Riddles in the cold: Antarctic endemism and microbial succession impact methane cycling in the Southern Ocean
Antarctica is estimated to contain as much as a quarter of earth's marine methane, however we have not discovered an active Antarctic methane seep limiting our understanding of the methane cycle. In 2011, an expansive (70 m × 1 m) microbial mat formed at 10 m water depth in the Ross Sea, Antarc...
Published in: | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Other Authors: | |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
The Royal Society
2020
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.1134 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2020.1134 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2020.1134 |
id |
crroyalsociety:10.1098/rspb.2020.1134 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crroyalsociety:10.1098/rspb.2020.1134 2024-09-15T17:47:09+00:00 Riddles in the cold: Antarctic endemism and microbial succession impact methane cycling in the Southern Ocean Thurber, Andrew R. Seabrook, Sarah Welsh, Rory M. Division of Polar Programs 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.1134 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2020.1134 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2020.1134 en eng The Royal Society http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 287, issue 1931, page 20201134 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 journal-article 2020 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.1134 2024-08-12T04:27:48Z Antarctica is estimated to contain as much as a quarter of earth's marine methane, however we have not discovered an active Antarctic methane seep limiting our understanding of the methane cycle. In 2011, an expansive (70 m × 1 m) microbial mat formed at 10 m water depth in the Ross Sea, Antarctica which we identify here to be a high latitude hydrogen sulfide and methane seep. Through 16S rRNA gene analysis on samples collected 1 year and 5 years after the methane seep formed, we identify the taxa involved in the Antarctic methane cycle and quantify the response rate of the microbial community to a novel input of methane. One year after the seep formed, ANaerobic MEthane oxidizing archaea (ANME), the dominant sink of methane globally, were absent. Five years later, ANME were found to make up to 4% of the microbial community, however the dominant member of this group observed (ANME-1) were unexpected considering the cold temperature (−1.8°C) and high sulfate concentrations (greater than 24 mM) present at this site. Additionally, the microbial community had not yet formed a sufficient filter to mitigate the release of methane from the sediment; methane flux from the sediment was still significant at 3.1 mmol CH 4 m −2 d −1 . We hypothesize that this 5 year time point represents an early successional stage of the microbiota in response to methane input. This study provides the first report of the evolution of a seep system from a non-seep environment, and reveals that the rate of microbial succession may have an unrealized impact on greenhouse gas emission from marine methane reservoirs. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ross Sea Southern Ocean The Royal Society Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 287 1931 20201134 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
The Royal Society |
op_collection_id |
crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
Antarctica is estimated to contain as much as a quarter of earth's marine methane, however we have not discovered an active Antarctic methane seep limiting our understanding of the methane cycle. In 2011, an expansive (70 m × 1 m) microbial mat formed at 10 m water depth in the Ross Sea, Antarctica which we identify here to be a high latitude hydrogen sulfide and methane seep. Through 16S rRNA gene analysis on samples collected 1 year and 5 years after the methane seep formed, we identify the taxa involved in the Antarctic methane cycle and quantify the response rate of the microbial community to a novel input of methane. One year after the seep formed, ANaerobic MEthane oxidizing archaea (ANME), the dominant sink of methane globally, were absent. Five years later, ANME were found to make up to 4% of the microbial community, however the dominant member of this group observed (ANME-1) were unexpected considering the cold temperature (−1.8°C) and high sulfate concentrations (greater than 24 mM) present at this site. Additionally, the microbial community had not yet formed a sufficient filter to mitigate the release of methane from the sediment; methane flux from the sediment was still significant at 3.1 mmol CH 4 m −2 d −1 . We hypothesize that this 5 year time point represents an early successional stage of the microbiota in response to methane input. This study provides the first report of the evolution of a seep system from a non-seep environment, and reveals that the rate of microbial succession may have an unrealized impact on greenhouse gas emission from marine methane reservoirs. |
author2 |
Division of Polar Programs |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Thurber, Andrew R. Seabrook, Sarah Welsh, Rory M. |
spellingShingle |
Thurber, Andrew R. Seabrook, Sarah Welsh, Rory M. Riddles in the cold: Antarctic endemism and microbial succession impact methane cycling in the Southern Ocean |
author_facet |
Thurber, Andrew R. Seabrook, Sarah Welsh, Rory M. |
author_sort |
Thurber, Andrew R. |
title |
Riddles in the cold: Antarctic endemism and microbial succession impact methane cycling in the Southern Ocean |
title_short |
Riddles in the cold: Antarctic endemism and microbial succession impact methane cycling in the Southern Ocean |
title_full |
Riddles in the cold: Antarctic endemism and microbial succession impact methane cycling in the Southern Ocean |
title_fullStr |
Riddles in the cold: Antarctic endemism and microbial succession impact methane cycling in the Southern Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Riddles in the cold: Antarctic endemism and microbial succession impact methane cycling in the Southern Ocean |
title_sort |
riddles in the cold: antarctic endemism and microbial succession impact methane cycling in the southern ocean |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.1134 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2020.1134 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2020.1134 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ross Sea Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ross Sea Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 287, issue 1931, page 20201134 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.1134 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
287 |
container_issue |
1931 |
container_start_page |
20201134 |
_version_ |
1810495894120824832 |