{"id":46486,"date":"2017-10-16T07:26:39","date_gmt":"2017-10-16T05:26:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rss.nova-institut.net\/public.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.innovations-report.com%2Fhtml%2Freports%2Fearth-sciences%2Fsunlight-and-the-right-microbes-convert-arctic-carbon-into-carbon-dioxide.html"},"modified":"2021-09-09T21:36:39","modified_gmt":"2021-09-09T19:36:39","slug":"study-sunlight-and-the-right-microbes-convert-arctic-carbon-into-carbon-dioxide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/study-sunlight-and-the-right-microbes-convert-arctic-carbon-into-carbon-dioxide\/","title":{"rendered":"Study: Sunlight and the right microbes convert Arctic carbon into carbon dioxide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly half of the organic carbon stored in soil around the world is contained in Arctic permafrost, which has experienced rapid melting, and that organic material could be converted to greenhouse gases that would exacerbate global warming.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When permafrost thaws, microbial consumption of those carbon reserves produces carbon dioxide \u2013 much of which eventually winds up in the atmosphere, but scientists have been unsure of just how the system works.<\/p>\n

A new study published this week in Nature Communications outlines the mechanisms and points to the importance of both sunlight and the right microbial community as keys to converting permafrost carbon to CO2<\/sub>. The research was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve long known that microbes convert the carbon into CO2<\/sub>, but previous attempts to replicate the Arctic system in laboratory settings have failed,\u201d noted Byron Crump<\/a>, an Oregon State University biogeochemist and co-author on the study. \u201cAs it turns out, that is because the laboratory experiments did not include a very important element \u2013 sunlight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the permafrost melts and stored carbon is released into streams and lakes in the Arctic, it gets exposed to sunlight, which enhances decay by some microbial communities, and destroys the activity for other communities. Different microbes react differently, but there are hundreds, even thousands of different microbes out there and it turns out that the microbes in soils are well-equipped to eat sunlight-exposed permafrost carbon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"37426893862_dda5fca4e7_z\"
When Arctic permafrost melts, it seeps into streams and lakes where it is exposed to sunlight, starting the process of converting it to carbon dioxide. – Zoom –<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The research team from Oregon State and the University of Michigan was able to identify compounds that the microbes prefer using high-resolution chemistry and genetic approaches. They found that sunlight makes permafrost soils tastier for microbes because it converts it to the same kinds of carbon they already like to eat \u2013 the carbon they are adapted to metabolize.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe carbon we\u2019re talking about moves from the soil into rivers and lakes, where it is completely exposed to sunlight,\u201d Crump said. \u201cThere are no trees and no shade, and in the summer, there are 24 hours a day of sunlight. That makes sunlight potentially more important in converting carbon into CO2<\/sub> in the Arctic than in a tropical forest, for example.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the climate continues to warm, there are interesting ramifications for the Arctic, said Crump, who is a faculty member in OSU\u2019s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe long-term forecast for the Arctic tundra ecosystem is for the warming to lead to shrubs and bigger plants replacing the tundra, which will provide shade from the sunlight,\u201d Crump said. \u201cThat is considered a negative feedback. But there also is a positive feedback, in that seasons are projected to expand. Spring will arrive earlier, and fall will be later, and more water and carbon will enter lakes and streams with more rapid degradation of carbon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich feedback will be stronger? No one can say for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stakes are high, Crump said. There is more carbon stored in the frozen permafrost than in the atmosphere. It has accumulated over millions of years by plants growing and dying, with a very slow decaying process because of the freezing weather.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the organic matter is less tasty to microbes than others,\u201d Crump said, \u201cbut bacterial communities are diverse, so there will be something out there that wants that energy and will use it.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About the OSU College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences<\/h3>\n

CEOAS is internationally recognized for its faculty, research and facilities, including state-of-the-art computing infrastructure to support real-time ocean\/atmosphere observation and prediction. The college is a leader in the study of the Earth as an integrated system, providing scientific understanding to address complex environmental challenges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly half of the organic carbon stored in soil around the world is contained in Arctic permafrost, which has experienced rapid melting, and that organic material could be converted to greenhouse gases that would exacerbate global warming. When permafrost thaws, microbial consumption of those carbon reserves produces carbon dioxide \u2013 much of which eventually winds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572,5571],"tags":[10744,10743],"supplier":[1144,1379,5409,11236],"class_list":["post-46486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","category-co2-based","tag-carboncapture","tag-useco2","supplier-national-science-foundation-usa","supplier-oregon-state-university","supplier-university-of-michigan","supplier-u-s-department-of-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46486\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46486"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=46486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}