. Both types of bags showed no sign of biodegradation during this study. Therefore, marine sediment in temperate coastal zones may represent a long-term sink for plastic litter and also supposedly compostable material.
•Polypropylene and biodegradable plastic bags were incubated in marine sediments.•Bacterial colonization was highest on biodegradable plastic bags.•None of the two bag types showed signs of degradation after 98days.•Marine sediments probably represent a long-term sink for both types of litter.
Coastal seas may account for more than 75 % of global oceanic methane emissions. There, methane is mainly produced microbially in anoxic sediments from which it can escape to the overlying water ...column. Aerobic methane oxidation (MOx) in the water column acts as a biological filter, reducing the amount of methane that eventually evades to the atmosphere. The efficiency of the MOx filter is potentially controlled by the availability of dissolved methane and oxygen, as well as temperature, salinity, and hydrographic dynamics, and all of these factors undergo strong temporal fluctuations in coastal ecosystems. In order to elucidate the key environmental controls, specifically the effect of oxygen availability, on MOx in a seasonally stratified and hypoxic coastal marine setting, we conducted a 2-year time-series study with measurements of MOx and physico-chemical water column parameters in a coastal inlet in the south-western Baltic Sea (Eckernförde Bay). We found that MOx rates generally increased toward the seafloor, but were not directly linked to methane concentrations. MOx exhibited a strong seasonal variability, with maximum rates (up to 11.6 nmol L−1 d−1) during summer stratification when oxygen concentrations were lowest and bottom-water temperatures were highest. Under these conditions, 2.4–19.0 times more methane was oxidized than emitted to the atmosphere, whereas about the same amount was consumed and emitted during the mixed and oxygenated periods. Laboratory experiments with manipulated oxygen concentrations in the range of 0.2–220 µmol L−1 revealed a submicromolar oxygen optimum for MOx at the study site. In contrast, the fraction of methane–carbon incorporation into the bacterial biomass (compared to the total amount of oxidized methane) was up to 38-fold higher at saturated oxygen concentrations, suggesting a different partitioning of catabolic and anabolic processes under oxygen-replete and oxygen-starved conditions, respectively. Our results underscore the importance of MOx in mitigating methane emission from coastal waters and indicate an organism-level adaptation of the water column methanotrophs to hypoxic conditions.
Prokaryote communities were investigated on the seasonally stratified Alaska Beaufort Shelf (ABS). Water and sediment directly underlying water with origin in the Arctic, Pacific or Atlantic oceans ...were analyzed by pyrosequencing and length heterogeneity-PCR in conjunction with physicochemical and geographic distance data to determine what features structure ABS microbiomes. Distinct bacterial communities were evident in all water masses. Alphaproteobacteria explained similarity in Arctic surface water and Pacific derived water. Deltaproteobacteria were abundant in Atlantic origin water and drove similarity among samples. Most archaeal sequences in water were related to unclassified marine Euryarchaeota. Sediment communities influenced by Pacific and Atlantic water were distinct from each other and pelagic communities. Firmicutes and Chloroflexi were abundant in sediment, although their distribution varied in Atlantic and Pacific influenced sites. Thermoprotei dominated archaea in Pacific influenced sediments and Methanomicrobia dominated in methane-containing Atlantic influenced sediments. Length heterogeneity-PCR data from this study were analyzed with data from methane-containing sediments in other regions. Pacific influenced ABS sediments clustered with Pacific sites from New Zealand and Chilean coastal margins. Atlantic influenced ABS sediments formed another distinct cluster. Density and salinity were significant structuring features on pelagic communities. Porosity co-varied with benthic community structure across sites and methane did not. This study indicates that the origin of water overlying sediments shapes benthic communities locally and globally and that hydrography exerts greater influence on microbial community structure than the availability of methane.
Summary
The anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is one of the major sinks for methane on earth and is known to be mediated by at least two phylogenetically different groups of anaerobic ...methanotrophic Archaea (ANME‐I and ANME‐II). We present the first comparative in vitro study of the environmental regulation and physiology of these two methane‐oxidizing communities, which occur naturally enriched in the anoxic Black Sea (ANME‐I) and at Hydrate Ridge (ANME‐II). Both types of methanotrophic communities are associated with sulfate‐reducing‐bacteria (SRB) and oxidize methane anaerobically in a 1:1 ratio to sulfate reduction (SR). They responded sensitively to elevated methane partial pressures with increased substrate turnover. The ANME‐II‐dominated community showed significantly higher cell‐specific AOM rates. Besides sulfate, no other electron acceptor was used for AOM. The processes of AOM and SR could not be uncoupled by feeding the SRB with electron donors such as acetate, formate or molecular hydrogen. AOM was completely inhibited by the addition of bromoethanesulfonate in both communities, indicating the participation of methanogenic enzymes in the process. Temperature influenced the intensity of AOM, with ANME‐II being more adapted to cold temperatures than ANME‐I. The variation of other environmental parameters, such as sulfate concentration, pH and salinity, did not influence the activity of both communities. In conclusion, the ecological niches of methanotrophic Archaea seem to be mainly defined by the availability of methane and sulfate, but it remains open which additional factors lead to the dominance of ANME‐I or ‐II in the environment.
We investigated the effect of seasonal environmental changes on the rate and distribution of anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) in Eckernförde Bay sediments (German Baltic Sea) and identified ...organisms that are likely to be involved in the process. Surface sediments were sampled during September and March. Field rates of AOM and sulfate reduction (SR) were measured with radiotracer methods. Additional parameters were determined that potentially influence AOM, i.e., temperature, salinity, methane, sulfate, and chlorophyll a. Methanogenesis as well as potential rates of AOM and aerobic oxidation of methane were measured in vitro. AOM changed seasonally within the upper 20 cm of the sediment, with rates being between 1 and 14 nmol cm-3 d-1. Its distribution is suggested to be controlled by oxygen and sulfate penetration, temperature, as well as methane supply, leading to a shallow AOM zone during the warm productive season and to a slightly deeper AOM zone during the cold winter season. Rising methane bubbles apparently fed AOM above the sulfate-methane transition. Methanosarcinales-related anaerobic methanotrophs (ANME-2), identified with fluorescence in situ hybridization, is suggested to mediate AOM in Eckernförde Bay. These archaea are known also from other marine methane-rich locations. However, they were not directly associated with sulfate-reducing bacteria. AOM is possibly mediated solely by these archaea that show a mesophilic physiology according to the seasonal temperature changes in Eckernförde Bay.
Benthic microorganisms transported into the water column potentially influence biogeochemical cycles and the pelagic food web structure. In the present study six gas-releasing vent sites in the Coal ...Oil Point seep field (California) were investigated, and the dislocation of microorganisms from the sediment into the water column via gas bubbles released from the seabed was documented. It was found that the methanotrophs transport efficiency was dependent on the volumetric gas flow, with the highest transport rate of 22.7 × 10
cells mL
at a volumetric gas flow of 0.07 mL
s
, and the lowest rate of 0.2 × 10
cells mL
at a gas flow of 2.2 mL
s
. A simple budget approach showed that this bubble-mediated transport has the potential to maintain a relevant part of the water-column methanotrophs in the seep field. The bubble-mediated link between the benthic and pelagic environment was further supported by genetic analyses, indicating a transportation of methanotrophs of the family Methylomonaceae and oil degrading bacteria of the genus Cycloclasticus from the sediment into the water column. These findings demonstrate that the bubble-mediated transport of microorganisms influences the pelagic microbial abundance and community composition at gas-releasing seep sites.
Increasing levels of CO₂ in the atmosphere are expected to cause climatic change with negative effects on the earth's ecosystems and human society. Consequently, a variety of CO₂ disposal options are ...discussed, including injection into the deep ocean. Because the dissolution of CO₂ in seawater will decrease ambient pH considerably, negative consequences for deep-water ecosystems have been predicted. Hence, ecosystems associated with natural CO₂ reservoirs in the deep sea, and the dynamics of gaseous, liquid, and solid CO₂ in such environments, are of great interest to science and society. We report here a biogeochemical and microbiological characterization of a microbial community inhabiting deep-sea sediments overlying a natural CO₂ lake at the Yonaguni Knoll IV hydrothermal field, southern Okinawa Trough. We found high abundances (>10⁹ cm⁻³) of microbial cells in sediment pavements above the CO₂ lake, decreasing to strikingly low cell numbers (10⁷ cm⁻³) at the liquid CO₂/CO₂-hydrate interface. The key groups in these sediments were as follows: (I) the anaerobic methanotrophic archaea ANME-2c and the Eel-2 group of Deltaproteobacteria and (ii) sulfur-metabolizing chemolithotrophs within the Gamma- and Epsilonproteobacteria. The detection of functional genes related to one-carbon assimilation and the presence of highly$^{13}C$-depleted archaeal and bacterial lipid biomarkers suggest that microorganisms assimilating CO₂ and/or CH₄ dominate the liquid CO₂ and CO₂-hydrate-bearing sediments. Clearly, the Yonaguni Knoll is an exceptional natural laboratory for the study of consequences of CO₂ disposal as well as of natural CO₂ reservoirs as potential microbial habitats on early Earth and other celestial bodies.
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